USA > Louisiana > Louisiana; comprising sketches of counties, towns, events, institutions, and persons, Volume II > Part 34
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By the act of June 29, 1904, the powers and duties of the com- mission were more clearly defined. No commissioner must be interested in any way in the oyster industry. The compensation of each commissioner was fixed at $10 a day and traveling expenses, provided the salary should never exceed $2.500 in any one year, and the president was to receive a salary of $1.000 in addition to the above. The commission was given power to acquire vessels and other property, and to expend $5.000 a year in enlarging and improving the natural reefs. none of which should be leased to
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individuals or companies. Outside of these reefs leases might be made to residents of the state upon written application, provided that no lease should include more than 1.000 acres, all leases to run for 15 years at a rental of $1 per acre annually, the cost of the sur- vey to be paid by the lessee. The use of dredges was permitted in certain waters, each dredge to pay a license fee of $10, and the operator thereof to give bond that it should not be used contrary to law. Vessels engaged in oyster fishing were required to pro- cure a police license, graduated according to the capacity of the boat, at a fee of 50 cents per ton. All vessels, with cargoes, violat- ing the law or the rules of the commission to be seized and deliv- ered to the parish in which the seizure was made, the sheriff of the parish to dispose of the cargo, the vessel to be forfeited and sold, the proceeds to go to the commission. Canning establishments were to pay a license fee of $100 a year and a tax of 3 cents a barrel on the oysters canned. The commission was authorized to employ a chief surveyor at a salary of $2.500 a year, who should give his entire time to the work of the commission ; a chief inspector at a salary of $1,000 and a percentage of the license fees, though his salary should never exceed $2,000 in any one year ; deputy inspec- tors, in number and at such salaries as the board might determine ; and a secretary and attorney at salaries of $1,200 each.
This act was supplemented by additional legislation at the ses- sion of 1906. concerning which Gov. Blanchard, in his message of May 12, 1908, said : "After the bill, now known as act 178 of 1906 (commonly called the oyster law), had passed the house, there was added in the senate an amendment to Section 10, which is objec- tionable-being wrong in principle and pernicious in practice. The ownership of the state in and to the bottom, or beds, of the bodies of water, or streams of water, along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, within the jurisdiction of the State of Louisiana, is beyond dispute either in fact or in law. The rights of riparian. or, more properly speaking, adjacent proprietors, extend only to low water mark of such waters. Both of these propositions are recognized in the first section of the oyster law. * * * Section 10, as it passed the house, gave to the oyster commission the power to lease the water bottoms described in Section 1 of the act and which may be desir- able for the purposes of bedding, planting and cultivating or propa- gating oysters. But the senate added after the word 'act' in the third line of said section as the same is printed on page 323 of the acts of 1906, the words: 'And the title whereof is vested in the State of Louisiana and is not claimed under some title by any person and no lease of any bottom which may be so claimed by a private indi- vidual, firm or corporation shall be valid, or have any effect until there shall have been an adjudication by the court of competent jurisdiction between the state and the claimant as to the validity of the title of the property to be leased.' * * * The provision quoted is a remarkable one. It forces the state to institute suit against any one claiming title to oyster waters or bottoms. It forces the sovereign into court to vindicate his or her title to public
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property. It would be objectionable enough to require the sovereign to do this when the claimant holds under a patent issued by some official of the sovereign power who asserted, or assumed, the authority to issue it. But this provision goes further. For instance, when a levee board. to which a grant of lands was made by the state, claims that such grant includes tidal bottoms and assumes to sell such bottoms, or part thereof, the title thus acquired by the pretended vendee of the levee board would, I think, under the language of the act, prohibit the oyster commission from leasing the water bottom so claimed until the state has gone into the courts and secured a decree ousting the title of the claimant. *
* This amendment to Section 10, then, takes out of commerce, out of the power of the oyster commission, to lease any oyster waters or bottoms as to which anybody sets up the plea of former alienation by the state. I respectfully submit that this should not be and recommend the subject to your consideration. * *
* I refused to sign Act No. 178 when it reached the executive office in 1906 because of the provision referred to, and the only reason I did not veto it (letting it become a law by lapse of time without disap- proval) was because of the good otherwise in the bill."
