The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1912-07-09
BARRET'S POSITION

/
position to the FOntcnOt Amend
ment Is Dispieasing to the Gov
crnOr-A Statement Of Facts.
| There has arisen a wide divergence
IOf views between Governor l.. f.
Hall and Lieutenant Governor II. C.
Barrett over the proposed FOntenOt
amendment, in which is provided the
refunding of the bonded debt Of the
State and leaving to the courts the
determination of the legal and equit-
able claim of the holders of such
bonds.
In a special message to the State
Senate Governor Hall in urging the
favorable consideration of the Fon-
tenot bill, INDUCED in words which
| provoked a number of senators to
a personal resentment Of an implied
if not direct discredit by the Gov
crnor, to which Senator Leon r..
Smith replied with vigor. The sen
ator from Caddo made plain the rea-
son why the bill should be dlsap-
proved. In this controversy the
| Lieutenant Governor was drawn,
| and following bitter criticism in
| the Times Democrat and the Item,
| issued a statement from which the
| readers of the Caucasian can derive
interesting information of which
they had no definite knowledge:
Mr.. Barret's Statement.
"AlI I ask Of the public press is
TO state my position fairly, as out
lined before the Senate Friday.
There is no reason why the refund
ng of our honest and unquestioned
bonded indebtedness (meaning the
ti,0M0OO of 4 per cent consOlidat-
ID bonds should not be submitted
n one separate and distinct amend
nent as was done by the General
Assembly of 1910 and if the Gov
'rnOr desires to submit to the peO-
)lc of the State the question of
opening up the discussion of such
Utterly unworthy claims as Coupon
No. II, it ought to be done in a sep
arate amendment and not offered in
uch a manner as to force the elec-
lors throughout the State to open
he doors of the courts to this claim.
II hope the Senate will oppose
my amendment that does not sepa-
ate the honest bonded debt Of the
State from any treatment or discus
ion of thoroughly discredited, re
pudiated and dishonest claims.
ut is cOnsummate outrage to |
'orce the people of this State to
fote on totally dissimilar PROPOSE
ions in the same amendment with
10 opportunity to separate the ques-
ions.
'This violates the spirit, if not the |
etter, of Art. 80! of the Constitution |
If 1903. In the crudest parliament
Try bodies, one person can demand
division of the question. Then why |
should the great mass Of the people |
be denied this privilege?
Let us assume that the people |
favor inviting discussion in court |
of Coupon No. IL amounting to about |
100000, claim which men like
Bolton, Heard, Foster, Blanchard |
md others hold is utterly unworthy |
Of consideration, then separate |
amendment carrying that PROPOSE
lion will be adopted. Suppose they
10 not believe in treating in any
way with the holders of such fraud I
ulent claims, they ought, in common
iecency, be given the opportunity to
record that opinion at the ballot box.
Proposition Not Fair.
THE purpose, or the effect, of this
pending amendment is to force the
p#ople to treat with the holders OF
tEese claims, or to repudiate the
honest debt of the State. Tn the
name, specially of nearly 5000
Democrats (the majority who Sent
me here, ! protest against the I'M
fairness of proposition which may
imperil the credit of the State and
possibly lead to republication of
the entire bonded debt.
MANY Of the Baby Bonds an!
Coupon No. ~ only serve to remind
US Of an era of corruption and es-
pecially of the Infamous Burke
steal, and each succeeding admins
tration for thirty years has declined
to treat with the holders of them.
Here is an amendment which says
to the voter: You must either re
pudiate your honest bonded debt Of
Slf 100000 or you must initiate ne
gotiations for the payment of mil.
lion and quarter dollars of illegal
claims (See Farrar's opinion in
Speaker Thomas analysis of the
State debt of May 1, 1912, D. 49,.