The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1907-11-30
Mr.. PHARR's PLATFORM.

Attitude of Republican Candidate for
Governor on Leading Issues of the
Ony-AdmirabIe Principles
Clearly Set Forth
Continued from last week.
Akin to this question OF primaries,
and closely allied to it, is that OF the
general election laws. No state in the
American Union has such partisan,
unjust and absurd election laws as
Louisiana has. Every barrier that
human ingenuity could devise to dis
courage independence has been enacted
into law. No man may become can
did ate for Office, except by permission
of partisan boards. Even the internal
affairs Of the minority party must
come before these boards for final set
Element. With our present intelligent
electorate everything should be done
to encourage, not discourage, indie
pendent candidates for public office
and the opposition of organized mi
nority parties. The election law un-
der the Australian ballot system
should be SO fair that every citizen,
however humble, and every political
party, however meagre, may honor
ably seek. public favor with absolute
assurance of free ballot and a fair
count.
LEvEES AND WATERWAYS.
One of the most important questions
to the people of Louisiana is the levee
question. The tax levied for all gov
ernment purposes is five mills on the
dollar, and of this levy no less than
seventeen per cent is devoted to the
building and maintenance of levees.
OF course, we all believe in big, sub
stantial leyees, and no one wishes to
see the work lag or slacken. But 1
think determined effort should be
made by our people to turn this work
over, in its entirety, to the United
States government. The Mississippi
river is the nations greatest water
way. 1t drains vast expanse OF
country from the Allegheny to the
Rocky Mountains. Why should the
people Of Louisiana bear the brunt Of
this great drainage problem? Listen
to the words of President Roosevelt
in his magnificent speech at Vicks
burg, Mississippi, on October 81, 1907:
81 wish TO see the federal govern
ment build the system of dikes or
levees down the course of the Mississ-
ippi, which shall make the farm, the
plantation of the man that lives by the
Mississippi, as safe as if he had b
plantation by the Illinois or the Hud-
son or the Red river OF the north.
/ advocate no impossible task, no diff
fcult task. The people of Holland, a
little nation, took tWo-thirds of their
country out from under the ocean, and
they live behind the dikes now, and
have lived behind them for centuries,
In safety. With one-tenth of this eff
fort, We, an infinitely greater nation,
can take these incomparably rich bot
tom lands of lower Mississippi out
from all fearsof ever being flooded or
even being overlooked by the Mississ-
ippi.' -
There is but one way TO induce the
national government to take charge OF
the levees. The Republican party is
the party of protection, of large reve-
nues, of internal Improvement, of ca
pacity for large enter prises. The Dem
ocratic- party is the party OF free
trade, of meagre revenue, of opposi-
ton to internal improvements, of inca
pacity for large governmental prob
lens. If this work is to be undertaken
by the Washington government, it
must be undertaken by the Republi-
can party. By all means, then, let
our people show their appreciation of
this fact by electing Republicans to
Office. Such a move would solve the
levee problem for all time to come.
1t would also be a strong -inducement
=
to the national government to make
more liberal appropriations for our
numerous waterways.
PUBLIC SERVICE CORPORATIONS.
The regulation and control of public
service corporations is question of
present national Importance, which
should receive much local attention.
There can be no question Of the cor
RICHNESS of President Roosevelt's
position. This country will never ac-
cept the doctrine of public ownership
of such corporations. Regulation and
control is the remedy. But the state
must render every assistance to the
federal government. The administra-
ton at Washington will do it's share,
but that will be Insufficient the admin
istration at Baton Rougeis listless. The
power of the railroad commission
should be enlarged so as to give them
more complete jurisdiction over pub
lie utility corporations, and its mem
bers should be spurred on tosdo their
duty in forcing better service from
railroad, telegraph and telephone
companies.
TRUSTS AND COMBIN ATOMS