A special committee of the legislature, consisting of two senators and three representatives. appointed at the session of 1906 to inves- tigate the work of the oyster commission and the oyster industry. made a report to the session of 1908. In that report the committee says: "We believe that it is best that no leases whatever be made of any of the bottoms of this state. but that the state should enforce laws calculated to protect its beds, encourage planting and propa- gation, and charge a substantial return for the privilege of fishing. We believe that so long as the lease system is operated there will be found complaints. All beds should be public, except such as passed to private ownership prior to the organization of the Louisi- ana oyster commission. And if such private property is properly recognized. the owners thereof should pay additional for protection to their holdings and contribute a tax per barrel in excess of that levied on the product of the public reefs. They should, however, be given reasonable protection from poachers."
The report concludes as follows: "And in recommending that the laws be revised and, above all, enforced, this committee ardently and strenuously recommend that a reorganized commis- sion, to encourage the oyster industry, be specially enjoined to employ none of the force used by the present commission, but to make a clean sweep and start anew. The present system has not given satisfaction, and has not been effective: it is sneered at. and commands but little respect, and we deem it to the best interest of the state, for these and the other reasons that have been made apparent, that no one connected with the workings of this should be continued in a future commission."
Notwithstanding the unfavorable conditions arising from the conflict over titles and leases, Louisiana has made considerable progress in the cultivation of oysters. In 1890 no establishments
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were reported in the state as being interested in the canning of oysters, but the census of 1900 reports three, with a capital of $04.250. Two of these concerns employed over 50 people each and the total output was 1.272,750 pounds of oysters, valued at $71.625. Louisiana stood fourth in the production of oysters, being exceeded only by Maryland. Mississippi and Florida in the order named.
P
Packard, Stephen B., a native of Maine, was appointed U. S. marshal for Louisiana in 1871 by President Grant, and was soon in the midst of the "mad whirl of politics." Shortly after his appoint- ment he became a leader of one faction of the Republican party in opposition to Gov. Warmoth, and in 1876 he was the Republican nominee for governor of the state. The returning board certified that he was elected over Francis T. Nicholls by a vote of 74,624 to 71.198. On March 5, 1877, the day succeeding the inauguration of President Hayes, Packard made a request for the official recogni- tion of the new administration, but it was denied, and when the Federal troops were withdrawn the following month he gave up his pretensions as governor, which ended his career in Louisiana politics.
Packton, a post-hamlet of Winn parish, is situated at the junc- tion of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific and the Louisiana & Arkansas railroads, 8 miles south of Winnfield, the parish seat, and is the shipping and distributing town for the southern part of the parish.
Paincourtville, a village in the eastern part of Assumption parish, is situated on the Bayou Lafourche and the Texas & Pacific R. R., 5 miles north of Napoleonville, the parish seat, in a rich sugar dis- trict. It has a bank, a money order postoffice, telegraph and express offices, is an important trading center, and in 1900 reported a population of 500.
Pakenham, Edward Michael, soldier and member of the British peerage, was born in Ireland in 1779. At an early age he entered the army, was made major of dragoons in 1794, lieutenant in 1799, and served with his brother-in-law. the Duke of Wellington, as quartermaster in the Peninsular campaign, attaining to the rank of colonel in 1809. In 1812 he was made a major-general and shortly after that was ordered to America. He was placed in command of the expedition against New Orleans and was killed in battle near that place on Jan. 8. 1815.
