The Opelousas courier., 1899-05-20
Needs and Resources of Louisiana.

before the Louisiana Press Association
at it's recent meeting in Baton Rouge
the following admirable presentation
by Gen. Leon JastremSki is entitled t,
rank as one of the very best, and W.
take pleasure in laying it before thu
readers of the COURIER: .
, 1t is upon the principle of self.gov
. eminent, or home rule, that the struc
ture of government in the United
Of localities and States help themselve.
with wisdom and energy, they live hap
PLY and prosper. Each locality, eacI
r state, should gain a full knowledge oil
it's resources and capabilities, and unite
its means and power to attain the de-
velopment thereof.
The press is the most potent factor il
arousing the people to combined az
ton. Hence it is aminently wise and
proper for the assembled representa-
tives of the press to consider existing
conditions and to offer suggestions to
remove the obstacles in tho way of the
general progress and welfare of the
State. The Louisiana press has usually
acted along these lines, and it is because
it has thus acted that l have deemed it
not inOppOrtune to submit the following
views for the consideration of its rep
resentatives:
1t can be easily demonstrated that
Louisiana has the mildest climate in the
Union. Her products arc more varied
than those Of any other State, and her
capability to lengthen their long list is
practically untried. Without neglect
of the leading crops of the State, vast
annual incomes could be drawn on I'M
utilized acres from products that have
received but little attention. There is
scarcely a tract of land within her bor-
ders from which a few acres could not
be set apart for a pecan grove; but this
source of easily obtained revenue is
overlooked for the chief reason that it
takes years for the pecan tree to bear
fruit. Yet We see the coffee grower in
other lands waiting patiently for five
years for the first cup from his coffee
plants. l heard an American coffee
grower say that he expected to face
five years Of hard times, but afterwards
wilderness aud live in Paris or New
York. This wise man had begun coffee
culture, notwithstanding the discour-
aging fact that he had attained his six
%ty-seventh year. True, he was largely
actuated 10y an admirable paternal love,
for he wished to mako some provision
for his children, his preceding ventures
having been unsuccessful. Shonld not
every land owner in Louisiana initiate
his example by leaving to his progeny
a certain and durable source of reve-
nue. in the form of a pecan grOveg
Nowhere does the fig row better
than in Louisiana. Stick a fig limb in
the ground and it will bear fruit the
following year. The amount OF money
that such II zig crop as Louisiana could
nrnHunn onuun1tv wnnl1 ha cpnnSiSinu ~
~ large, and such fig crop would come
in the early simmer time when there is
no money-making crop for marketing.
There are great possibilities also in
olive culture, which in California is said
to yield from 5000 to $500 per acre.
But here again is presented the obstacle,
which should be ignored. of having to
wait some years for the first crop. 1t is
probable also that grape culture in
parts of this State presents no in
considerable advantages. These are
but a few Of the neglected resources of
our prolific State.
If we enter the domain of manufac-
lures the list of Louisiana Il be-
comes multiplied. Ourforests tecm with
valuable timber. Our bayous and riv-
ers abound with fish and oysters. Our
fields offer immense possibilities in to-
baccO, and from homegrown tobacco
there are great manufacturing posi-
bilities for our towns and cities. Com
ing to our now depressed cotton grow
ing industry, the manufacturing posi-
bilities are simply colossal. Developed
to their full capacity they would swell
enormously the urban populations and
give employment for every idle hand in
he State. This would give undreamt
to fruit-growing, truck farm
ng, dairying, the raising of poultry,
stock raising and tock-fattening, which
after is also one OF the lamentabIy neg
ected occupations in our State.
,e appalled, at the wealth that
'ending its raw cotton to enrich the
manufacturers and artisans.
We should be appalled,, likewise, to
the sacrifice Of hundreds of
thousands of the South's Incompatible
oldiers in the civil war, and the untold ,
offerings and privations to which the
women and children were sub +
ected in the same period, all for the |
lack Of factories to clothe :
hem and to supply our superb armies ,
1itn war materials and to create q navy. +
~ simply blockading our ports the G
forth gained three-fourths of the bat +
les. Too long have we lived in a para q
ise Of and Of Incompetent G
IDLE disregard OF the rudiments of t
economies. So long have we SO lived f
nat King Cotton has become an object n
f derision abroad for the princely man y
facturers and spectators who fix the i
tipend that he is to receive. How n
lany more bitter lessons do we need to r
zach us that we throw away enough \
'ealth to make the South in a few r
ears the richest, most powerful and in o
ependentl region son earth? Il
Will Southern craftsmanship, South a
IN intelligence, Southern civic pride, n
le Southern press, awaken at last 2
the realization of these cruel facts a
I'D resolve upon a new departure? f,
The genius of the French people ia Il
inventive. It's forte is in per- n
citing to an extent which enables y
rench industry to get better prices il
ian. their competitors. The French
lrnish no raw materials for other peo- v
es, to manufacture and grow rich on. il
he Louisiana sugar planters initiate a
le French to the extent that their SUI
lrs 60 in a perfected state into the
arkets, and it may be remarked in
Issing that they use better machinery,
lltivate the cane more thoroughly, and
It a higher degree of extraction than
the sugar cane planters of any other