The Donaldsonville chief., 1910-09-17
GONZALES ASK FOR IT'S OWN.

The people of the eastern portion of the
parish of Ascension have united in a
petition to the Louisiana Railroad Com
mission that is full of merit from both
practical and sentimental standpoints.
They ask that the ancient and honorable
name of Gonzales be accorded the recog-
milton and respect it deserves by being ap-
piled to the station of the Louisiana Rail
way and Navigation Company located in
the village of Gonzales.
The station now bears the name of
Edenborn, bestowed by the railway
authorities, not so much, perhaps, to
honor Mr.. Edenborn, the president of their
company, as to spite the people of Con-
zales and vicinity for having successfully
resisted the attempt of the company to To-
cate the station some distance away from
the village. Edenborn is an excellent name
and President Edenborn is man to whom
the people of Ascension and many other
parishes owe a considerable obligation for
having pushed his railroad through their
territory from Shreveport to New Orleans
but Edenborn is not as good name for a
station in Gonzales as is Gonzales. In
! fact, no other name in the world is as
good for that purpose as is Gonzales, and
any other is miSnomer
A special despatch from Baton Rouge
to the New Orleans Times Democrat
dated September 10, thus describes the
Gonzales petition and the circumstances
that gave rise to its presentation:
THE longest petition in the history
of the railroad commission reached that
office to-day from Gonzales, a station in
| Ascension parish on the Louisiana Rail-
way and Navigation Company, designated
/ on the maps and folders of that road as
| Edenborn. The petition sets forth that
the people of that place desire the COM
mission to change the name of the station
! from Edenborn to Gonzales in accordance
with privilege granted by the recent
| regular session of the general assembly
to the railroad commission to name
stations as it sees fit. This is the first
attempt on the part of the people of a
community to have the commission exer-
else this right.
This is not the first time that the Eden
born station has come into prominence
before the commission, there having been
considerable trouble about the site of the
depot at that place. The petition sets
forth that Gonzales postoffice is in the
center of the settlement, that the place
has always been designated as Gonzales
and numerous other reasons why the
name of Gonzales apply to the station in
stead of Edenborn The petition, exclu
sive of the heading and comprising that
portion required for the signatures, is in
two parts, each seven feet long, and each
part bears two rows Of names, making a
| total continuous row of signatures twenty
eight feet in length 1t will be preserved
| by the commission not only as being the
! first petition received under the new
station naming statute but as the LONGEST
petition by actual measurement in the
| files"
The hearing of this matter has been
set for September 30 by the Railway COM
mission, and Attorney S. A Marchand of
| Donaldsonville, who was born and reared
at Gonzales, has been retained to appear
| for petitioners. 1t ought to require little
effort on his part to convince the members
OF the commission that every considera-
ton of justice and propriety demands
! that the application be granted