The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1899-11-25
Louisiana's Interests.

AOulSiaDa = lnttferStSs
The following comments of the N.
o. Daily Item, in relation TO the late
city campaign, are SO remarkable for
candor, and withal SO fair a state
ment of State issues, now that the
city campaign is over, we reproduce
it for our readers, viz:
Looking back with unprecedented
eyes upon the long and bitterly
fought municipal campaign, with it's
results before us, we can easily un-
derstand not only how it came to
pass that Mr.. .CapdevieIIe and his as
sOciates were elected by such sweep
ing majority, but by what a glaring
misapprehension of public sentiment
we were deluded into the conviction
that 1899 was to be a repetition OF
1896.
The Item was at no time the organ
or inspired month piece of the Jack
sonians. AS to the details of the
campaign work we had but that con-
fident assurance which came from
those who pretended ito speak by
the card.s We were told that a
house to house canvass had been
made and that the figures which
were given out were not mere con-
lecture, but a conservative estimate,
based upon authentic and absolutely
reliable reports. The deception
which had been practiced upon the
sanguine leaders of the independent
movement was made painfully appa-
rent at the polls. In but two or three
of the wards was there even a SEM
blance of organization, and the j ack-
sOnian forces were without cohesion,
direction or means. The campaign
fund was almost a myth, and the diff
ficulty with which the moneys to
meet the Indispensable necessities of
the campaign were obtained made it
clear that no strong and enthusiastic
public sentiment had been aroused.
There was but one hope for a party
which started out by committing a
political blunder at Rayville, and after
wards merged a municipal campaign
for good government into a mere in
cident of the State CANVASS which rep
resented too conspicuously the per-
.sonal interests and ambitions of a
coterie of estimable gentlemen who
begin too late to see the dangers of
the situation they had precipitated
and to seek to divorce the two issues
only after their evil consequences had
become irreclaimable. In our Judges
death-knell of the Jackson Democrat
ic Association. AS factor within
the ranks of the Democratic party it
need no longer be reckoned with,
while as an independent organization
the irreconcilable views of its own
leaders upon the tariff and the finan-
cial issues render impossible any coali-
ton with either the Republicans or
the Populists.
The Item is identified with no party
and no faction. 1t has no aim and
no mission save to promote the hest
interests of the community. In pro-
lection we see the only hope of orr
industries, and placing always the
material welfare of the community
above the dictates Of the party lash.
we have on every occasion unhesitat-
ingly allied ourselves with the friends
of sugar and rice. We have never
hesitated to recognize the great debt
of our people to Senator McEnery
and to uphold the patriotic course
which he SO unswervingly pursued In
the Senate. Party divisions have
never absolved us from the. obliga-
ton Of doing justice to public ser
wants, and men IKE Meyer and Davey
and Broussard have been accorded
full credit for the royalty with which
they voiced the wishes of their con-
stituents.
To Us the one paramount duty is
to protect and preserve the two
industries upon which depend the
happiness and prosperity of our city
and State. Ii the Democratic con-
vention is guided by wisdom and
foresight there will be little cause
to apprehend the remotest danger in
the April election. But II 1T should
fail to recognize the supreme impor-
lance of safeguarding the sugar
and rice of South Louisiana, they will
find an opposition aroused destined
to prove more menaeing to the in
tegrity OF the Democratic party than
even the memorable Pharr campaign
of 1896.