Palmer, Benjamin Morgan, clergyman, was born in Charleston, S. C., Jan. 25, 1818. a son of Rev. Edward and Sarah (Bunce) l'almer. His first American ancestor was William Palmer, who came to America from England in 1629 and settled at what is now the town of Salem, Mass. Benjamin's early education was acquired almost entirely at home. Ile then attended Amherst college for a
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year, and after teaching about two years he resumed his studies at the University of Georgia, where he graduated in 1838. The next year he entered the theological seminary at Columbia, S. C., and in 1842 was licensed to preach. He was pastor of the First Presby- terian church of Savannah, Ga., for a few months, when he was called to the Presbyterian church of Columbia, S. C., where he served as pastor 14 years. During his residence in Columbia he served as professor of church history and government in the theo- logical seminary from 1853 to 1856. In the latter year he moved to New Orleans, to become the pastor of the First Presbyterian church of that city, where he served until his death. While resid- ing in New Orleans he declined the offer of several professorships of theology and the chancellorship of the Southwestern Presby- terian university. During the Civil war he served as chaplain with the Army of the Tennessee, but without a commission. In 1861 he was the first moderator of the Southern General Assembly, organized that year, and served as commissioner in ten general assemblies, three of which were held in the old Presbyterian church in New Orleans. The degree of D. D. was conferred upon him by Oglethorpe university of Georgia in 1852 and that of LL. D. by Westminster college, Fulton, Mo., in 1870. For many years he was associate editor of the Southern Presbyterian Review, and later a contributor to the Presbyterian Quarterly. He was also the author of the Theology of Prayer, The Family in Its Civil and Churchly Aspects, Twelve Lectures on the Formation of Charac- ter, and other theological works. On Oct. 7, 1841. he married Mary Augusta, daughter of Rev. George Howe, of Columbia, S. C.
Palmetto, a village of St. Landry parish, is a station on the Texas & Pacific R. R., about 15 miles northeast of Opelousas, the parish seat. It is one of the shipping points for the northeastern part of the parish, has a money order postoffice, telegraph and express offices, telephone facilities, and in 1900 had a population of 71.
Pan-American Exposition .- (See Expositions. )
Panics .- For three-quarters of a century periods of commercial and industrial depression have made their appearance about once in a decade, and there is a popular superstition that the decennial occurrence of panics is an essential feature of our economic sys- tem. These panics are due to various causes, but they generally follow an era of injudicious speculation, or the enactment of legis- lation inimical to the general industrial interests of the country.
The first of these panics that seriously affected Louisiana was that of 1837, which some historians have attributed to President Jackson's hostility to the Bank of the United States, his order of Oct., 1833, that the surplus funds of the Bank of the United States should be distributed among certain designated state banks, and his subsequent order called his "Specie Circular." directing agents of the land office to accept nothing but coin in payment for public lands. True, the distribution of the surplus (some $10,000.000) may have had something to do with stimulating the speculation which preceded the panic by making money plentiful and easy to
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obtain, but it is a fact worthy of notice that speculation was fully as rampant in countries not directly influenced by the president's orders. In Oct., 1836, a run was made upon the banks of Ireland, and in the turmoil that ensued it developed that certain English banks, capitalized for about $25.000,000, had advanced over five times that amount to America. The Northern and Central bank of Manchester, established in 1833, with some 40 branches, was compelled to call on the Bank of England for relief, and the methods of making these advances were uncovered. Wilson, Wildes & Wiggins, English bankers and brokers, who achieved notoriety in the financial history of the period as "the three W's," were in the habit of drawing bills, the proceeds of which were to be invested in coffee, sugar, etc., which were to be shipped to European ports, subject to the order of the firm. It frequently happened that the cargoes were taken to the United States, and when the credits were called in prices fell to a ruinous degree. Cotton declined from 4 to 5 cents on the pound, and all but a few of the cotton factories at New Orleans were forced into bankruptcy. The situa- tion was also affected by the action of Congress in modifying the tariff on sugar, which had a depressing effect on the planting industry of the state. Gayarre, writing of 1837, says: "This year was marked by an extraordinary financial crisis throughout the United States. All the banks suspended payment, including those of Louisiana. The paper currency became greatly depreciated ; the metallic one disappeared. as is always the case in such circum- stances ; ruin and desolation seemed to have overspread the land : every kind of industry was paralyzed; produce of every sort fell so low that it hardly paid for the cost of transportation ; the value of real estate fell to nothing : credit, which is the life of commerce, died away; and agriculture languished for want of stimulation."
