USA > Louisiana > Louisiana; comprising sketches of counties, towns, events, institutions, and persons, Volume I > Part 51
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special lecturer of Ohio institutes, Prof. W. C. Wellborn, special lecturer of Mississippi, and Prof. N. N. Starnes, special lecturer of Georgia. Thirty new permanent farmers' clubs were also organized and 8 parish fairs held.
During the following summer and autumn (1903), the same plan of organization was adhered to and the personnel of the insti- tute corps in the 3 districts remained the same. The total attend- ance in the 3 districts was about the same as the preceding year and the number of institutes held was 50. Valuable papers were read on truck-farming and fertilizers, the former industry receiv- ing a considerable impetus from the organization of new societies for its promotion and development and the erection of canning factories in several districts. Special institutes bearing on these matters were held by request in the parishes of Rapides, Natchi- toches, Ascension and Lafourche.
The year 1904 showed the greatest increase in the number of in- stitutes held (75) and the attendance (14,541) up to that time. The value to the farmer of the methods and improvements demon- strated at the institutes had been conclusively proved and the meet- ings became a permanent feature of farm life. Commissioner J. G. Lee of the board of agriculture and immigration says "The attend- ance has increased over previous years and faith and confidence is shown in the good work by constant demands on the department for institutes in other parishes, which, owing to the very limited appropriation made for the purpose of holding Farmers' Institutes, the department has been obliged to defer until more available funds shall enable it to increase the number of institutes. This applies to the encouragement and future development of the fruit and truck growers' associations." Beside the regular institute corps, a special boll weevil and a special rice corps were in the field. A spe- cial sugar and stock feeding institute was held at Reserve and a good roads institute at Shreveport.
Up to the present time the work has been continued along the broad and comprehensive lines laid out for it by its founders, with a loyal and enthusiastic support from the agricultural communities for whose benefit it was designed. With the fertile soil and favor- able climate of Louisiana and the progressive and enlightened co- operation of its farmers, the quality and quantity of its agricul- tural products should take a foremost place in the world's markets.
Farmerville, the capital of Union parish, is located in the south central part of the parish and is the terminus of a short line of railroad known as the Farmerville & Southern. It was made the parislı seat soon after the parish of Union was organized in 1839, when the site was laid out and public buildings were erected. The first house in the town was built by a man named Britt Hunnicutt. Being located in the timber belt, lumbering is an important indus- try, and Farmerville ships annually large quantities of shingles and other building materials. With a population in 1900 of only , 458 it sustains a bank, nine general stores, and some minor business undertakings. It has a money order postoffice, from which rural
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delivery routes supply the surrounding country, telegraph and express service, supports a good public school system, and for its size is one of the busiest and most enterprising towns in the state.
Farragut, David Glasgow, naval officer, was born at Kimball Station, near Knoxville, Tenn., July 5, 1801. His father was an officer in the U. S. cavalry and an intimate friend of Gen. Andrew Jackson. At the age of nine years David entered the navy on board the Essex under Com. David Porter and was in several naval engagements during the war of 1812. After that war he made a cruise to the Mediterranean on the Independence, and in 1825 was commissioned lieutenant. He continued in the navy, cruising in various waters, received a captain's commission in 1855, and three years later was placed in command of the steam sloop Brooklyn. When the Civil war began Capt. Farragut was 60 years old, 51 of which had been passed in the naval service. At that time he was living at Norfolk, Va., but as soon as he was informed that his state had seceded he started for the North, and reported at Washington for duty. In Nov., 1861, Com. David D. Porter submitted to the president and secretary of the navy a plan for the capture of New Orleans, and upon his recommendation Farragut was given com- mand of the expedition. After a week's bombardment of Forts Jackson and St. Philip, he ran past them on April 24. 1862, and New Orleans capitulated on the 29th. Fortier says: "By his cap- ture of New Orleans Farragut acquired a renown that has placed him on a level with the greatest naval commanders." (See New Orleans.) Farragut then passed on up the Mississippi and gained control of the river between Port Hudson and Vicksburg, opening communication with Grant's army. About the last of May he began the bombardment of Port Hudson, and from that time co- operated with the land forces until the place surrendered on July 9. His next achievement was his victory at Mobile, for which Con- gress created for him the grade of vice-admiral, and on July 25, 1866, he was raised to the rank of admiral .: In 1868 he was given command of the European squadron and during the following year visited many of the European ports. This was his last service, as he was taken ill soon after returning home and died at Portsmouth, N. H., Aug. 14, 1870.
