The leader., 1900-04-25


Charles.
The Jennings Rice Milling Company, at
Jennings.
The Pelican Rice Milling Company, at
The Riverside Rice Milling Company. at
Riverside.
The Crowley Rice Milling Company, at
crowley, La.
The Peoples Independent Rice Milling
company. az Crowley. La.
Inc Eagle Rice Milling Company, at
The Marks Rice Milling Company, at
The american Rice Milling Company, at
Crowley. La.
The Rayne Rice Milling Company. at
RayDe, La.
The New iberia Rice Milling Company,
at New Iberia. La
The Gueydan Rice Milling Company, at
Gueydan. La
Besides one mill at Beaumont. Tex. and
one at Galveston, making n total OF sIx
teen mills These mills have an average
capacity OF milling 800 bags Of rice a day
each, or 5000 bags. They all have In con
nectlon with them immense warehouses.
capable OF storing the entire crop grown.
lhese mills. with their warehouses and
machinery. represent an investment of
probably 81 .0OO. 900 To this NAV no
ad led fully another 81. 900. 900 which is in
vested In handling the crop. These mill
y
capital, which Is advanced to the planter
when he comes 10 the harvesting, ahreSh-
Ing and marketing Of his crop In addf-
ton TO these mills now in operation there
are now building two moro Mt Crowley
the Star Min and the Farmers ;'ni6n
NIL, also a new one at Jennings. one
more at Welch. one at New iberia and
one at Abbeyille, making six additional
These new mflls will represent and biting
INTO the country nearly half y million
more Of money. The effects Of all of this
Improvement and development are not
alone seen In these tangible improvements.
but they are recognized In ahe lncrea sed
valuation Of the farming lands al over
the district
Take. for instance. Caleasleu parish.
with Its 100000 OF land. Ten years ago
the total assessment Of the pariSh was
S4.2ooo00 today the assessed valuation
IS SlO.WOOoO. Ten or twelve years ago
the parish of Acadia. with It's 294 $40
acres, was comparatively valuelcsS. being
assessed at probably $500. On0. To-day the
asseS.men win show between $4,000. 600
ana S4.oO.O00 While Vermilion parish
does no. show such n rapid gain in as
scsSed valuations. the showing Is good.
shieed; ana represents an Increase Of
SlTn0h. These figures give Int little
idea Of the true or market value Of pron-
emy, as II Is well known that the assess
ment OF property throughout the country
parishes represents only one.quarter to
'''' ''li u VI liN UldIhtI NHIHP. fpr IN
stance. the lands Immediately. surround
ing tn" town Of Crowley ind ready sale.
when they can he bought a. all, At from
500 20 500 an acre. Lands that are Weld.
Ing net income Of from $15 10 $50 an
acre are assessed ut ST. IN acre. and this
same condition holds good throughout the
rice district
II We needed other evidences of pros
pcrliy than the results shown by tho in
creased activity in canal building and tho
establishment of rice mills and in our in
creased assessments. We have only to
travel over these praifes that a decade
ago were almost speechless and silent.
save for the lowing Of cattle and the
song of birds, and witness the great ac-
uYity In town building. Only a decade
ago Crowley was but handful of peo-
PIE, mostly strangers in a strange land:
today fully 5000 people throng its streets.
each buSiiy carrying out his or her aims
and purposes In life Ten years ago Lake
Charles was village of 5000 people: to
day It Is city aud boasts Of 5000 people.
In 1890 there was no Eunice: to-day with
out the aid Of Irrigation or rice mills.
thriving village of Goo or 500 people te-ti-
~ 10 the fact of our progress. Tho new
town of Gueydan In Nerm,lion parish.
only two years old. has population Of
1000. WEIGH, Rayne. ESthcrwood. DaspIt.
Morse, lota, Triihy and dozens Of other
new towns west of Lake Charles have
sprung mp during the past decade. all
bidding for immigration and fulfilling
factors in settling up and developing
these praiIfcs.
The towns of Lafayette, Abbovllle and
many at hers have more than doubled
their population and their wealth. II IS
estimated that over 5000 people from
the northern and western states have 10
Gated on these prareS during the decade
that has just closed.
All Of the above grand results accom-
plished during the past ten years may
q hA a. frii tod ,l,,uv w
with the possible exception Of the city
of Lake Charles. where up to two or
thr-a years ago the lumber Interest kept
II up, and which is still an important
factOF In the CHES commercial prosper
~. In an exhaustive report from Prof.
5. A. Knapp. on his return from Japan.
1t would appear that his views might be
construed as of a pesSimiSt nature, as he
Louisiana and Texas as suitable for rice
culture. We are inclined to think this
estimate of acreage is largely overes-
timated, however, and see no reason TO
fear an oVerproduction of rice for years
to come. Especially is this true in view
of the fact of oHr rapidly increasing con
sumption and the new markets of the
world that are opening up to us. The
Hawaiian Islands, from which We have
annually imported considerable rice. are
no longer a competitive factor, but in
stead are actual consumers Of American
rices. These islands are fast turning
culture and. in addition, their population
Is being augmented at the rate of from
10000 TO 10000 coolies year; all Of
whom live almost exclusively upon rice.
For the past three months large San
Francisco exporters have had buyers in
Crowley continuously, buying in all
they could get of certain grades, one
commission house alone having pur-
pockets Of clean rice, 100 pounds to the
pocket, making 223 carloads, the most
of which went TO the Hawaiian Islands
Then, again, the American people are
and we may reasonably expect that the
increase in consumption will keep pace
with the increase In production, as many
new ways are opening up for the use of
this important food product Mr.. Z. 5.
Lowell, one Of our progressive rice farm
ers and stock men at Crowley, La, has
been experimenting on the line of fat
tening cattle on the poorer grades OF
rice, after 1t was ground. This season
he took common cattle from on the pas
ture and for which he paid $50 for four
head. or $50 each. He purchased BADLY
damaged and red rice, paying - cents
per bag. These cattle were fed through
December, January and February. con
Stunning eight bags of rice each, or thirty
two bags at 10 cents, equal to sd, this
amount added to the first amount of the
cattle, $50, made an investment of S104.
These cattle were sold for beef, bring
Ing S1GS or q profit of S64, or SIG per
head. or, in other Words this cheapest
and poorest grade of red rice was made
to bring 81 bag, WHICH is as low
price as any rice should ever be sold, for
grades of rice that will not bring this
money should he fed TO stock. Mr.. Low
ell has duplicated this statement several
times, and on quite a large scale. He
large bunch of hogs that follow these
cattle. while fattenlng. that receive no
other feed. which Is within Itself anoth-