St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1909-07-31
CONTINUED from first page)

to defend my stewardship Of the ONCE
which the people have honored me.
with. / might say, however, that
your officials from Governor to con-
stable, are but mere human beings.
They are human, like yourself, and
you can not expect perfection in them.
TheyEare, striving for the advancement
and uplifting Of the State and its
government, and are bound TO make
mistakes. Great lawyers with parish
wide regulations, aye with State
vide regulations, make mistakes.
Great doctors, perfected in the prae-
Bce Of their profession, make mis-
takes in the diagnosis Of their cases.
Great merchants that have given
their entire life to their business and
it's every department, make mistakes.
Great farmers that have spent a life
time in the cultivation and study of
the soil, make mistakes. And your
public officials are but the blood of
your blood, the flesh Of your flesh,
bone of your bone, and therefore you
you can expect naught but that they
shall make mis- also.
Since / have become Governor /
have made up my mind to do some
thing for all the people, and that is
why | am engaged in the good roads
work. / want to do something. Idon't
want to be a drone. You can never
accomplish anything if YOU don't try
to DO something. People who have
something to do don't generally look
around to see who they can cuss. It
is the easiest thing in the world to
euss something, and when one wants
to cuss something he generally chooses
the government, and it's officials, as
the mark for a good round cussing.
1 have done it myself. The Governor
and the government are public tar
gets, because it is known that a
Governor can not engage in a per-
sonal controversy with every M
In the State who chooses TO cuss him.
But there is one thing my enc
mics can not accuse me Of doing
and that is nothing.
but chat is not what | came here
to talk about. | came here to talk
about good roads," continued the
Governor. Public schools are a
great need of the %country-and we
haYe them but need more. So it is
~saseless to talk to you of education,
and one that would obstruct educa-
tiOnal advancement would be swept
away and buried so deep that Ga
briefs horn would never reach him.
Public roads-what does it mean?
aal glad that you farmers are here
from all over the State, for it is to
YOU that public roads means more
than any other class Of public i'm
tprovements. You say you are too
4Roor to have good roads. That's not
q 8 You are too poor to have bad
ones. The rich man doesn't need the
aDublic school-he can send his child
ren away off yonder for an educa-
Ragn; and neither does he need good
roads. He is the only man that can
afford to have bad roadside poor
nan must have good roads in order
Co reach the markets with his prod
uctB at the least possible cost.
Government statistics prove that
4 team will last three times as long
Cd d good road as it will on a
bad one. Therefore when you buy
three teams, two Of them go as a tax
for bad roads.
1T has been proven that q buggy
or wagon will last four times as long
on good roads as they will on bad
ones. Therefore when you buy four
buggies or four wagons, three of
them go as a tax for bad roads.
-Four out of every five sets of
harness is a tax for bad roads.
"a team can haul six times as
much on good roads as on bad ones,
and it matters not how good a crop
you make, if you can't get it to mar
ket. You had just as we'll not make it.
Can il be proved here in Louisiana
that good roads increase the value of
lands? Yes, it can. Right over
there ia VIM parish several years
ago timber land could be bought for
from ST to SIS per acre, but to-day
they have railroads all through the
parish. and good dirt roads, and that
same land is worth from $50 to SIS
per acre.
IN this State, where the climate
IL unsurpassed, where we can raise a
crnp IL months out Of the year, we
have let i little thing called the boil
weevil undermine prosperity. Why,
II every stalk Of cotton was to be
destroyed tonight. we could 60 to
work the next morning on some other
erol aud make enough to feed the
entire country.
spent my vacation over in Ala
l,gms last month. / wanted to see
bow the people took 20 good roads,
has they buils them yand how they
pad for them. In That State they
bsyr st,vut over one million dollars