The Bienville Democrat. [volume] (Arcadia, Bienville Parish, La.) 1912-1980, 1920-01-29
A FRANK STATEMENT.

A FkANk STATEMENT.
TO the Citizens of Bienville Parish:
Now that the election is over. and
Hon. John NJ. Parker has been over
whplmingly nominated for Governor of
louisiana. l trust that any statement
: may make in answer to the many
viciouS attacks upon myself during the
campaign will be listened to and judged
from an unbiased and non-partisan
standpoint.
From the inception of this campaign,
the writer has been made personally
the object of many assaults by Col
Stubs and all Of his supporters. There
have been many gross miSrepresenta-
lions made by campaign orators in Or
der 10 miSlead and deceive the public
Personally. | had nothing whatever to
do with the preparation of the Board
Of Affairs law, was not N Eaton
Rouge when il was considered. and
not even in the State Of Louisiana
when it was passed by the Legislature,
and never saw the law until it had
been enacted by the Legislature.
| VIA to rlrther say tha1 | never
solicited an appointment upon the
Board as its Chairman. and If was at
considerable sacrifice that | accepted
The appointment, which was llrgea upon
me by the Governor of the State more
than six weeks prior to its acceptance.
There was not much pleasure or
satisfaction in reSigning good position
in the Bank at Shreveport and leaving
nv comfortable home to live in a
boarding house in Baton Rouge for
three wears. and almost work my eyes
ont, irving TO solve some OF the difficult
DrohIems with which we were con-
frOntcd and in return receive no
hanks. but only abuse,
| undertook to leave this position 4
wear ago. but at the earnest request Of
the Governor, remained on until last
years assessments were completed, be-
fore resigning. I now fave no cOnnac-
ton with the Board, and would never
have again under any consideration, no
matter what the compensation might
be. | realize that deepseated prein-
dice has been created for political eff
feet against the work of the Board, and
that much misinformatiOn has been
given out concerning its powers and
duties.
The Board has nothing to do VIII
the Parish and local taxation, and
never has had. This was entirely con
trolled by the Police Jury, which fixed
the rate of taxation, as well sthe per-
centage of assessment on which the
tax rate was computed. The average
citizen is made to believe that the
Board of State Affairs did it all, wlen
it had nothing whatever to d0 with it.
The Board dealt only with the State
taxation, and has placed upon the rolls
of this State over $2O0,0O0,00O.0O of
property that was not paying a cent
of tax to either the State or the Par
iSh
Everyone knows that it costs more
to feed and clothe 5000 sick and insane
people at the present time than it did
when this Administration went ntO Of
fee and any farminded man will adj
NIT that. Furthermore. there has been
some reduction in our revenues caused
by universal Prohibition, eliminating
the saloon licenses which revenues had
to be made up from other sources. |
further make the statement that at the
earnest solicitation of the Superintend
ent of Public Education in November
1913. the people themselves voted a
large increase in taxation for schools
in order to pay the teacher fair sal
aries. The Board of State Affairs was
held responsible for all of this, and
appeal TO any fair-minded man if il
was either right or just to have made
such an accusation, the Board having
had no more to do with any Of these
matters than the man III the moca
It did undertake in a fair manner
to equalize as far as possible all The
different Parishes that were totally out
of proportion with each other. ] did
undertake to require a full rendition
of all the property that each tax payer
I owned and enforce the law uniformly
because the large taxpayer, with mil
lions of dollars of property. could Sc.
crete and dodge the payment of taxes
oQl ugVl Io!sBo 1BIIop uo!H!W 3 nc
small taxpayer could escape the pay.
ment of taxes on one hundred dollars.
In some parishes we uncovered ever
S2,OOO,OOOOO Of the property of large
oil companies that was not rendered
for assessment at all, and would not
have been shown had not the Board
uncovered same, and rendered it 70 the
Assessor. We found lumber companies
that turned in two million feet of
cypress lumber, when they had over
twenty-five million feet on the yard.
could cite hundreds of the most fla,