The situation gradually improved, but it was several years before the country reached a state of prosperity as great as it had enjoyed during the early 30's. If a panic was due ten years after that of 1837, it was probably averted by the war with Mexico, but in 1857 another financial crisis arrived, and as usual in such cases divers opinions have been advanced as to what produced it. Ac- cording to the History of Banking of All Nations there were ex- pectations in the spring that the European crops would be poor, and many began speculating for a rise in the price of grain for export. But the crops of Europe all proved to be good and the prices of grain in the United States declined. dragging over 5.000 concerns into bankruptcy, with liabilities aggregating about $300,- 000,000. Mercantile failures were numerous during the early part of the year, but no general collapse was anticipated as late as July, when the discount rate was lowered. In August the panic commenced in New York, where the Chemical bank was the only one to weather the storm, and extended to Pennsylvania, Ohio. and the South. becoming general except for a few cities in the Ohio valley, South Carolina and New Orleans, though some of the banks in the latter city were forced to suspend.
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While the speculation in grain may have precipitated the crisis, there was in all probability a deeper-seated cause of the panic of 1857. Early in the '50s the tide of emigration turned westward; the de- mand for land increased year by year : and many withdrew capi- tal from legitimate business enterprises to speculate in western lands, in the hope of reaping rich rewards from their investments. But the speculation outran emigration, the speculators overreached themselves, and when the day of liquidation came they were forced to the wall because of their greed, dragging innocent and unsus- pecting concerns down with them. It was concerning this era of speculation that Eggleston wrote his story, "The Mystery of Metropolisville."
The panic of 1873 started with the failure on Sept. 18 of the great banking house of Jay Cooke & Co., of Philadelphia. Other failures followed in rapid succession, runs were made on banks all over the country, and every department of business was par- alyzed. At that time the State of Louisiana was in the throes of reconstruction and did not feel the panic. as the indus- tries of the state were already at a low ebb of prosperity. Indi- rectly, however, the panic redounded to her interest in the end. In the years immediately after the Civil war opportunities for frauds and speculations were furnished in abundance by the financial conditions. The Credit Mobilier, a company for the purpose of facilitating the construction of public works, was organ- ized in 1863. Four years later the charter was sold to a company that had been organized to build the Pacific railroad. The new company increased the capital to $3,750,000 and sublet the work of building the road to the old Credit Mobilier company, composed mostly of themselves, though a subsequent investigation developed the fact that much of the stock was held by members of Congress. Jay Cooke & Co. had made heavy loans to the company on its bonds. His failure and the exposure of the Credit Mobilier deal checked the work on the Northern Pacific road, and railway capi- talists turned their attention to the southwest, hence it was in this way that Louisiana received an indirect benefit from the panic.
Another financial crisis began in May. 1884, and strengthened belief in the tradition that panics recur about every ten years. Appleton's Annual Cyclopedia says: "The panic was due to a variety of causes, none of which was entirely controllable. It may be said to have been the natural result of the inflation which began with 1878 and ended by the middle of 1881. * *
* It was ex- pected in 1883, and doubtless much of the depression of that year was due to the fear that it might be precipitated by some accident : but the fact that it did not then occur, and that the shrinkage in stocks and staples had been so great during the previous two years and a half, led some to believe that the catastrophe might happily be averted. * *
* Neither merchants nor manufac- turers had been expanding their business, credits had been cur- tailed, stocks of goods reduced, and there appeared to be a general understanding patiently to wait for positive indications of a per-
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manent improvement in the demand before taking any decisive step. The result showed the wisdom of such a course, and, al- though the failures of the year involved liabilities amounting to $240,000,000, most of them were financial, and many the direct result of stock speculations. Clearly, therefore, this was not a commercial crisis." The panic began in New York on May 5 with the suspension of the Marine national bank and the failure of the firm of Grant & Ward. The Second national and Metropolitan banks became involved, and by the 14th the panic was at its height. Banks in other cities connected with the prostrate insti- tutions in New York felt the force of the blow and the depression gradually extended to all parts of the country. Manufacturing enterprises discharged hundreds of their operatives and prices gen- erally declined. Fortunately the business of the country soon revived, the West and South escaping without serious disaster.