Favrot, George Kent, representative of the 6th Congressional district in the lower house of Congress, was born at Baton Rouge, Nov. 26, 1868. He graduated in the academic department of the state university in 1888, and two years later completed the law course of Tulane university at New Orleans. . In 1892 he was elected district attorney of the 22nd judicial district of Louisiana, in which capacity he continued to act until the completion of his term of office in 1896, when he was defeated for reelection. There- upon he took up the practice of his profession, and with the excep- tion of representing the state at large in the constitutional conven- tion of 1898, he was not actively engaged in political affairs until reelected district attorney in 1900. So ably did he acquit himself in this office, and so marked had been his executive ability and judg-
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ment in numerous other capacities, that the people of the district elected him to the office of district judge in 1904. Two years later he was nominated for representative by the Democrats of the 6th Congressional district, and at the general election in the fall of that year he was overwhelmingly successful.
Federal Courts .- (See Courts.)
Feitel, a little hamlet in the southern part of St. James parish, is on the west bank of the Mississippi river, 2 miles northeast of De- logney, the nearest railroad station, and + miles southeast of Con- vent, the parish seat. It has a money order postoffice and is a river shipping point for the southern part of the parish. The population in 1900 was 36.
Feliciana Parish was established in 1811, late in the territorial era. It was known as one of the "Florida parishes," as the terri- tory east of the Mississippi river and south of 31° to the Pearl river was ruled by Spanish governors and claimed by England as a part of West Florida until the Baton Revolution in 1810, when President Madison issued a proclamation declaring the territory to be a part of Louisiana and Gov. Claiborne took possession of it in the name of the United States. As originally laid out it was bounded on the north by the territory of Mississippi ; on the east by the Amite river ; on the south by East Baton Rouge and Pointe Coupée parishes, from which it was separated by the Mississippi river, which formed the entire western boundary. In 1824 the parish was divided by an act of the legislature into the parishes of East and West Feliciana; the Comite river, running north and south through the parish to be the boundary line between the new parishes.
Felixville, a post-hamlet in the northeastern part of East Felici- ana parish, is situated on the Amite river about 12 miles northeast of Clinton, the parish seat. In 1900 it had a population of 25.
Fenton, a village in the southeastern part of Calcasieu parish, situated on the St. Louis. Watkins & Gulf R. R., about 20 miles by rail northeast of Lake Charles, the parish seat. It has a money order postoffice. an express office, telegraph station, telephone facili- ties and in 1900 had a population of 52.
Fern, a post-hamlet in the east-central part of St. Landry parish, is about 3 miles south of Goudan, the nearest railroad station and 15 miles northeast of Opelousas, the parish seat.
Ferriday, a village in the northeastern part of Concordia parish, situated about 8 miles west of Vidalia, at the junction of the Nat- chez & Western. the New Orleans & Northwestern, the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern, and the Texas & Pacific railways. It has a money order postoffice, an express office, telegraph station and telephone facilities. The population in 1900 was 53.
Fields (R. R. name Lucas), a post-village in the southwestern part of Calcasieu parish, is a station of the Kansas City Southern .R. R., about 10 miles west of De Quincy in the heart of the lumber district; and in 1900 reported a population of 83. Lumbering is the principal industry.
