The true Democrat. [volume] (Bayou Sara [La.]) 1892-1928, 1915-08-28
CONSTITUTION SCARE STORIES.

! Uake Charles Americana ress.)
Our scared brethren of the Louisiana
press, who are afraid to let the consti.
tutional convention meet and try to
rectify the very real and generally
acknowledged evils of our present
basic law, talk mysteriously of some
baleful program" of Objectionable
laws which is to be slipped in, some.
how, and jockeyed into law under the
unsuspecting eyes of the taxpayers.
None of them know just what these
mysterious enactments are to be, or
how they affect the taxpayers, or how
they can be incorporated in constitu-
ton to be submitted to vote of the
people SO as to escape discussion, criti-
cism and death at the polls, but they
continually urge that the constitution.
al convention must be killed before 1t
| is born, just to rescue the state from
! this danger.
| 1t occurs to us that the existence of
such a secret understanding among the
politicians" makes it all the more de-
|sirable to hold the convention II any
furtive interest is to, be served by
legislation in this state, it Is first nee
essary to know what it seeks to do
before the people can fight it off. The
holding of constitutional convention
will inevitably disclose these secret
aims and desires, IL they really exist,
and the voters will have a chance to
slaughter them at the polls. Other
wise, they will hang as threatening
clouds over our heads until the oppor.
tunity arrives to enact them into law
without submission to the people.
1t may be argued that the taxpayers
will vote for whatever the convention
sees fit to submit in the way of con.
stitution, without close examination
into its provisions. There is little
likelihood Of this. The amendments to
the present constitution, which are
submitted from time to time, are in
creasingly scrutinized and good ones
generally adopted and bad ones reject
ed If the people are so careful about
amendments they will be more so when
the entire constitution is submitted to
them.
All these Pigments about conspira-
cies to destroy our liberties, these raw.
head-and-bl oody-bones yarns only fit to
brighten children, are based upon the
idea that the constitution will be final.
ly adopted by the convention as its
predecessors were, without being sub
mitted to vote of the people. But
the outstanding feature of the situation
is that the people of Louisiana must
accept this constitution by vote before
it becomes law. The present constitu-
ton of Louisiana would suit the politi-
cal or other selfish interests Of the
state better than any new instrument
that could be devised; if they desire
anything more than they already have
it would be much easier to secure 1t
from the legislature, where the consent
of the people is not required and their
Intervention impossible
All of this agitation against the hold
ing of any convention at all means that
the people of Louisiana, in the opinion
of the agitators, are incapable of gov.
erning themselves or deciding what ia
best for themselves. The man who
votes against the holding of a conven.
ton, in the election next Tuesday, says
by his vote that he Is either too ig-
norant to tell whether the constitution
to be submitted by the convention IL
good or bad, or too cowardly to vote as
his Judgment dictates.
"A