St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1908-08-15

ROBERT c. WIcKLIFFE.
numbers, and attested their apprecia-
ton of his logical arguments and very
pretty compliments to the women of
the Florida Parishes, by frequent ap-
plause.
There were on the platform with the
honorable speaker: Mayor E. v. Ri
chard, Councilmen E. ]. Frederick, C.
M. Poole, Jr. and Jacob Seller, City
Attorney E. HI. Richard, Hon. Craw-
ford Williams, 3. ]. Domergue, Jr.,
Frank Keller, C. 2, Hardie, M. C.
Smith, w, /, RUSSELL and D. H. Mason,
Jr., and E, D. Kentgel, of the Farmer.
After few appropriate remarks Mr..
M. G. Smith, master Of ceremonies,
introduced as the first speaker, Mr.. E.
H. Richard, who went over the twelve
parishes in the Sixth District, showing
that the nomination Of Mr.. Wickliffe
was an assured fact, from all reason
able deduction. He paid very high
compliments to Mr.. Wickliffe as a
man of character and ability and spoke
of HIM as second to none as an orator.
Mr.. Wickliffe said, that while not
lacking in appreciation of the compli-
ments paid him by Mr.. Richard as an
orator, he much preferred to be looked
upon as worker, an, accomplished, a
doer of deeds rather than an oratorieal
painter of fanciful pictures. That if
he went to Congress he wished to earn
the reputation Of being of some practl-
cal assistance to his constituency. The
man who accomplished things was the
man who worked, not the man who
merely talked and made fioWery
speeches.
While complimenting Congressman
Favrot on his picturesque differences
in the national house of representa-
tives he convulsed his audience by a
ludricious illustration of the useless
ness of such oratory to the people of
the Sixth District, when devoted to
the Philippines Islands. He spoke of
Covington as one of the prettiest towns
in the Florida parishes, and said that
with its rapid gtowth it would soon be
entitled to q government building.
That the traffic ST our rivers demanded
that they be dredged and cleared and
made available for the coming trade
that was sure to follow in the wake
of increased prosperity and renewed
public enterprise. 1t was work that
would accomplish these things, not
eulogies of the hooking bird, nor the
recitation of fiowery lines.
In speaking of the probable outcome
of the primary election, Mr.. Wickliffe
said that the value placed upon man
by his own community should be a
pretty fair test of his qualifications. He
said that there would be a second pri-
mary, and he asked the people to take
note that he predicted that the two
parishes of East and West Feliciana,
with their 1400 votes, would give him
a larger majority than the home parish
of Favrot, East Baton Rouge, with its
1000 votes.
He said that by the stand Congress
man Favrot had taken in the Consti-
tutional Convention in voting against
the suffrage law, as unconstitutional,
he had made it impossible for himself
to be of any use in opposing the at
tempt in Congress to reduce repre-
sentation in the Southern States. If
he believed that act in violation of the
Constitution of the United States, then
his mouth was forever closed to any
criticism of that act by the enemies of
the South,
He said that it was a poor rule that
would not apply to all cases. Con-
gresham FaVrot, in his canvass for
office, two years ago, declared tradi-
cally wrong that one man should hold
an Office for twenty years, and that it
was time to make change. If that
was so, then it is radically wrong for
one parish to be represented for near
ly forty years, as was the case with
East Baton Rouge. 1t was time for
some other parish to have a chance,
and he was asking the people for that
chance,
The applause that frequently inter-
rupted Mr.. Wickhffe's utterances
would indicate that he is an eloquent
and pleasing speaker as well as a
worker. In fact no speaker who has
visited Covington has won a warmer
place in the hearts of his audience
than Mr.. Wickliffe, and he has left an
impression upon the people that will
place many votes for him in the ballot
box at the coming primary.