The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1908-02-14

contest one OF Lue l"O "lu0''
the ward finished his two year TERM
in the city council, and his colleague
holding over until the year following
This practice of alternating, together
with a mayoralty election when III
clnded with it a batch OF 50 alder
men to be elected in the various
wards, and a roster of city and coun-
ty officials, kept the political pot Ooh-
ing in all the wards, and especialS
the doubtful districts, the "deDaIaOle
ground" of both parties.
The office of alderman was one OF
the most important, if not the very
greatest, in the gift of the people a9
the people themselves saw it; that Is
in many wards. 1t mattered COM
naratiyeIy little who was mayor II
nattered less who was PRESIDENT but
1t made big lot of difference as 10
who was alderman.
Now it so happened in our ward
that the opposition party had pracu'
cally determined on rolling thelr
nominee. To roll a candidate means
to shelye him, and put him out OF
business" The selected victim IN
this instance had served one term as
alderman. but while perfectly honest
he had not proved acceptable TO MS
marty ca he had been marked Tor
slaughter. The nomination was as
sured him; also defeat at the polls
This fact being generally known eX-
cent to the sacrificial individual him.
self. a grand rush was being made on
our side for the aldermanic nomlna-
ton. it being considered in the ma
ture of what was commonly known as
"a raw.hide cinch" to beat this nom
inee, who was, in the language OF the
vulgar, merely "a fall guy" put up to
have a large and juicy lemon handed
to him.
Certain downtown elements began
to get busy on my behalf about this
time, loudly proclaiming that was
tne very man for the place. a. rhc'
which I fiattered myself was fairly
apparent. But there were elements
in the ward which wanted another
man, and still another faction which
espoused the cause of third man,
and so the race Stood triangular
fight, with myself and another man
leading, and one "also ran" trailing,
hoping to get some of our delegates
in case Of a split and not enough for
either of US to win.
Tell it not in Gath, but you can
not run a political campaign without
money. Money to thoroughly clrcu-
larize a ward with your platform and
promises; money to hire help to adj
dress envelopes and hire boys to dis
tribute hand-bills; money for print
ing; money for halls; money for
bands; money for cab fare to speak
ers; money for the precinct captain
on election day; money for campaign
literature, money for this, that anC
everything And in many instances
"big roll" for the saloon keepers II
your ward, if it was saloon ward.
MY ward was not strictly speaking
saloon ward, but there were grea
many saloons in It, My plan of cam
paign. however, did not include sa
loon canvass This. needless to say,
kent to myself, but as | was not
hanger-on around "buffets," it wa
probably surmised what my course o
action would be. l never could SCI
any logical reason why sane maj
should 60 into saloon after saloon
~. throw down a ten.dollar bill for abou
$40 worth of liquor, and have thu
"bar-keep" sweep the cash into hi
till without insulting you with tn
v return of any beggarly change.
looked quite as reasonable a propC
sition to me that he should go int
all the other legalized places o
business in the ward, after meat, gre
ceries, hardware, furniture, cigars
drugs, clothing, and follow the sam
course, winding up at the undertab
ing establishments, and arranging 70
o cluster of funerals.
- ---==5~ smgularly we'll equipped t
look at this matter in strictly cor
servative light. had never been il
toxicated in my life, nor had I eve
taken the pledge. When in the cours
of human events it became necessar
for me to take a drink, usually too
one. In the summer time, being
lover of buttermilk, l went into 81
looms frequently that carried lin
of this cheering beverage, and got
and paid for it. If happened to wal
a glass of beer, or "schoppen" I
Rhine wine, and settler, | got tina
Or If | desired Is cents worth
the demon rum I took that. | b
lieve there is considerable intempe
ance in eating as well as drinkin
and that much human misery may
laid to over-indulgence in the demo
pie crust"
However that may be, paste this
your hat for future reference. Wi
malice towards none and charity
all. / am free to maintain that whe
the standard of citizenship is loves
and the average of intelligence Il