The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1916-10-28

|
and present chairman of the Demo
cratic state central committee, sa1ds
The Chief copy of an address ne has
led to the people of this state ex-
planning and advocating the adoption
Of the eighteen constitutional amend
ments which are to be voted on at the
election of November z. Mr.. Thom-
as numbers the measures in the order
of their appearance on the ballot, and
we cheerfully accord space to the fol-
lowing synopsis of his address, which
is commended to our readers as
worthy of their best attention and
calmest consideration. He says:
| believe brief elucidation of each
| amendment will be appreciated by the
average voter, thaaSaasmay not be al
togetha ~ dark on these import
| ans IN ateefs when he comes to cast his
lallot. believe every true Louislanlan
desires to vote for what he honestly
believes to be for the best interest of
his state and not otherwise, and it he
makes any mistake it is an error OF his
head and not his heart.
| 1t is little unfortunate that so
many amendments are to be submit
ted at the same time. It is faulty
system, and really believe we should
never have more than five PROPOSE
tions submitted at one time, and even
less would be better. A practice has
grown up Of making too much legisla-
ton constitutional, rather than legis-
Ilative, and every time change is de-
sired an amendment becomes neces-
sary. An example in point is the Con-
federate veteran pension amendment,
u which has already been amended at
| least four different times, whereas, II
only the levying of the tax was made
constitutional and the other features
left to the general assembly, much
needless cost and expense might have
Ibeen saved. Other similar cases could
be cited.
Amendment No. l is to fund the
floating debt of the city of New Orle-
ans and it's school board and to place
them on cash basis and prohibit fu-
ture anticipation of revenues. Now
is a good time to float such bonds,
when money is plentiful, and as It
). only affects the. people of New Orle-
/ ans and Is desired by them, see no
reason why we should not support the
4 measure.
q Amendment No, 2 extends the op-
e Grafton of the juvenile court to. the
V country towns, whereas it is now con-
). fined to the cities. This is a good mea-
r sure. Juvenile offenders should not
S be sent to the penitentiary, but to the
d reformatories instead, and some ef.
e fort should be made to reclaim then
: and convert them into good citizens
That is one of the essential duties OF
the state.
= Amendment No 3 authorizes par
ishes and cities to levy special taxes
for certain improvements not author
lied under the present constitution
This has special reference to subsldiz
n ing steamboat or barge line and wa:
!, largely passed in the interest o.
+ Shreveport and the restoration o.
e navigation on Red river. None O
= these special taxes can exceed 5 mill
t. per year, nor run more than 10 years
). nor be imposed at all except by ma
l. jority vote Of tax payers in both mum
lie Der and value of property.
,r Amendment No. authorizes tn
d. city of New Orleans to bridge or tun
D. mel the Mississippi river. No on
i could seriously object to that, / al
sure, as no special or increased taxa
ton is involved.
o- Amendment No. 5 places the dis
f. trict attorney of New Orleans on
G salary basis and abolishes fees, an
T.. is I'd saving and does not cost tn
state ahy think the salar,
100000, rather large, but at the sam
time it is much less than is now pait
u and if the amendment should be vote
.r down we would continue the presel
~ undesirable status.
Amendment No. permits wome
to serve on the various educations
correctional and charity boards of tt
by state and is strongly supported /
the good women of the state. This
or are certainly competent for the
N. places, and this is step in the rig
nd direction.
Amendment No. z gives the Co
w derate veterans all the money q
ass rived from the pension tax and a
thorizes an increase of their peSsio
tho to $25 per month as the funds
ks come available for this purpose.
ac- us support it heartily.
tho Amendment No. authorizes
es city of Shreveport to fund it's foati
md debt into bonds. An amendment v
tie. necessary on account of the city HI
ing already voted all the taxes p
missible under present laws. No o
pe- er part of the state is interested
cept Shreveport.
Amendment No. 9 amplifes the
n thority of the legislature in regard
80, harbor and other improvements :
~ was devised for the benefit of l.
&c Charles primarily. I see no reas
, @ " able objection to the proposition.
Amendment No. 10 provides
funding the debt Of the penitenti
board to the amount of 100000
:, F. rate not exceeding 5 per cent inter
"a " believe these obligations can nov
= funded at Az per cent interest
par. The board is paying from
,.oor per cent on it's floating debt, an
ding Inns alllelsunn as a,n - ooo % ~ e1o nnn
punt ny save iloln sIe,s Tr;e. ,,,;ll
~ put the board on practically
wv basis, whereas it is now paying
U prices for everything it buys bee
:, mo it is not able to pay cash. The a
ton of this amendment is almost
i perative if the present state ad
. istration is to be permitted to
+;,o the difficulties which it inherited
* | the old board. I sincerely hope