Year: 1865

billiard saloons. and other places of resort
not most conducive TO a sound morality.
In proportion to their numbers there are
more coiored than white yagraDts il
New Orleans, and ia NV opinion The sd


vantage l. ia favor OF the blacks. Al
cities are infested with white and colored
people with no visible means of support


How long will the commercial prosper,
ity nf New Orleans continue7 The an
swer tn tins question will lie found in the
solution of what j. called here the labor
iquestion, as upon that depends the sgri
cultural prosperity of the country draw
ing its supplies from New Orleans. The
agricultural labor of this country has
heretofore been performed 10y slaves, who
were subjected to the will OF their mas
ters, by ali the appliances which cunning
Legislation could devise These laborers
are now free and Of course no longer sub
nit 10 the will of an owner. How soon
capital ana labor will adapt themselves
10 the new order of things so as TO devel-
op the eXhaustless recources of the coun-
try, by employing proftabiy the labor OF
freemen. is only a matter of conjecture.
If the dominant political ideas now en-
tertained here, and so far as l can judge,
all over the States recently in rebellion,
are to prevail, have little faith in the
immediate and continued prosperity OF
this State Ii the present government Is
recognized by Congress and the President,
and the State resumes her constitutional
relations to the Federal Government,
think her first act will be to repudiate the
Constitution of 1864; and the character
of the constitution which her white peo-
pie will adopt, and the laws they will en-
act, can be reasonably inferred from the
platform adopted by the National Dem
ocratic party. That platform is in accord
with the sentiments of Il majority of the
white population of the State. The State
will insist on the right to control all class
es of persons within her territory, and
the Freedmen's Bureau will be dispensed
with Acts will be passed disarming the
colored population and arming the whites.
Other restrictions will be imposed upon
the colored people not imposed on the
whites, and public sentiment, If the law
dees not, will debar the colored people
from obtaining justice in the civil courts.
/ In the parish of Ascension few weeks
since, planter (not a respectable one,
or one of good standing in the parish
shot negro dead. The circumstances
were substantially these: the planter saw
negro in the evening going through his
place with basket of peas, and without
any warning shot him. He fell in his
tracks and was found the next morning,
| dead. The white man took the basket
of peas, carried them to his home and ate
them. This is his story. An inquest was
held BY jury OF the parish and the
murderer was held bail to answer to the
Parish Court in the sum of $500. One
man from the State Of Maine and one
from the State of Ohio, hut now citizens
of Louisiana, were on the jury, and this
fact, as was informed by one of the jury
men was the cause of the murderer being
bound over at all, as the balance of the
jury were for bringing in iustitiable hom-
icide; for the negro was supposed to have
stolen the peas. predict that there will
be no conFiction, If trial is had IN civil
court. The negroes will see in such leg
islation and action disposition on the
part of the whites, to reduce them again,
in fact if not in name, TO slavery. They
will be uneasy and discoptented and will
gradually leave the State, if they can get
away, or strive by force 10 obtain their
rights. There Is not now, and is not Ike
ly to be, any fugitive slave law TO return
these people TO the State if they escape
from it. In my judgement free labor can
not be made proftably available in such u
contest between capital and slave labor,
as it is likely to occur in this State, if the
present policy is to prevail





bearing upon the immediate prosperity
of the State, and not depending entirely
upon the policy of the Government, State
or National. Experience has shown,
both before the war and since, that near
" all of the State Of Louisiana 5a!aw the
mouth of Red river is not as we'll adapted
to cotton as sugar The land below that
point does not yield as much cotton per
acre and the cotton crop is more uncer-
tain, owing to the soil and climate, than
above. The lands below are rich, and the
/ best sugar lands in the United States; lin
/ fact, there is no other State except Texas
/ that produces much sugar from cane, }
and this part of Louisiana will always be
of great value for sugar cultivation. The
value of the land IN Texas for sugar has
not been fully tested.


In consequence of the war, sugar-cane
in Louisiana has become very scarce /;
there is not probably more than enough
to plant for the next year one acre IN If-


ty of the land capable OF cultivation.
Dnder the most favorable adjustment of
the labor question, it win be from three
to five years, and some experienced men
say ten years, before cane enough can be
produced. to plant a full crop, and
this will require energy and the ex-
, penditnre OF large amount Of capital.
Good cane IS worth FOR seed S206,09
per acre at the present prices, and one
: acre OF cane will only plant from three


% five acres. If planted without mat
/. ting as sooa as cut, it is estimated that one
, acre will plant FIVE, but if win-rowed or
l matted and not planted till spring, only
: about three acres. There is little cane
to be bought, and if it could be- purchased
= there sre few planters who have the