St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1909-04-24
CLARION AND DIVISION.
Nj. Thos. b. Lewis Charges that lls Tone Last
week Is a Contrast With Former Position.

Opelousas, La, April "a. 1909.
Editor Clarion:
/ was very much surprised, indeed,
at the altered tone Of your paper, as
evidenced by the editorial in your last
issue under the heading, The Elec-
tom, an editorial in marked contrast
with your editorial which appeared in
your issue Of April 8, under the head
ing Of "Goaded to Action.
In your last issue, you intimate in
strong terms your opinion that the
contest should be given up, using the
following language:
"On the other hand, those who IA
yor division believe that the soyer-
eign people having spoken in thunder
voice in their favor, they.are entitled to
the object sought. Under the circum-
stances they have a right to so be-
lieve, and have a right to feel that
the intrusion of the courts in the mat
ter is not hardening TO the fat that
has gone down the ages as a bulWark
of liberty and freedom: The voice of
the people is the voice Of Cod.
You furthermore remark in your ed
itorial that: Whether or not the
election was illegally called and that
the constitution of t h 9 land says a
tWo-third vote shall decide such a
grave question as the dismemberment
Of a parish, is a matter for lawyers to
bubble over and courts to decide.
These editorial expressions are IN
striking contrast to the admirable
tone Of the very just and strong ed
itorial which you so recently publish
ed under the heading above given,
and from which | will here quote but
two extracts:
Intoxicated by electing four rep
resentatiyes and the Senator from this
parish through combination with of
feeseekers and a concentration Of
votes, the d~ivisionists seem to have
run amuck and pursued the policy
that they had the brute force to put
through anything they desired, and
this policy they have followed to an
~exasperating extent.
In reference to the d~ivisionists, you
used the following language: AT all
times they have been greedy and
grasping, moving heaven and earth to
mutilate the old parish and humiliate
its people as much as possible.
Now, Mr.. Editor, since you declar-
ed in your issue Of the Bird inst. that
this question was Of far-reaching inn
p~ortance to the people of our City and
Of the old Parish, and that the unjust
and arbitrary course Of the divisionists
had "goaded" them to action in carry
ing the matter into court, how could
you, with consistency, have referred
to the great constitutional questions
raised in this litigation as questions
merely for lawyers to bubble over"
As one of the lawyers partly re-
s~ponsible for the pending litigation. I
wish to say for myself, my legal as
sociates and for the eight citizens
who appear asplaintiffs in the two
pending suits, that we are engaged in
the serious, and to some extent, thank
less task of endeaYoring, as far as
we can, TO use your language to pre-
vent this old parish from being
wrecked, SO that they (the division
ists) might build upon its ruins a par
ish containing more area than neces-
sary and made up Of the most beauti-
full and most fertile territory Of the
present parish. Neither am |, nor
my associate, Judge G. i. Dupre, Mr..
quibbling with this great
question. We are giving our legal
services as we'll as our money gratis,
TO defeat the wrong with which our
city and parish are now seriously
threatened; and should we succeed in
the enabling act annulled as
unconstitutional, and the divisionists
come again before the legislature for
another act for the Grafton Of their
lew parish, they will at least be COM
relied to adopt a line Of division more
ust and less permanently harmful to
he City Of 0pelousas and to the old
/ think, Mr.. Editor, that in
he effort to render so great a public
erYice to our city and parish, we
hould have the earnest, cordial and
Inremitting support of all right-min-
people, a n d especially of t h Q
ress of our own city, whose interests
re chiefly imperiled at this juncture.
Yours very truly,
nETInp n nTYTTa