Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 12.djvu/544

LOUISIANA. The following table shows the recent growth and tendencies of the eight leading industries:

. The Louisiana forests are exceeded in area and value by those of but few States. The most valuable variety is the long-leaf pine, which extends in the southwest from the Red River bottom to the coast prairies, and in the upper eastern part of the State the same species covers an almost equal area. The growth of this timber is remarkably heavy. The manufacture of long-leaf pine products is centred in Lake Charles. There are also very extensive areas of short-leaf pine, intermixed with deciduous varieties. The twelfth census reports that steps are being taken that will result in the marketing of hard woods on an enormous scale. The table above shows the progress that was made in the lumber industry in the last decade of the nineteenth century. The dense and heavy cypress forests in the deltaic region as yet have been scarcely touched.

. Louisiana is exceptionally well favored in its facilities for water transportation. It claims a greater mileage—3771 miles—of navigable streams than any other State of the Union. These afford competition with the railroads of the State and thus have a very beneficent effect upon transportation rates. A canal constructed from the Mississippi River to Lake Borgne greatly shortens the passage from New Orleans to the Gulf. (For Mississippi improvements, see .) Railroads were slow in developing in the State, and in 1880 there were only 652 miles, but this was increased during the following decade to 1739, and in the decade 1890-1900 to 2801 miles. Louisiana has become the objective point for a number of the leading Southern railroads. The lines having the greatest mileage within the State in 1900 were those operated by the Southern Pacific Company, the Texas and Pacific Company, and the Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Company. Louisiana has a railroad commission which has oversight also of water routes. It is authorized “to adopt, change, or make reasonable rates, charges, and regulations, to govern and regulate railroad, steamboat, and other water craft, prevent unjust discrimination in rates,”

etc. The State is divided into three railroad commission districts, and one commissioner is elected from each district. The decisions of the commission have seldom been reversed.

The port of New Orleans is the most important one on the southern coast of the United States, and is exceeded only by New York and Boston in the amount of its foreign trade. For the year ending June 30, 1902, the value of the imports amounted to $23,763,480, and the exports to $134,486,863.

. The State enacted an important banking law in 1842, which required a specie reserve equal to one-third of all its liabilities to the public. The remaining two-thirds was to be covered by commercial paper maturing in ninety days. The banks were to be examined by a board of State officers at least once in three months. Furthermore, the bank directors were individually held liable for all loans and investments made in violation of the law unless it could be proved that they had voted against such investments in session. The law was very successful in its operation. The State in 1860 ranked fourth in amount of banking capital and second in specie holdings. In requiring a definite amount of specie to be kept in reserve, the act marked a new era in banking. This, with other of its more important provisions, served as a foundation for the systems established by other States. The banks of New Orleans are noteworthy for the honorable way in which they met their Northern obligations at the outbreak of the Civil War. In 1892 there were 29 national banks in the State, whose loans aggregated $21,636,000; cash and sight exchange, $2,323,000; capital, $3,549,000; surplus, $3,381,000; circulation, $1,747,000; and deposits, $23,047,000. On June 30, 1902, there were 80 State banks with loans and discounts (not including those on real estate and collateral security) aggregating $16,753,448; cash, $2,466,731; capital, $4,612,050; surplus fund, $852,386; and deposits, $23,980,553. In 1899-1900 there were 10,518 depositors in savings banks, with an average deposit of $312.31 each.

. The power of the Legislature to create debt is restricted to the purposes of