The weekly Iberian. (New Iberia, La.) 1894-1946, 1917-08-04

We acknowledge receipt OF a
copy Of the Morning Telegraph,
"the only &c daily newspaper Id
New York City," in which appears
sketch and half tone photo Of
Congressman W. P. Martin, Of the
Third Congressional District OF
Louisiana. He is characterized
therein as "The Congressional
Man Of Mystery He is spoken
of as zone Of the s'Powerfnl Five
in the House Of Representatives
who keeps 'em guessing.
AS is reviewed in the article OF
Morning Telegraph, Mr.. Martin IS
now serving his second term as
Congressman from this sugar dis.
trict. The House of Representa-.
tives was, upon organization,
equally divided between the Dem.
Iocrats and Republicans, with i've
Congressman holding the balance
of powder. Two Of these FIVE sid
ed with the Democrats and other
two with the Republicans. This
left sour" Congressman peculiarly
the man of mystery, as we'll as the
man of power. 1t was situation
Of a life time, in which our man
from the "Third District" was pit.
ted against the brightest and
most experienced men Of the two
great parties, both sides seeking
his favor. Therefore he ls styled
the Congressional Man Of Mys'
terry"
He remains firm in his views as
a protectionist. He is quoted as
saying:
"When the party deliberately re
pudlated it's pledge made at Balti-
more and enacted a law that
meant to the people of my district
bankruptcy and ruin and Presi-
dent Wilson not only approved
the law but gave it his warm in
dorsement as the greatest tariff
law the country ever had, | ceased
to be a Democrat. The Under
wood law made a horizontal cut of
% per cent until May, 1916. when
sugar was to 60 on the free list.
The effects Of that law on the In
dustry in my district were fearful
There had been a food that had
swept away much Of the cane and
creditors who would have stood by
the planters to help them recover
from the food losses refused to
advance a dollar IN the face of
free sugar. Sugar properties i'm.
mediately decreased more than 90
per cent. in value and many plan.
tations were adjudicated to the
creditors for the lack of other bid
|ders. Thousands were thrown ont
of employment and most of our
once fertile fields grew up in
weeds. Many Of our sugar mills
were dismantled and the machine
~ sold at a great sacrifice for
transportation to Cuba and Mexi
co. The European war came to
our relief after we had been al.
most destroyed by our own coun.
try. The war saved the sugar in
dustry for the time being, but the
war cannot last forever. When
peace comes, as come it must, and
the internal affairs of the now
warning countries are adjusted,
then sugar as we'll as many other
industries in the United States,
will have to be afforded adequate
protection, or 60 to the wall"
From the foregoing, it will be
seen that 1t was the drive on su.
gar that drove Mr.. Martin from
the Democratic fold. Since sugar
has been removed from the free
list, there have been sleeps eyes
cast at Mr.. Martin, and many fin
gers have boldly beckoned-that
he come back. His vote finally
was cast for Speaker Clark, but
be still walks the solitary way of
the progressive protectlonist and
hugs the interests of his State
and district to his heart with
something like religious fervpr.