Pointe Coupee Democrat. [volume] (False River [i.e. New Roads], Parish of Pointe Coupee [La.]) 1858-1862, 1859-02-12
Louisiana Statistics.

The report of the Auditor Of public Ac-
counts, contains a large amount Of Of
well digcsted and carefully arranged sta
~tistical information, bearing upon the
expenditures, receipts, liabilities, re-
sources, and population OF the State.
We condensc from the report the fol
lowing:
Total value in 1857 of property in
Louisiana, 1878, Oil ,904: total amount
of taxes assessed, s1,39S, $40; acres Of
u%ncultivatcd lands, 6,0lG,9 64; acres of
cane lands, 2l5,305; cotton lands, 627,-
Oh; rice lands, 1905; total cultivated
lands, 1,597,520 acres.
The population of the State at that Pc
riod consisted of 800, S64 whites, 1918
free negroes, and 299,5l9 slaves. The
number Of children in the State entitled
to public school privileges was T6,5lS
The agricultural productions for that
year are given in part, as follows: Sugar,
So, 249 hogsheads; moIasses, 95,42l bar
rels; corn, 1904, 069 bushels; cotton,
4l7,01S; rice, 2l,l47 barrels.
The receipts into the State treasury
during the past year were ~$l,S29,074,
which added to the balance in the trea-
sury on the lst day of January, 1858,
made an aggregate Of receipts amount
ing to S2,SS7,l33. The expenditures
during the same period were Sl,6ll, 91S,
leaving a balance in the treasury, on
the lst day Of Janury, 1852, Of $l,275,-
l55.
This amount includes the fixed and
trust funds, which are not available for
payments except for specific %purpurses.
The general funds for the support of
the State Government, subject to appro-
priation for ordinary and new purposes,
have to their credit only the sum of
s62l 96. At the adjournment Of the
last Legislature the fund was totally
exhausted, and on the LIST of April there
were at least 800, 900 of auditors war
rants issued, which there are no funds
in the treasury TO pay. This excess
ovcr the receipts Of the Treasury conti-
nued to increase until it amounted to
$3.50, 600, without estimating the July
interest on the State bonds, in favor of
trust funds, which are in the custody of
the Treasurer, under the law fund
ing those debts. The July interest on
these bonds was paid in November. The
January interest is still unpaid, as is al
so the interest on the general school
fund, which consists Of the United States
deposit fund. 1t will be observed that
these are matters of account, and show
debts which the general funds owe to
the special funds. They exhibit, howev-
er, a deficiency in the general funds
which must be supplied.
Relative to this matter the Auditor says:
This embarrassing condition of the
Treasury is the result of those extraor-
binary appropriations from this fund,
which the General Assembly has made
from year to year, without providing
adequate means to meet them, o. confin-
ing themselves within the ordinary re-
sources Of the Government. At the end
Of every year the State Treasury is
bankrupt, and the means required to
carry on the Government have to be
borrowed, or advanced by the louisa
ma State Bank. During the last session
of the General Assembly, the bank ad.
vanced nearly one-half the amount ne
cessary to pay its contingent expenses,
The current expense. of the State Gov.
eminent could not have been met, and
the interest on the bonds Of the State
could not have been paid when due, but
for the prompt payment Of these liabili
ties by the Bank. 1t therefore becomes
a question of Importance, to reduce the
expenditures within the receipts, and tt
provide the means of extingnishing the
existing and pressing obligations of the
State. Both can be done without Il re
sort to increase Of direct taxation, b,
the General Assembly refusing to make
cxtravagant CT unnecessary appropia
tions, ~(although it may be necessary t,
meet immediate liabilities, by cf1ectins
; a loan until the revenues Of the presen
year become available,) and repealin:
the law relative to the payment of Grim
inal expenses by the State.-La. Con-