The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1855-03-07
Louisiana Legislature.


Louisiana Legislature.
BATON RoUGE, Feb. 26.-HoUsE-Acts t
$ define the duties of the treasurer Of New Or
.|leans, and to limit the Indebtedness Of the city
were referred.
! An act to prevent persons Of foreign brit
: from voting, unless they produce naturalization
papers, was also referred.
ii An act allowing trial by jury in civil case
6 before justices Of the peace was passed.
! An act appointing inspectors Of weights ant
i measures in the fourth districto of New Orlcan
! was passed.
f The order Of the day, being the act to amen'
E the city charter of New Orleans, came up, bu
| was deferred until Thursday next.
An act relative to criminal proceedings wa
f passed
y The house then adjourned until 5o'clock.
SENATE.-A bill for the construction of
railroad from Thibodauxville, to interseet TIL
J, New Orleans and Great Western railroad, wa
passed
An act to provide against the humiliation 0
!, New Orleans was referred to the committee or
internal Improvements.
Mr.. Munday offered resolution for the ap
pointment Of committee Of investigation, K
inquire into the charges brought against rail
road directors by Judge Cotton. Passed
!, An act to facilitate the settlement of the &C
counts of tutors and curators was passed.
!, In the senate, to-day, in executive session
the nomination of Mr.. Flanders as port warder
was rejected. That Of S. s. Waldo, as adiu
{ tant and Inspector general, was confirmed.
We do not know how our own river freights
will be, but if our shippers act as they usual
i " do, we fear they will be high. Usually when
the river is late rising, the shippers become
anxious, overlook all prudence, press upon the
beats and beg to have their cotton taken; pay
enormous prices; while the few who wait awhile,
get off their crops at 80 and 40 per cent. less
charge, and the last boats that come up, can
scarcely get freight at all. We hope that ex-
treme folly will not be played off again this
season. There is q fair compensation for the
carriage ofcotton, which the boats should have,
but the dependence is mutual-the boats need
the cotton, as much as the planter or merchant
needs the carriage; and more than is just the
shipper should not give.
The crop is small, the basis of the heavy
charges established by the boats, viz: the high
price of labor, does not exist now; steamboat
laborers being plentiful at half the price Of last
year, and there can be no better time than the
present, to commence the reduction Of these
overcharges, and the equalization Of profits be-
tween the producer and the carrier. When the
crop is short and the price is low, the pro-
Queer who will suffer himself to be extortcd
upon, so that he realizes from his labor less
than living-works for little or nothing and
is simpleton. Better keep his crop and work
along the best he can, until another season
brings lower freights and higher prices.
[CIarksville Standard
The SUGAR CRop.-The Messenger, speaks
in a tone Of positive alarm as to the prospects
of the sugar planters Of the parishes of st.
James and St. John the Baptist. It states that
although it complained last week Of the def
cheney they had experiencedin procuring plants
it was far from believing the evil to be as seri-
Gus asst now proves. In fact it says, while in
the worst of former years the plants were only
partially injured, this year they are everywhere
ruined, unless something be done to procure
them-say from Cuba, Porte Rico, or Jamaica
and that as quickly as possible. It recon-
mends this t. be done,an expresses the opinion
that it may TO great advantage, as there is album
dant stripping to be procured as the doing so
would not only supply an immediate and press
ing necessity, but also renew our own degene-
rated cane. The Messenger believes that if
nothing be done to supply the want, the revenue
from the sugar plantations will be altogether
lost this year.
COMMERCE OF THE WEsr-In 1851, there
were 731 steamboats, on the western rivers and
lakes, with a total tonnage Of l94,542 1t is I
estimated that there are AZ present 900 boats,
with total tonnage Of 100000 More than
two millions Of persons were, in 1851, moved
by steamboats, on the waters Of the{west, ex-
elusive Of the lower Mississippi The number
is much greater now. The commerce of the
Mississippi outlet, both ways, is equal to one
hundred and fifty millions. The commerce Of
the Ohio valley in steamboats,, is equal to
eighty millions; and the commerce Of the lakes
west OF Buffalo, is equal to two hundred mil /
lions. OF the lake commerce, probably not
one half is done in steamboats,. Altogetheh
we may safely estimate the value of conn
merce carried on in western steamboats, at full \
three hundred and thirty millions Thus we
have of steamboat commerce in the west, nine
hundred steamboats,, of two hundred and fifty
thousand tons, trayersing thirty thousand miles
OF coast, and moving a commerce valued at
three hundred and thirty millions Of dollars
Ishmael Titus, a colored man, supposed to
be one hundred and nine or ten years of age,
died at Wliamstown, Mass, on the 17th ult. /
A correspondent Of the Springfield Republican
says that Titus was the last survivor of Brad
docks defeat. He was slave in Virginia and
when gen. Braddock set out on his i'll fated ex- I
petition, the master of Ishmael was employed /
by the commissary to transport subsistence
stores for the army, and as the wagon was
heavily loaded an additional horse was added
% the team, and the boy Ishmael was placed on
his third horse as rider, and in that capacity
ae followed the army to the scene Of its disas-
er. He ran away from his master at the close
If the revolution, and has since resided in the
'icinity Of Wlliamstown
We find the press almost uniformly denoun-
ing the late veto of president Pierce, in the
strongest and most indignant terms. Never
vas there more unpopular public act commit
ed by the executive in this country.
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