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Fifteenth Amendment .- While the 14th amendment to the Fed- gral constitution secured to the negroes the rights and immunities of citizens it did not specifically confer on the race the right of ;uffrage. The third session of the 40th Congress met on Dec. 7, 1868, and on the very first day resolutions were introduced in both houses looking to an amendment to the constitution that would give the negroes the right to vote. A long and tedious debate followed, in which various amendments and substitutes were of- fered, and on Feb. 27, 1869, the proposed amendment, in the form in which it now appears as Article XV of the national organic law, was submitted to the general assemblies of the states for ratifica- tion or rejection. Gov. Warmoth presented the amendment to the legislature of Louisiana on the very day it was submitted ( Feb. 27, 1869), and it was immediately ratified by the senate by a vote of 18 to 3. On March 5 it was ratified by the house by a vote of 55 to 9, while 36 Republican members dodged the question by not voting at all. The secretary of state issued his proclamation on March 30, 1870, declaring the amendment a part of the constitution. as it had been ratified by 29 of the 37 states. Negro suffrage had been forced upon the people of the South by the reconstruction act of 1867, and the 15th amendment was intended to make it obligatory on the rest of the states. That it did not meet with uni- versal approval throughout the North may be seen by the fact that it was first rejected by the State of Ohio in 1869 and was ratified by that state on Jan. 27, 1870: New Jersey did not ratify it until Feb .. 21, 1871, having previously rejected it; New York ratified it on April 14, 1869, and the legislature of that state passed a resolution on Jan. 5, 1870, withdrawing its consent to it. The amendment was rejected by the legislatures of California, Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Oregon and Tennessee.
Figs .- The fig tree was introduced in Louisiana from Provence in 1728, and though the fruit has been raised in the state ever since that time, it is only within the last quarter of a century that its commercial value has been realized. The fig tree is easily propa- gated from cuttings. is remarkably free from the ravages of insects, and thrives in all portions of the state. In the third year after being transplanted it begins to yield a profitable crop, and a tree ten years old, if it has been properly cared for, will yield 20 bushels of fruit. The common Creole fig has given way to more improved varieties, such as the Brunswick, White Ischio, Mission, Reine Blanche, Lemon and Celeste. The last named, which is the com- mon blue fig, is the most popular, as the tree is hardy and prolific, and the fruit is sweet and palatable. With the introduction of canning factories the number of fig trees is increasing every year, and some horticulturalists class the fig as "the leading product of the Louisiana orchard."
Filhiol, Don Juan, the first commandant of Fort Miro, where Monroe now stands, was born in Eymet, in Périgord, France, Sept. 21, 1740. When 23 years of age he left France and went to Santo Domingo, but not succeeding there as well as he had anticipated,
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he went to Philadelphia, intending to join Count D'Estaing when he returned with the French squadron to the mother country. Events happened which prevented his carrying out this original intention and he changed his destination, going to New Orleans, where he arrived in May, 1779. When England declared war against Spain, he enlisted under Gov. Galvez and served with him in the conquest of West Florida. As a reward for gallant conduct, the king of Spain appointed him captain in the army and com- mandant of the militia, and he was assigned by the local com- mandant to duty on the Ouatchita river. In 1873, he left New Orleans with his new wife and a few attendants and soldiers for the then nearly unbroken wilderness at the head waters of the Ouachita river, the long journey up the Mississippi, Red and Ouachita rivers being made in a keel-boat. Filhiol located his first post at Ecor-a- Fabry near the present city of Camden, Ark., but 2 years later went down the river to the site of Monroe, where he established a fort. calling it Ouachita Post, and for years this frontier settlement went by that name. Subsequently the name was changed to Fort Miro. in honor of the Spanish governor of Louisiana. A heavy square log palisade was built some distance from the bank of the river as a protection from the Indians and to assert the right of Spain to this territory. Trading was carried on at the post and in time a village sprang up around the fort, which was called Fort Miro until the name was changed to Monroe in 1819. Don Juan Filhiol com- manded here from the establishment of the post until 1803, when the United States purchased the province of Louisiana. He con- tinued to reside in the settlement after it became the territory of the United States, platted the town of Monroe and donated the site of the courthouse to the city in 1811.
Fillmore, an extinct village in the eastern part of Bossier parish, was located about 18 miles northeast of Shreveport. Before the .Civil war it was a thriving business center, but the war changed all this, the school buildings, homes and stores that stand empty and deserted being all that remain to show a community once existed here.
