The star-progress. (Opelousas, La.) 1917-1921, 1919-11-08

him richie simply has wallowed
in vast slough of prosperity.
Once rice, like sweet potatoes,
was a cheap commodity-almost
the cheapest thing that came from
Louisiana's acres. The man who got
"stuck" in the rice business gener-
ally remained "stuck" and he was
lucky indeed if he ever got out of
the hole. Once in a while he might
hit things rich but the next year he
lost all he made the previous year
and for the next ten perhaps mired
around in abject misery and des-
pair. He was in and he saw no poss-
IDLE chance of getting out and had
to hit it whether he made money or
crop or nothing.
The great trouble was that rice
was not looked on as a staple art
icle of food anywhere except in
southern Louisiana. The consump-
ton beyond our borders was so
small that it did not even cause &
ripple on the markets and there
was consequently no great demand
People elsewhere did not know how
to cook rice and few of them cared
for it in any form. But that has all
changed up and the war brought
to the attention of people the great
nutritive qualities of rice and is
wonderful value as a food. This
knowledge has had much to do with
the popularizing of this great Lou
isiana crop and today. the demand
seems greater than the supply and
we all know that the yield this year
is the greatest ever known. Even
at the present high prices, rice is a
cheap food. 1t is also satisfying and
aourishing, and the one-time theory
that it was all "monshine" so far as
nutritious qualities were concerned,
was long ago exploded.
The sugar cane men are not go
ing to hit it rich this year, so far as
tonnage per acre is concerned. But
they are going to receive fabulous
price for their cane and we know
that the price is justified when we
take into consideration the high
price of sugar and it's so-called scar
city. This will profit the cane far
mers and the central refneries will
not hesitate to pay top prices for
cane because they know they are
going to make in turn a good profit
on the sugar. Lots of the cane will
be turned into syrup for that article
which Louisiana is famous for is
becoming much in demand in the
markets of the United States. Once
we thought the northern man would
not like uor Iasses but" once they
got a taste of it they banker for
more and that is why care syrup
has advancved steadily in price these
last few years. There was a time
when it could be bought for a few
cents a gallon. The old blaeEstrap
was actually given away for horse,
COW and hog feed, but that time is
gone and we'n never see it again.
Syrup is commanding over a dollar
gallon now and that means wealth
for the farmer.
And so it is with everything pro-
duced in Louisiana. Cotton is short
but other crops are producing fairly
well and bringing in dollars to the
people of the state. Our oil fields
and our timber lands are fetching
in tremendous wealth while the sui
phur and salt are adding their pro-
portionate share to the wealth that
is flowing Louisianawards. After
all, with the hogs and cattle and
poultry and other things innumera-
BILE, there will be no starvation in
Louisiana this winter or the coming
year. Old Poverty is almost total
stranger to our doors and the few
calamity howlers will not suffice to
induce him to try and enter. Let
him vamoose for he is not wanted
here. And in the meantime we will
all look hopefully toward better
things during the coming year.