The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1914-11-07
SUGAR BELT 4 REVELATION.

! Mississippi Man impressed by Mag
nitude of Aouisana's Principal In
5 dustry-Tainks State Has Won
derfuI Possibilities.
; A copy OF the Yazoo City Miss
News of Nov!f2 has reached This
Chief through Ithe courtesy of Editor
i M ]. MCGUIRE, and among the con
r tents of the sprightly sheet We note
/ the following Interesting letter:
New Orleans, La, Oct. 20, 1914.
Editor NeWs:e
"since my HIST letter to the News
| 1t has been my pleasure to make two
: trips out of the city. One of these
: was to the gulf coast from New Or.
, leans to GuIfport, Miss, and the
} other as far up the Mississippi river
as Baton. .Rouge. Lsay going by way
OF Donaiusonyisle.
Leaving New Orleans last Thurs.
day morning Ismade a trip over the
Y. & NJ. v. Railway to. Baton Rouge,
going Shy Dohaldsonfille, which is
a place of some 5000 population,
sixty-two miles north of this city.
To reach Donaldsonville you leave
the railroad At Burnside and take
boat on the..s Mississippi river,
the distance being five miles, and
a most delightful little ride that is.
But. before getting to the boat, one
is carried back to the pioneer days
Of street cars. At the station you
get on to a car that is drawn by a
blind mule, the distance from the
depot to the river landing being sew
eral hundred yards, and I was told
by the conductor of the car, who is
also captain off the Steamer Virgie,
that the mule was not less than 80
years Of age. There is one thing you
are absolutely !5sure of when you
board the car, and that is that the
motive power will not run away.
I'm making the trip to Baton
Rouge you go through part of the
great sugar belt OF the state, and to
like myself who had never be-
zen this, 1t was rare treat.
the eye can reach You see
cane, which at this sea
l. ryested. The grinding
in and reminds one
king season in the
j. rs are in demand
rs along the road
yet off who have
vi and assist in
the refineries,
for everyone.
ons are in the
=. tion and show
81 tattention, the
- rything abo9t
: : pride. There
- they are go
who has never
-! ine Plantations
the numbers OF
The rows are
F.Jart, but the cane
. i T. i 4. completely eoverss
fut every 200 feet are
.hese preventing the
lcoming covered with
machinery for grinding
4 wlnd making the syrup into
and sugars is very costly,
FlIat is one of the reasons Civ
u BY the sugar planters for con-
tending so hard for tariff on su-
gar; that the investments are so
enormous they cannot be compared
to outfits for ginning cotton and get
ting it ready for market. A few
weeks ago the sugar planters were
feeling happy over the prospects of
getting big price for their sugar.
But like many other plans of men,
these prospects have gone, glimmer-
ing. This is due to the fact that |
last week the American Sugar Rein
ing Co., which has been the largest
purchaser of the crop, announced
that they did not intend to buy any
Louisiana sugar until the stock the |
refinery had on hand was sold, and |
this has caused a general decline in |
prices and decentralization among the |
planters. Back of this statement of |
the American Sugar Refining Com
pany is a fight that the state of |
Louisiana Is making on it as trust. |
and proceedings have been instituted |
to oust it from the state and put 1t |
In the hands of receiver What |
the result of this war will be is not I
known. In the meantime the plant
ers are going ahead preparing to
grind Up their crop, and like the
Mississippi cotton planters have no |
idea what they will get for their
product.
"BatoP Rouge, the seapital of the
state, is ON the highest point of land |
in the state, and is a city Of some
$4,000 or more inhabitants 1t is a
very pretty place. the streets being
well kept. She star house is unlike
any other IN construction that ! |
know of. It has the appearance OF |
Spanish castle. It is built of stone i
and granite and on a high promi-
nence, being visible for quite a dis
tance. The grounds occupy a square.
Going into the grounds from the rail
road side, you go up several terraces
before reaching the building. In the
park opposite the postoffice, which,
by the way, is building any city
might feel proud of, is a monument
erected to the memory of the heroes
Of the south. While / was in Ba-
ton Rouge the parish fair was in itsS
height, and it was one well worth
going to see. The grounds join the
back walls Of the state penitentiary,
lnciosed in which are a number of
Louisiana, unlike Missis-
sfppi. not yet having done away with
It's penitentiary, although most of its
c6nvfets are worked On the state