Finances, State .- From the time Louisiana was admitted into the Union in 1812 to the passage of the secession ordinance in 1861, the financial history of the state presents no features of an extraordinary nature. The financial conditions prevailing in Lou- isiana during this period were not essentially different from those in other states, the current income being generally sufficient to provide for current needs, though at times moderate bond issues were made necessary by unusual expenditures in founding new in- stitutions, or to meet some emergency. Between 1830 and 1850 Louisiana, in common with other states, sold bonds in the interest of banks, railroad companies, etc .. and the greater portion of her bonded debt at the outbreak of the war was due to this cause. At the beginning of the year 1861 the debt of the state was $10 .- 157.882, and there was in the treasury a surplus of $193,416. Imme- diately upon the adoption of the secession ordinance the legislature,
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in special session, appropriated $960,000 for military purposes, and in his message at the opening of the legislative session in Nov., 1861, Gov. Moore reported that $768,466 of this amount had been expended. As the appropriations far exceeded the surplus funds in the treasury, the parishes made appropriations and public-spirited citizens subscribed to the defense fund, though the conditions necessitated the incurrence of some debt by borrowing from the local banks. The total military expenses of the state during the first year of the war amounted to $1,596,807, which was charged to the general government of the Confederate States, as were the ex- penses incurred on behalf of the Confederacy during the next four years. This portion of the debt was liquidated by the "logic of events."
The legislation during the decade of reconstruction-1866 to 1876 -presents examples of financiering without a parallel in history. The general assembly of 1866 began the augmentation of the state debt by authorizing the issue of 6 per cent certificates of indebt- edness to the amount of $1.500,000. The legislature of 1867 author- ized a bond issue of $3,000,000, bearing interest at the rate of 6 per cent; legalized New Orleans city notes to the amount of $3,650,000 (then circulating as money), and permitted a further issue of these notes amounting to $2,500,000. At the close of that year the claims against the state treasury exceeded the receipts for the year by $1,313,000. This condition of affairs led the gov- ernor to notify Gen. Hancock, the military commander of the dis- triet, that "the state treasurer is totally bankrupt, no adequate means are provided to meet current expenses, and unless some remedy is applied, the machinery of civil government in the state must stop."
Although, as a rule, Gen. Hancock was not disposed to inter- meddle in civil matters, he deemed it necessary in this case to exer- cise his authority for the relief of the state. Accordingly on Feb. 22, 1868, he issued an order providing :
"1-That, from and after this day, all the licenses on trades, pro- fessions, and occupations, the revenues, dues and taxes, of the State of Louisiana, shall be payable and collected in United States legal-tender treasury notes. It is made the duty of the state treas- urer, and of all other persons charged with these collections, to exact payments as above.
"2-The auditor and treasurer of the state shall be required to keep a special and separate account of all dues, taxes, funds, or other public moneys, which shall be received by them, hereafter, from any and all collectors of taxes, or from other sources; and it shall be their duty to appropriate the same to the payment of the salaries of the judicial. executive and civil officers of the state ; and to pay and discharge all the appropriations made in favor of the charitable institutions, the free public schools, for the rent of the Mechanics' Institute, and for the support of the state convicts.
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* Provided, however. that the treasurer of the state shall not pay any other outstanding warrants or other obligations of the
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state than those that are issued against appropriations for the last quarter of the year 1867, restricting himself, in the payment of these last-mentioned obligations, to those applicable to, and issued in favor of, the officers and institutions hereinbefore referred to in this order, and for whose special benefit and protection this order provides and for no others."
A few days later a supplementary order was issued by Gen. Han- cock, limiting the application of the above order to the taxes col- lected for the year 1867; directing that all state notes then in the treasury, or that might be afterward received, should be destroyed ; and instructing the treasurer that, "when a sufficient sum shall have been collected to satisfy the purposes expressed in said order, any further receipts into the treasury may be applied to the liqui- dation of other obligations impaired by said order, as if the same had not been issued." The constitutional convention then in ses- sion severely criticised Gen. Hancock's order, but aside from this it seems to have given satisfaction. The financial embarrassments continued into 1869. At the beginning of that year, according to Gov. Warmoth's statement in his message at the opening of the legislative session of Jan. 4, the floating debt of the state was $1,929,500.62 and the bonded debt was $6,777,300, which he claimed could be at once reduced to $6,000,000. The previous legislature had failed to provide for the payment of the interest, which caused the bonds to depreciate, and the credit of the state was somewhat further impaired during the year by the feud between the governor and the state auditor.
