The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1903-04-16

whatever to evade issues. The prlnc1pol
| issue in the campaign is the distribution
Of the States educational fund, one OF
the candidates desiring that each race
shall receive exactly the sum it contr1-
butes to the fund, while the other there
candidates are in favor of continuing
the ditribution as now, according to the
number of educable children and with
out regard to the sum contributed by
the separate races But the Importance
of this ISSUE grave as it is, is over
shadowed by the Importance of the fact
that the views of the candidates are
known to the voters, and that they may
register their will as they desire. In
deciding upon a candidate they are not
receiving a pig in a poke.
Unfortunately we do these things dit
ferentlv in Louisiana. We have been,
and still are in the habit of selecting
public officials by the gum shoe method
and without any definite idea of what
they stand for. We, too, are to have a
gubernatorial campaign this year, but
the candidates will not come out as
they have done in Mississippi and ap-
peal to the voters on policies and prin-
ciples. Very few people, and these
mainly of the class which has axes to
grind, will know what the candidates
stand for. Already several names have
been mentioned for the chief Office in
the State Why have these gentlemen
been mentioned for that high office?
Does any one know what they stand for
in State politics? Their policies are not
known. Finally convention will assem-
bic and a name will be presented to the
people of the State for which they are
expected to vote, because certain bar
gains have been made, of which the
mass of the people, are ignorant, and in
which they have no part and no interest
except in the payment of the bill.
+ Which is the better method, that OF
Mississippi or that of Louisiana? There
can be but one answer to that question
among those who have, a firmly ground
ed belief in the desirability of republi-
can institutions If the people are to
have any voice in the government OF the
State tie people must know for whom
they are yoting, and not discover after
the election that they have selected a
man whose views are directly opposed
to their own. The Louisiana method is
eternally wrong and the Mississippi
method is eternally right, if there be
any merit whatever in the republican
form of government. The man who is
candidate for the sufrages of the peo-
pie should let the people know precisely
for what policies and what principles he
stands, and should succeed or fall on
those policies and principles. To obtain
office furtively is to destroy the admin
istration for good before it IS inaugu-
rated.
The time will surely come when We
shall adopt the Mississippi method, and
the sooner it comes the better it will be
for the State. The gum shoe should no
longer have a place in American poll
tics, and the man whose methods are
furtive should be kept in private life.
This method of the partisan in one por-
ton of the State declaring that a can
didate stands for one thing, while
partisan in another section declares that
he stands for another, the candidate
meanwhile keeping silent Q nall the pol
icies that are up for settlement before
the people, is not honest politics. The
day is passing everywhere, despite the
efforts of the politicians to keep it
alive when a public man shall demand
the votes of the people, even though he
represent nothing save an itching desire
to hold public office. Will. the people Of
Louisiana permit it to exist in this
State until it has been abolished every
where else?