The Caucasian., 1911-07-23
THE MARKS BILL
Shall AsweIl Have Another Chance
For BOsSdom"


what is commonly known as the
Marks Bill" an act which was
PASSED under the regime OF DR.. j. h.
Aswell with his approval and sup
port. and in order to determine II
he be the proper man to elect Gov
ernor. let us see what kind of leg
islaIion he had placed on the sta
tule books of the stale when he had
the power to do SO.
Its a good way 10 judge a man, 10
tell what a candidate for office Is
going to do when he is elected, to
Idig into what he did in the past, to
unearth what he--did while in Of
flee and had the power to do SOME
thing.
Patrick Henry said something to
the effect that the only lamp to
guide our feet for the future is the
experience of the past, and the peo-
pie of this state who were SO badly
fooled by the Great Promiser from
st. Mary, had better take Patrick
Henry's advice and use the past as
a guide to the future.
But the Marks bill. This is the
measure that put the public
schools in politics. This is the
measure which was passed during
the time that the peoples candi-
date" for governor was at the head
of the educational affairs of the
Istate This is the measure which
flames B. Aswell, superintendent of
Ipublic education, favored ami for
Iced on the little children and par
ents i'll this state, AND THIS IS
!ONE OF THE MEASURES WHIC4
CANDIDATE .ASWELL DECLARES
HE WILL HAVE REPEALED; not
Idirectly does he declare it, but inGl-
Ireetly does he so declare when he
says that he favors the divurccmcri
tof the public schools from politics.
DOES HE FAVOR THEIR DT-
lYORCEMENT NOW WHEN HE Ia
VORED AN OL1GARCHY IN THE
PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM While he
had another job? Pardon Us i We
lare a bit skeptical about what he
will favor when he becomes govern
or, if he should by chance become
governor.
But to the Marks bill.
BY this act 49 of i903 charged TO
have been prepared by Asw9ll ard
urged on the legislature of the state.
EVERY PARISH SUPERTNTEND-
ENT MUST HOLD A CEATIFIJ,A l. f
FROM THE STATE BOARD OF
EDUCATION AND MUST BE A
PRACTICAL EDUCATOR.
Thus you see that only educators
We're eligible to the position but
further, even as TO these they could
not hold the position unles they
were endorsed by the state board o.
|education, thus placing the parish
superintendent under the state
board and making him resp nsible
to that board.
But worse still, THE GERTIFI-
CATE OF ENDORSEMENT WAS
REVOCABLE BY THE STALE
BOARD FOR INCOMPETEN6 y. IN
EFFICIENCY or UNWORTHINEsS.
This was the club that was held
over the head of the parish super
intendent and forced him to do tho
bidding of the state superintendent
then the present peoples eandi-
date" for governor.
This bill went further. It gave to
the parish superintendent almost, il
not quite, entire control of the par
ish schools, took their government
out of the hands of the parish board
which had been made elective, and
placed i'll the hands of one man,
this representative of the state su-
perintendent of education.
How did they do it? It's dis
agreeable story, this robbery from
the people of the right to govern
their local schools, but let it be told,
yes let it be told from one end of
the state to the other, and let the
'silver-tongued' egg-peddler ex-
plain If he can why he did it unto
the little children then, why he
struck them a blow when he was
holding the commission of their
fathers and mothers as their chief
representative in the state.
How did he do it?
He did it this way: He had the
parish superintendent absolutely un-I
der his control and he PLACED
THE PARISH BOARD UNDER THE
CONTROL OF THE PARISH SU-|
pERINTENDENT Thus he had con-
troll of every parish school board in
the state, and the right of the peo-
pie to elect them was an empty
dream.
Under the Marks bill the parish
school board, except with the con-
sent and approval of the parish su-