On Jan. 3, 1870, the general assembly met in what proved to be the most extravagant session in the history of the state. Within four days from the time the legislature was organized Gov. War- moth had vetoed 21 bills appropriating $6,875.000 for various schemes, the largest single appropriation being $3,000,000 to the Mississippi Valley levee company. Besides these acts making appropriations to corporations and authorizing bond issues to raise the money therefor, the legislature was lavish in its expenditures. State funds were voted to aid in building negro churches, and so many clerks, doorkeepers, messengers, etc., were employed that some of the members finally grew ashamed of the situation and asked for an investigation "to see if some could not be dispensed with." The various departments of the state government were likewise prodigal in the administration of their affairs. According to the reports of the state treasurer's office, the receipts for the year ending on Nov. 20, 1870, were $6.537,959, and the total expenditures for the same period were $7.050,636. At the same time the state auditor reported the state debt as follows: Bonds actually issued, $22,560.233.22 ; obligations of the state to issue bonds (estimated), $15,000,000: outstanding warrants, $1,300,311.81 ; outstanding cer- tificates of indebtedness, $293,655.62; miscellaneous indebtedness, $867,533.96, making a grand total of $40,021,734.61.
At the election of 1870 the people ratified an amendment to the constitution limiting the total amount of the state debt up to the
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year 1890 to $25,000,000. This led to a spirited controversy early in 1871, when the auditor refused to draw his warrant for a claim of $50,331.46, on the ground that the law authorizing the claim was a violation of the constitution, in that it increased the state debt, which was already in excess of the $25.000,000 limitation. Appli- cation was made to the 8th district court in New Orleans for a writ of mandamus to compel the auditor to issue his warrant, but the writ was refused and the case was taken to the supreme court, which in April sustained the auditor, holding that the debt did exceed the constitutional limit on March 1, 1871. On March 18, pending the decision of the supreme court. the following "Address to the Public" appeared in the New Orleans newspapers :
"The undersigned, property-owners and taxpayers of the city of New Orleans. satisfied that the state legislature has, at its late ses- sions, excelled its power in the loans, endorsements, and other obligations and grants authorized on the part of the state, the total amount of which is limited, by the recent amendment to the con- stitution, to $25,000.000 (already incurred), as shown by the an- nexed official statement of the auditor, take this early opportunity of notifying bankers, brokers and dealers in securities, in this coun- try and Europe, that they consider all such loans, endorsements and pledges as null and of no value; that they will sustain the authorities in resisting their issue, and, if issued, will, by every legal means, endeavor to prevent the payment of any interest or principal, or of any tax levied for that purpose. They only recog- nize the state debt proper, amounting to $25,061,734.40, as shown by the accompanying exhibit of the auditor, and they class the 'accruing debt' with the illegal legislation previously referred to."
This address was signed by nearly 400 of the most substantial business men of New Orleans. The "accruing debt" mentioned in the address amounted to about $15,000,000, all of which was in- curred through giving state aid to railroad, canal and navigation companies.
On June 1, 1871, the auditor published a corrected statement, showing the absolute state debt to be $22,295.790.58; the actual contingent debt. $6.653.683.33; and the estimated contingent debt that might be incurred by securing first and second mortgages under acts prior to 1871 was $12,245,000, making a grand total of $41,194,473.91, for which the state was at that time or might become liable. These figures were disputed by Gov. Warmoth, who, in his message to the legislature in Jan., 1872, sharply criticized the auditor for publishing such a statement. He admitted its accuracy so far as the absolute debt was concerned, but denied the state's liability in the matter of the contingent debt. On this subject he said: "This is no more a debt, to be employed as such at the ex- pense of our state credit, than is the endorsement of a promissory note by an individual who is secured for the liability he assumes by a pledge of five-twenty bonds or real estate in the proportion of four dollars to one. In the first place, there is not the slightest probability that any of these roads, except the New Orleans, Mobile
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