The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1909-06-05
4 Texas and Pacific Passenger sta.
ton in NeM Orleans.

4
makts every traveller wish be could
Hollow some other route is one of those
i strange paradoxes that confront thu
onlooker so often in our transporta
ton lines. II would seem to be obtuse
ness. It is surely lack of the ap
/ plieation OF enlightened self interest
The fact probably is that the real rea
sons are very complex, but the larges
element is that all the higher officials
are always greatly overWorked and ST
weighty and complicated a problem
or rather congeries of problems, il
put aside for study, the uninterrupted
time for which never arrives.
For the railway company to expec
The city of New Orleans to make it .
present of a site is of course absurd
To sit back and pout because this il
not done is simply childish. To be
unwilling to spend the money is IN,
wise. The company must have pas
senger terminal in New Orleans, and
the sooner it acquires one the less il
will cost. There is no human reason
for anticipating that such plant car
find a location at less cost than now,
but every reason for the belief that
progressing years will multiply the
mere cost of ground many fold.
The attitude OF mind of the city au-
thorities and the public generally is
| t 10 hard for disinterested person to
understand. This is true Of the city IS
relations not alone to the Texas and
Pacific, but TO ali other lines as we'll.
It is as certain as anything can be
that the city cannot grow and prosper
as it should without the railroad facfi
tiles being adequate. It's equally true
thatthe Illinois Central is the only road
with anything even approaching ade-
quate terminals on the east side of the
river. TheIliinoisC Central passenger sta
ton is nothing to be particularly proud
of. There isn't a town of one.tenth
the size ofNeu Orleans north of the Ohio
river that is not as well or better pro-
vided with such facilities, both as to
quality and quantity.
Why the city should want to spancel
It's railroads is rot understandable.
Grants should of course be properly
limited and procisoed. but the rail-
roads cannot have franchises of value
that they themselves do not largely
create. There is really less Of un-
earned Increment in railroad fran
chises than in almost any thing else now
known to civilization On the other
b and, adequate transportation facili-
lies really make possible the increased
earniag capacity OF all other property
especially real estate-which gives
tang BILE evidence Of the unearned in
cranent therein.
Il behooves the city and the 7. & p.
to get together. Let the railway com.
pang get proper site and the city
give reasonable and proper franchises
and privileges. and let a proper pas
senper station be built accessible to
the business part of the town. The
town and the railway company are by
The very necessities of the case part
nsrs in a common enterprise. They
ought to direct and accomplish it like
sensible people and thus benefit the
community.
Pieayunish Opposition to Public
Education.
It is idle for the esteemed Picayune
TO try to obscure the truth about edu.
cation IN Louisiana by pretended fear
of negro domination. The lear OF
paying taxes is at the bottom of the
opposition to adequate educational
facilities in this state. The pocket
nerve is much more sensitive than any
apprehe1 sion on racial grounds. The
race question in truth has nothing to
do with the matter.
Why are so many thousands Of
white children in New Orleans sui
fered to grow up in absolute igno-
rance-not even able to write and
spell their own names or read q
printed ballot-if this fear of negro
domin alton is the sensory nerve whose
irritation causes such pseudo con
vulsions as distort columns of thu
Pscayune's editorial page?
Why does the Piea5une ignore the
statement Of the factory inspector
| that a compulsory education law is
necessary for the salvation Of the
white children?
Miss Gordon is not q Republican
politician and can have no interest IN
negro votes. She has said as ex-
plieitly as words can make it that IN
the Picayuneas home town the negroes
| take more advantage OF educational
facilities than the whites and that the
compulsory law is necessary to get
The white children into school.
With or without the law the General
Education Board will continue It's
work among the negroes. L has not
yet found a dearth of pupils nor any
need for a compulsory school law.
The real logic Of the situation is
that If this pretended bugaboo OF
negro education were the real fear
That aetuated the Pieayune and It's
cIientele, that paper would be the
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