| Show The Land Barons of Louisiana The New Orleans Picayune prints a table of the land barons of Louisiana and their holdingfcof unimproved timber tim-ber and swamp tracts from whir it appears that alien syndicates companies com-panies and individuals own more than 2200000 acres One syndicate claims 400000 acres several possess 100000 and more and holdings from 20000 to 90 000 acres are not uncommon Most of this land is owned in the western states but to caoitallsts New caoialsts > v York and Philadelphia several thousand acres belong The Picayune explains that originally the United States owned all ofthe lands in Louisiana other than those which at the time of the cession of France were hold by private persons or corporations Subsequently Sub-sequently what were known aH swamp lands that is to say lands that were subject to tidal overflow from the sea or were annually flooded by the Mississippi Mis-sissippi became the property of the state with the provision that i > should sell them for the purpose of raising a fund to build levees A considerable territory consisting of prairie and forest for-est land was retained by the Urited States to be sold as homesteads Such a disposition was made of this land but it is now largely in the possssrjion of syndicates The Picayunes table includes the swamp homestead and sea marsh lands The last named a lions share of which has been acquired ac-quired by the Watkins syndicate must be drained and diked like the iTulland coast and some progress m tMIs turk has already been made Boston Transcript Tran-script |
