ARKANSAS
726
ARKANSAS
and 0.3 per cent divorced. 0.4 per cent being re-
ported unknown. Of females fifteen years of age and
over, 26 per cent were single, 60.8 per cent married
and 0.6 per cent divorced, 0.1 being reported un-
known.
Business Statistics. — The total assessed valuation of property for 1899 was $189,998,150; the State indebtedness on 1 October, 1900, $1,432,915.95. Arkansas is chiefly an agricultural State. Little Rock with a population of 42,036 was the only city of which the population was estimated in 1903 to ex- ceed 25,000. Three other cities, namely, Fort Smith City, Hot Springs City, and Pine Bluffs City, were the only other cities of which the population exceeded 8,000. Being south of 37° of latitude the State is within "the cotton belt", and cotton has become its principal crop, as Nuttall seems to have foreseen in 1819. In 1899 the value of the cotton crop was $28,053,813, or 49.4 per cent of the value of all the crops of the State. Of the com crop the value was $17,572,170. Of potatoes a production is re- ported of 1,783,969 bushels and of tobacco, 831,700 pounds. Notwithstanding the chief importance of agriculture, the twelfth census reports a steady growth during the period from 1850 to 1900 in manufacturing and mechanical industries. The six leading mechanical industries in 1905 were: (1) cars and general shop construction and repairs by 8team railroad companies; (2) flour and grist mill
f)roducts; (3) lumber and timber products; (4), umber planing mill products, including sashes, doors, and blinds; (5) oil, cotton seed, and cake; (6) print- ing and publishing. Of manufacturing establish- ments there were 1 ,907, of which 1 ,344 were devoted to the six leading industries. The amount of capital employed in manufactures was $46,306,116, the value of products $53,864,394. Of all manufacturing establishments 88.3 per cent were, in 1905, in the rural districts. There is a small production of coal, estimated in 1905 to amount to 2,000,000 short tons, one-half of which is classed as semi-anthracite. The railroad mileage in 1904 is reported to be 4,126.44 miles.
Catholic Life. — Concerning the history of the Catholic Church in the State, from 1793 until 1801 Arkansas with all of the territory included in the Louisiana purchase formed a portion of the Diocese of Louisiana and Florida. On the cession to the United States Bishop Carroll of Baltimore was in 1805 appointed administrator Apostolic. "When the decree of the Propaganda confiding Louisiana to his care reached Bishop Carroll", writes Dr. Shea (Life and Times of the Most Rev. John Carroll), "it was a matter of great and pious satisfaction to him to know that there was one priest in Louisiana whose virtue and ability were known to him. . . ." In upper Louisiana there was scarcely any priest other than a priest whom the historian mentions. Great disorder and relaxation of discipline seems to have existed in various regions of the vast dio- cese. In 1812 in answer to urgent appeals from Arch- bishop Carroll, the Rev. Wm. DuBourg, " a briUiant, able and energetic man", remarks Dr. Shea, was ap- pointed administrator Apostolic. In 1815 he was con- secrated bishop. In 1824 Right Rev. Joseph Rosati became coadjutor with residence at St. Louis, and to his special care the Territory of Arkansas was confided. In that year missionaries found at Little Rock Catholics who had never seen a priest, and on the Arkansiis River there were found sixteen Cath- olic families "who reported that Mass had twice been olTercd there". "Arkansas Post was the only place after leaving New Madrid where there were enough Catholics to maintain a priest " (Shea, Hist. Cath. Ch. in the U. S.). The missionaries were perhaps not surprised to find great religious igno- rance among the Arkansas Catliolics, and that for
mosi of those whom the missionaries met, the
celebration of Mass was "a wonderful ceremony"
(Shea, op. cit.).
