Lower coast gazette., 1913-05-24

lana business men at a meeting held
for the purpose Of praying protection
by the Federal Government from the
floods. The meeting was held in the
Tulane Theatre in New Orleans last
week. Governor Hall and Ex-Gover-
nor ]. Y. Sanders spoke in favor of
the bill from the viewpoint of suffer-
ers from the present unsafe system
Of flood protection. The chief argu-
ment urging the approval of the New
lands Bill was the continually reiter-
ated truth of the indefensibility Of the
levees as they are to-day. The demon.
strated unfitness of the present system
was to the speakers reason enough
for the grasping of the Newlands Bill
as a refuge from our stronger adver-
sary, the river. Finding all things
else unreliable, desperate men, made
so by their annual impoverishment by
the floods, were attracted by the reas-
onableness of this plan, which substi.
tuted human brain using engineering
for the popular shovel and spade va
riety now so unpopular. There is no
mere reason for adhering to the New
lands Bill faction than there is for
supporting the unworthy present
means of protection. There is the
reason of resorting to the most reas-
enable plan. Anyone who has suffered
from the frequent floods or who has
read, while he was secure, the tales
of the insecurity of the riverside dwell
ers, up or down>the river, must have a
reasonable doubt as to the advisability
of piling up more sand upon the same
base or foundation which was the reas-
on why the levee before this one sank
or crumbled. o one who readsons be-
lieves that castles can be built on air.
That is why men favor the Newlands
Bill, because it is reasonable, and its
opposing system powerless as well as
unreasonable.
The Knights Of Pythias held their
State Convention last week in New Or
leans.
DR.. Bowling visited New Orleans and
found few of his suggestions made on
a former visit carried out, as he had
been promised they would be.
The housekeepers of New Orleans
are making a steady attack on the
present market system there. They
claim prices for garden truck are ex.
cessive and prove that the market
stall keeper charges six or seven times
the price he paid for the vegetables
from the gardener. The present sys-
tenn is to the disadvantage Of both the
p~roduccr-the gardener anu the con-
sumer-the people. Several relieving
systems have been suggested. To al
low the gardeners to sell their truck
direct to the consumers is best, but
impracticable.
The gardener must work in his
fields. To allow the peddler to peddle
during market hours would be to the
advantage Of the people as long as the
peddler was competing or was gov
%ernmentally regulated. In all depar-
lures from the present system the fact
that all of this extortion is because Of
human greed must be recognized and
used. Abolish markets and allow ped
dlers to sell cheap without forcing
them by law to sell reasonably would
be relying for relief upon an impos-
sibility. The regulating Of the prices
of the products is most necessary. The
extortion of the markets is practiced
by human beings. And the peddlers
are of the same human family which
has among other attributes one Of
greed, which believes in getting all
that it can.