Toward the close of the year 1892 a general feeling of depression prevailed, indicating the approach of another panic. The unsettled conditions in business circles were ascribed to what was known as the Sherman silver law, requiring the secretary of the treasury to purchase monthly 4,500,000 ounces of silver bullion and issue thereon certificates which might be used as currency. There was a slight recovery with the beginning of 1893, based on the hope that the Congress then in session would repeal the law, but Con- gress adjourned on March + without doing so. At that time there was an unwritten law of the treasury department that a reserve of $100,000,000 should be kept on hand for the redemption of U. S. notes. This reserve was seriously threatened by heavy with- drawals of gold for export, and by Oct. 19 it was only a little over $81.500,000. President Cleveland called the 53rd Congress to meet in special session on Aug. 7, 1893, and in his message urged the repeal of the law to protect the gold reserve and check the panic. The law was repealed on Nov. 1, after the reduction of the reserve to the figures above mentioned, and concerning the effects of the repeal Ridpath says: "This might well appear to be the last of that series of acts which, extending over a period of twenty years, had finally resulted in the establishment of the single gold standard of values in the United States. It seemed that the international combination of the gold interests of two continents had finally triumphed, to the incalculable disadvantage of the producing classes in all civilized nations. * All this had been done under the name and in the guise of upholding the national credit. A change of all contracts-such as a king of the Middle ages could not have made among his subjects without driving them to revolution-was effected by a series of intrigues the history of which as hereafter written will constitute the most terrible arraignment of American statesmanship to be found in all our national annals. The first, most obvious, and most disastrous result of the work was the precipitation and intensifying of the financial panic and universal prostration of business. the parallel of which had never before been witnessed in our country. The
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tariff legislation of this epoch, by unsettling values, contributed not a little to the overwhelming disaster of the times. * * Strikes and lockouts became the order of the day. Business failures resounded through the land like the falling of a forest. Commerce virtually ceased. *
* Those who had been thrown out of employment began to combine, without knowing why. into what was known as the army of the Commonwealth. One such army, under the leadership of J. S. Coxey, of Massillon, Ohio, marched on Washington City, to demand employment from the national government. Another band came from the West, under the leader- ship of their so-called 'General' Kelley. Railway cars were appro- priated here and there for transportation. Collisions occurred be- tween divisions of the army and various bodies of troops. On the 30th of May (1894), these men of the Commonweal made a demonstration on the steps of the capitol at Washington."
The labor riots and unsettled conditions reached Louisiana, and in fact no section of the country escaped. (See Labor Troubles.) But the reeuperative power of the American people is little short of marvelous. They recovered from the effects of the panic and enjoyed a period of uninterrupted prosperity until the little flurry that was thrust upon the country by some New York speculators in Oct., 1907.
Paradis, a post-village of St. Charles parish, is a station on the Southern Pacific R. R., about 10 miles south of Hahnville, the parish seat. It has an express office and is a trading point of some importance for that section of the parish.
Parcperdue, a postoffice in the western part of Iberia parish. is situated about 2 miles northeast of Poufette, which is the nearest railroad station, and 7 miles southwest of New Iberia, the parish seat.
Parhams, a post-hamlet in the southeastern part of Catahoula parish, is on the Black river, about 10 miles west of Fish Pond, the nearest railroad station.
Paris, Treaty of .- (See Treaties.)
Parishes .- In Louisiana the political division known as the parish corresponds to the county in other states. The parochial officers, such as elerk, sheriff, etc., have the same duties to perform and are vested with the same powers as the county officers of other states, but instead of a board of county commissioners the finances of the parish are under the control of a police jury, under whose direction appropriations are made for the construction and repair of highways, levees, public buildings, the maintenance of the pub- lie schools, etc. In 1909 there were 61 parishes in the state. Fol- lowing is an alphabetical list of these parishes, with the date when each was established: Acadia, 1886: Ascension, 1807 : Assumption, 1807; \voyelles, 1807 ; Bienville, 1848; Bossier, 1843; Caddo, 1838; Calcasieu, 1840; Caldwell, 1838: Cameron, 1870: Catahoula, 1808; Claiborne, 1828; Concordia, 1807; De Soto, 1843; East Baton Rouge, 1807; East Carroll, 1877; East Feliciana. 1824; Evangeline, 1908; Franklin, 1843: Grant, 1869; Iberia, 1868; Iberville, 1807 ;
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