LABOR — OWNERSHIP OF LAHD. 7 



Public highways near the principal cities are usually good, but the 

 majority of those in the country are poor. The development of good 

 roads, however, promises to make rapid advances in the future. 

 There is particular need at present for betterment of the roads in the 

 hills and uplands where heavy hauling is necessary. In the alluvial 

 region the waterways to a large extent take the place of highways. 



LABOR. 



In southern Louisiana common labor in the woods is performed 

 almost exclusively by negroes, who are best able to withstand swamp 

 conditions. Negroes also perform most of the labor in the sawmills 

 and woods of the pine regions of central Louisiana, where they re- 

 ceive from 50 cents to $1.50 per day. They may, in fact, occupy re- 

 sponsible positions, such as sawyers in the mills. In northern Loui- 

 siana much of the common labor is performed by white men. Some 

 of the mills employ white labor exclusively. 



OWNERSHIP OF LAND. 



Prior to the purchase of Louisiana from France, both the French 

 Government, and before it the Spanish Government, made extensive 

 grants of land. These were located almost exclusively along the 

 rivers and bayous, from which they extended back into the swamps. 

 In many instances the land is still in the families of the original 

 grantees. All lands in the State not included within these grants are 

 covered by the Public Land Survey of the United States. The por- 

 tion of Louisiana east of thej^lississippi and north of Lake Pontchar- 

 train is not a part of the Louisiana purchase, but of Florida, and 

 its divisions are still called the Florida parishes. 



Under the swamp-land act the United States granted to Louisiana, 

 in 1841, 500,000 acres, and, in 1849, 10,000,000 acres of alluvial 

 lands for drainage and disposition. Most of these lands have been 

 sold through the State land office and the levee boards of the various 

 drainage districts of the State. About 2,000 acres still remain under 

 the jurisdiction of the State land office, and a small number of acres 

 are in the hands of each levee board. The proceeds from the sale of 

 these lands are put into the State treasury as a fund for levees and 

 drainage. 



By the act of 1908 State lands are now disposed of by sale to the 

 highest bidder at the following fixed minimum prices per acre : Un- 

 timbered, $2.50 ; cypress, $10 ; pine, $8 ; hardwoods, $8 ; dry lake, $3 ; 

 prairie, $10 ; and sea marsh, $0.25. The most valuable lands, however, 

 are already in private hands, and those remaining are invariably de- 

 nuded of cypress and so situated that cultivation is impossible except 

 by extensive drainage. 



