The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1910-10-07

The question of parish division, up
on which the people Of CalcaS en
parish Will be called upon to vote, at
the coming November election, isl
probably the most momentous and far
reaching in itsrrsults, Of any question
with which the people have been crE-
froDted within the past decade. 1t is lot
auuestion of which town shall become
the parish seat, nor yet is it ultimate
~ the question of the saving that VIII
accI ne to the public, in general, by
having less distance to go, when
called to the parish seat on legal bust
ness, nor is it the question of liberat-
ing the parish from a set OF parish Of
fcials that are claSsed as '"rhe Ringl'
and "Grafters, by the average d.
visiOnist, except at election times,
when a sufficient number of said d.
visiOnists Loyalty march to the polls
and vote for said officials, to elect
them by an Overwhelming majority"
Nor is it because the present parish is
too large to be properly administered,
as is sometimes asserted. In TACT,
there is no general reason applicable
to the masses of the people. for divid-
inc the parish of Calcasieu, at the
present time The reasons that are
advocated are all of a strictly local
nature. which, while applying ber@f-
cially 10 one locality, works CORE
spending hardship upon another. We
realize that for jennings, DeEsidder
and Oakdale, the prospective parish
seats of the new parishes, parish d.
vision would, in way, be beneficial,
as it would, of course, become neces-
sary to build a courthouse and jail
10 each of these cities, but on the 9th
er hand, their rate of taxation would
be greatly advanced, so that it is
doubtful if thev would be permanently
benefited even then, The mere matter
of being the parish seat does not make
a town, as is we'll shown in the case
of our neighbor, Crowley, the parish
seat of Acadia, and Rayne, which is
not d parish seat, but is far ahead Of
it in business life and energy. Again,
it is OF the public in general that is
complaining of the distance they have
to 90 to the parish seat, in order to
transact legal business. That ismere-
ly "bogy man" put out by the d.
visionists, in the main. The average
citizen Of the parish is not called to
the parish seat on court duties, more
than once in four or five years, and as
far a being compelled to 90 there ior
other court house duties, it is not nee
essarS for citizen, who does not
want to 90 to Lake Charles for other
things, to 90 there either to pay his
taxes, poll tax or to register, DIS these
things can be done either in his own
home town, at some time during the
wear, or can be transacted by mail if
so desired The average citizen OF
the parish, goes to Lake Charles more
often to visit the theatre, circus, or
to Fourth of July celeb alton than
he does for actual parish seat business
Ii, as is asserted by some Of our
friends, they are fighting for parish
division, in order to gain relief from
the present political ring of the par
ish, it would be far cheaper to defeat
the Ring at the polls the next time they
come up for election, than to go to
the trouble of dividing the parish, in
order to accomplish that feat The
fact is, this reason is another "bogy
man." us the very precincts that are
making the strongest fight for division,
are precincts that all gave majorities
to the greater number of the present
parish officials and could defeat the
SAM in the next election if so dis
posed, despite any effort that might
be pat forth hv Luke Charles. On
the other hand there are general and
far-reaching reasons why the parish
of Cslca>je should not be divided at
this time, Caloas'eu is the largest
paris the ta'e ard recognized,
not onIy withia re couhnes of the
state, but Ia neighborinp states. as
the most enlightened and progressive
parish of the state. 1t is accorded
having the best public school system
of the state, being one of tie few par
ishes of the state that supports gem
eral niue months term in her high
schools and an average OF eight
months for her primary and grammar
grades. Human life is held more sa-
cred and greater per cent of the per-
petrators of crime, are brought to
speedy justice than is the case in al
most any other parish in the state.
Nao,o wills "a ra;lrood bava baop