The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1906-04-20
Of
Southwest Louisiana
Delivered By ". ". DuSOn at the
Louis ana Bankers ASSOCia-
ton Annual Convention held at
Lake Charles April 10.

" When your arrangement com
mittee placed me on this program for
an address upon the development Of
Southwest Louisiana, they were evil
IDENTIFY laboring under the impression
that this convention would he in SEES
sion for vwO weeks instead OF two days .
and that at least one week o. that
time would be allotted to ne instead /
OF few minutes, for tie reason, gen
tlemcu, that you might listen 10 an adj
dress for an entire week regarding the .
wonderful development Of the several !
parishes embraced in the term South /
west Louisiana, mOle particularly
| CalcaSieu, Acadia and VermiliOn, and
even then the story would not half be
! told.
However, bearing in mind that the
story OF the worlds creation was told
in about two hundred words, | shall
be as brief as possible in my remarks
upon the development which has been
accomplished in this, the garden spot
of the great southwest.
Figures and statistics are usually
very dry and uninteresting matter, es-
pecially for men like yourselves who
must deal with them six days in the
week, and, perhaps, dream of them
during your Sunday nap. Ia fact,
some one recently said in support of
his claim as to the total absence of in
terest in figures, that statistics and the
telephone directory were the only
things in print not vet dramatized.
However, in some figures there may
be found facts and results SO astound-
ing and SO remarkable as to be truly
dramatic, pregnant with the story of
work, energies and efforts: OF undying
faith in spite Of ridicule and doubt,
but over which the triumph of success
stands pre-eminent beforS you to-day.
1t is such figures as these that | want
to present to you today to show the de-
velopment OF Southwest Louisiana.
In fact, owing to the vast ground
which could be properly covered in an
l address upon the subject given to me,
it is only by these figures that the sto-
ry of the several parishes referred 10,
their condition a score of yerrs ago
, and the present day, their develop
9 ment and their wealth of today, can be
, concisely told, and they will show you
, an improvement SO rapid, SO steady
o and withal so successful as to astOniSh
even you who are accustomed TO deal
!, with big transactions and big results.
InaSmuch as the greater portion OF
that section of the state referred to as
e Southwest Louisiana is within the par
: ishes of Calcasieu, Acadia and YER
D million, shall, with your kind per-
= mission, devote these remarks and the
figures mentioned, to these three par
ishes; dividing the space of time which
their greatest development has been
accomplished, into two periods, the
first to be the ten years of what might
be called "the period of awakening,'
from 1886 to 1896; and the second from
: 1896 to the present day, which | shall
a take the liberty of terming "a period
: of primary development, for the rea-
son that it is my firm belief that in
Southwest Louisiana We have been
and are at the present time, merely
passing through primary period OF
development which is but the opening
of the gateway to the great future
which lies before this section of oul
state. By means OF these two periods
and the comparative figures in con-
nection with the same, I shall endeavol
to paint you picture Of Southwes
Louisiana as it was twenty years age
and what it is at the present day.
Since the real basi S for all revenue
and expenditures of the state, paroch
ial or municipal governments must bt
the assessed valuation of the propert.
e within their respective boundaries,
y know of no better basis than this t
!. adopt as a means OF showing YOU th,
), increase in valuation of the prOpert,
in the three parishes named: and there
fore, I would ask your kind at
:, tention to the fact that in 1886 the as
i sessed valuation of Calcasieu parish
. (great in size as we'll as in develop
- ment) was but S3,l9l,l2j. In 1896 i
:, was more than double that figure
- amounting to 1873, 455: and we ais,
II find that during her period OF prlmar,
development Calcasieu has averaged
even little better than her sister par
T. isheS of Acadia and VermiliOn. tn