The total assessed valuation of all taxable prop erty in Louisiana for the year 1935 was $1,300,268,309, or a de crease of $446,601,487 from that of 1930. This was the result of the economic depression of the years following 1930, which re sulted in the loss of business and ensuing bankruptcies and a de cline in the high property values of the boom years. The State shared in the Agricultural Adjustment Administration crop bene fits to the extent of $30,844,798. The State's chief source of reve nue in 1935 was a gasoline tax of seven cents per gallon which amounted to $10,067,587. Other important sources of revenue are property taxes, distinct levee taxes, motor vehicle and business licences, revenue from the port of New Orleans board, an in heritance tax, an income tax, and a severance tax on natural re sources. The total receipts of and disbursements by the State treasurer for the year ending Dec. 31, 1935, were $58,040,172 and $57,125,071 respectively ; the balance remaining in the treasury was $1,957,958. The chief expenditures were from the following funds: general highway ($6,064,142), current school ($8,938,462), general ($6,809,564) and Confederate veterans ($1,196,174). Other expenditures of outstanding importance were for the drain age and levee districts and for the State university. The State debt on April 1, 1936, was $146,133,591, consisting of a bonded debt of $143,994,480, a floating debt of $159,000, and a permanent loan to the State of $1,980,111. The State also acted as guarantor for port improvement, highway and penitentiary bonds.
Schooling was very scant before the creation of the public schools in 1845. Very little was done for education in the French and Spanish period, although the Spanish governors made commendable efforts in this regard; the first American Territorial legislature began the incorporation of feeble "colleges" and "academies." To some of these the State gave financial aid ($1,613,898) before 1845. The public schools were flourishing at the outbreak of the Civil War. War and reconstruction threw upon them the new burden of the black children. The Constitu tion of 1879 was illiberal in this respect, but a healthier public opinion soon prevailed. The money given by the State to the public schools, about go% of the total school funds, is distributed among the parishes according to their school population. The State's part of the public school fund comes chiefly from a 31 mill tax levied according to the State assessment and a poll tax. The public school receipts from all sources, both State and local, for the session 1931-32 were $17,893,124. The public school ex penditures for the same period amounted to $15,890,000. The per caput cost of the public elementary and high schools in 1934, based on registration, was $34.34• The per caput cost for total population was $8.51. Of the total white school population (392,
356), in 1933-34, 294,269 or 75.6% were registered as attending public schools, the rest not attending school or registered in private schools. The total negro school population was 227,671. Of this number 167,338 or 73.5% were registered in public schools ; of the remainder, some were enrolled in private schools, the rest did not attend school at all. The white schools were main tained for an average session of 176 days as compared with an average session of 119.5 days for negro schools. According to the returns of the Federal census of 1930, 7.3% of the native white population over ten years of age was illiterate, and 23.3% of the negro population was illiterate, figures which for the United States are very high. School attendance is compulsory for 140 days a year for children between the ages of 7 and 14 years, but the laws are poorly enforced.
The State institutions of higher education include: Louisiana State university and Agricultural and Mechanical college at Baton Rouge; Tulane university of Louisiana at New Orleans; Louisiana State Normal college at Natchitoches; Southwestern Louisiana institute at Lafayette ; Louisiana Polytechnic institute at Ruston; Southern university (coloured) at Scotlandville; New Orleans City Normal at New Orleans; and Hammond Junior college at Ham mond. The total number of students registered in the State in stitutions of higher education for the session 1933-34 was 12,322 of whom 3,801 were taking courses preparatory to teaching in the schools. The State-approved institutions of higher education with a registration exceeding 500 in 1934-35 were: Louisiana State ( 6,101) ; Tulane (3,756 ) ; Southwestern Louisiana ( , 79 ) ; Louisiana Polytechnic (1,270) ; Loyola University in New Orleans (85o) ; and Centenary College at Shreveport (55o).
Agriculture has always been one of the chief in dustries of Louisiana. In 1935,
acres, or 35.9%, of the total land area was in farms. Of this amount 5,876,00o acres, or 56.3% of the farm area, was classified as crop land. The farm population in 1930 was 830,606 or 39.5% of the total population, as compared with 786,050, or 43.7% of the total population in 1920. During the years from 1930-1935 the number of farms increased from 161,445 to 170,216, and the size of the average farm increased from 57-9 to 61.4 acres. The value of land and buildings decreased during the period 1930-1935 from $418,192, 000 to $295,515,000. Tenantry increased during the same period from 66.6 to 63.7%. Of the total number of farmers, 99,901 were white and 70,315 were negroes. The value of all live stock on farms on Jan. 1, 1936 was
The value of farm products in 1935 was estimated to be $120,500,000, a figure above the previous five years' average.