In 1826 the diocese was formally divided, and Bishop Rosati made Bishop of the new Diocese of St. Louis, comprising the portion of the diWded diocese north of Louisiana. So late as 1830 the bishop wrote, " In Arkansas Territory where there are more than two thousand scattered Catholics, there is not a .single priest". But in 1832 one priest had entered the Territory and to his aid a newly- ordained priest was sent in that year. Bishop Rosati died in 1843. The State of Arkansas with Indian Territory was erected into the new Diocese of Little Rock, and the Rev. Andrew Byrne of the Diocese of New York was named as its bishop, and was consecrated in 1844. Despite all past efforts Bishop Byrne found that the Catholic population of the whole diocese did not exceed "seven hundred souls ..." scattered in every county in the state. There was only one priest. There were two churches loaded with debt. Dr. Shea states that "the pre- vailing ignorance and vice were deplorable and almost insurmountable". We recall what Cclonel Marcy wrote concerning the inhabitants of the interior of the State, "these people have but little appreciation of the sanctity and holiness of the principles inculcated by our Christian religion" (.Army Life, 387). In the beginning of 1861 the diocese had nine priests and eleven churches. On 10 June, 1862, during the Civil War, Bishop Byrne died and during the war no successor was appointed. In 1866 the Rev. Ed ward Fitzgerald of Columbus, Ohio, was named as bishop. "He made the sacrifice", says Dr. Shea, "and was consecrated, 3 February, 1867, to find but five priests in the diocese and three houses of Sisters of Mercy".
Catholic Religious Statistics. — In 1891, the Indian Territory became a vicariate Apostolic, and in 1905 was erected into the Diocese of Oklahoma, and in 1906, the diocese, presided over by the Riglit Rev. Bishop Fitzgerald, comprised only the State of Arkansas. In the diocese there are 26 secular priests and 34 priests of religious orders, 41 churches with resident priest, 32 missions with churches, and 67 stations, 1 college for boys with 60 students, 8 academies with 1,006 students, 29 parishes and missions with schools having 1,642 pupils, 2 indu.s- trial schools with 360 pupils and 1 orphan asylum with 20 orphans, the total of young people under Catholic care being 3,109. The Catholic population is about 17,000. A law of the state provides that "lands and tenements" not exceeding forty acres "with the improvements and appurtenances" may be held in perpetual succession for the use of any religious society for "a meeting house, bury- ing ground, camp-ground, or residence for their preacher."
United Slates Statutes at Large (Boston, 1848), II; (Boston, ISfil), III, 493; (Boston, 1848), V, SO; Kirby, A Digest oi the Statutes of Arkansas, including State Constitution (Austin, Texas. 1904) Art. I, Art. II, §§ 24, 25, 26, Art. Ill, § 1, Art. V, §§1, 2, 5, Art. XIV, § 1, of Statutes, §§ 7572, 7654. 6851; NuTTALi.. A Journal of Travels into the Arkansas Terri- tory (Philadelphia, 1821): De Charlevoix, History and General Description of New France, tr. Shea (New York, 1900); III. 31; GAYARRfc, History of Louisiana {ti ew Orleans, 1903), Appenfiix; Schouler, History of the United States of America (New York), VI: Wilson, A History of the American People (New York, 1902), V, 46; Johnson and Others, Campfire and Battle Field (New York, 1894); Andrews, The United States in Our Own Time: Marcy, Thirty Years of Army Life on the Border (New York. 1.S60); Twelfth Cen.sua of the United States (1900), I, 11. VI, \'1I1; Department of Commerce and Labor, Bureau of the Ccisux. liullelin No. 20 (Washington, 1905); No. 35 (Wash- ington, 1906); No. 45 (Washington, 1906); Shea, Life and Times of the Most Rev. John Carroll (New York, 1888); Idem. Hist, of the Cath. Ch. in the U. S. (New York, 1892); Interstate Commerce Commission, Sex'enteenth .\nnual Report (Washing- ton, 1905): Van Oss, American Railroads as Investments. 548; Biennial Report .\rkantas State Treasurer, 1899-1900 tLittlo llock); Catholic Directory (1906).
Charles W. Sloane.
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