The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1904-08-13
Volume XXXIY-Number 1.


year of its existence, The Chief greetl
its readers today with the first number
of its thirty-fourth volume, and takes
advantage of the happy occasion te
thank its patrons for past favors and
to solicit a continuance thereof. Tc
those whose names have not as YET
been carried on our books, We ask
trial OF the paper's merit as ar
| advertising medium, a puryeyor Of
local and general inform alton, a pro-
moter and advocate o. all enterprises
calculated to enhance the common
veal and more particularly to serve
the best interests OF the people of the
town OF Donaldsonville and the
parish OF Ascension. With each pass
ing year The Chief is growing prouder
saa Ever OF its title, "a Wide-Asake
Home Newspaper, and will spare no
pains to yindicate IL claim to the
designation in the future as it has
always done in the past.
Apropos OF the occasion of it's
thirty birthday, the announce
ment is made that hereafter the edi-
torial control Of. the paper will be
entirely in the HANDS of those whose
names appear at the top of the adiozn-
ing left-hand column.
With heart g.s young, a purpose
as pure and an ambition as lofty as
it possessed at Che inception of its
career thirty-three years ago, and
with the best of good feeling for all
and malice FOR none, The Chief starts
cheerfully out In it, fourth
annual swing around the circle.
The Vardaman Postoffice Incident.
A recent editorial article in the
New Orleans Picayune bearing the
caption, "Pitiaul Sectional Perseeu-
tion,n opened with the following par
agraph:
The reported refusal of the postal authorities
at Washington to permit poste flee in
Mi sissippi to be nar&ed Nardaman. after the
governor, is the most contemplate piece of
sectional partisan hate ever perpetrated by a
federal official. Lit ought TO cover the present
administration with ignominy, and it is
pfesage of the sort of sectional warfare to be
Waged on the south if Mr.. Roosevelt should be
elected president. n
A number Of other southern papers
have commented upon this affair in
like spirit, but it is likely that most
or them have done SO without an adj
equate knowledge Of the facts of the
case, since it seems incredible that
journals like the Picayune, which is
partly owned and conducted by women
and habitually manifests towards the
gentler sex that degree of respect and
homage characteristic Of our boosted
southern chivalry," should be will
ing to say a word in apparent defense
of such vile defamer and slanderer
OF women as Mississippi's bulgarian
governor.
The refusal OF the postoHice depart
ment to permit the Mississippi Office
to be disgraeed with the name of Var
daman was based upon the fact that
when the Indianola case was under
discussion an infamous editorial APP
peared in Vardaman's paper, the
Commonwealth, published at Green
wood, Miss, Of which the following
filthy paragraph formed a part:
It is said that men follow the bent of their
genius, and that parental influences are often
potent in shaping thoughts aud ideas of after
life: robably old lady Roosevelt. during the
period of CESSATION, was frightened by dog
and that fact may account for the qualities of
the mae pup which are so pronounced in
Teddy. would not do either an injustice, but
l am disposed to apologize to the dog for men
tioning it.
Postmaster General Payne says
that the matter Of naming the Mis-
sissippi Office was not brought to the
attention OF President Roosevelt at
all: that the president had no knowl-
edge of the case nor of the decision
and that the postofIiee au-
bhorities are alone responsible for the
action token. 1t was concluded-and
most righteously-that a man who
could be guilty of uttering and print
'Asa ouSi i0hS u1SO doOut eLO pEGSl-
DENTS mother or any other woman
was unworthy of even the little honor of
having q country crossroads post
1tfice named for him, and every self
man and woman il the /!
country, irrespective of political or
PERSONAL bias, ought to applaud and |
ndorse the decision.
The Chief is pleasedeto note that by
10 means all of it's democratic con-
emporaries that have commented
Ipon this incident agree with the
'ieayune's view. On the contrary,
here are very many dissentients, and
heir number will undoubtedly in
rease when the facts become more
ally and generally known. The New
,rleans Item, for instance, says:
Mrs. Roosevelt was Southern woman with
ie highest social position and with a host OF
slatiges and. ardent admirers in Georgia and
outh Carolina. She had two brothers IN the
navy. Her noble qualities as
oman. the angelic purity of her character,
loutd have caused the dirty pen of partisan | s
'ribbier TO drop from his paralized hand be.
rS pHHHII2 an AHuSiOa WHICH was devoid of
it and remarkable only for It's reeking vul-
arity. Its inconceivable how any one could
meet the friends of Mr.. Roosevelt to honor a
an who had sought, either Willingly or nn-
ittingl~, to dishonor the mersary of his
other.
The Baton Rouge Times, Official
'urnal OF the state, unequivocally
dorses the action Of the postoffice
lthorities and closes d forcible edi-
rial on the subject with these plain