The star-progress. (Opelousas, La.) 1917-1921, 1920-02-21

600, 900 acres Of land; has 1000
miles Of river and bayous which are
navigable, or could be made navlga
Bile. Her natural resources are sec
ond to none. in any state OF the
Union. The assessed valuation OF
the property is. $500, 100000. It
has approximately 2,000,0OO stock
holders, as every man, woman and
child that resides in the state of Lou
isiana, by virtue Of such residence,
becomes 4 stakeholder in this corpor-
alton.
Now, let Us consider, for one mo-
ment. the character the ability Of the
man who should be selected SIS mem
bers Of the board of directors Of a
corporation with ssuch vast natural
resources, such valuable property
and large number Of stockholders.
NV idea of this is that the most able
linen Of the state should be selected as
members of this board of directors,
as the states business should be con-
Quoted in a manner so as to make It
model for all other business of the
state in efficiency and economy. My
idea is that the board of directors
should consist of men who have VS.
ions of schools, visions of roads, vis-
i ions Of drainage, visions of agricul-
tural colleges, visions Of methods Of
the conservation of the natural re-
sources Of the state, as everything Of
usefulness of the world today at one
time was a vision ia some mans mind,
/ and as long as remained a vision, it
was of no use to the man or to the
world, but when it was put into action
/ then it became useful. Not only do
we want men of visions Of our needs,
as above stated, but men who have
the intelligence to translate such VS.
! ions into thought, and the ability and
will power to organize and mcorpor-
ate those thoughts into wholesome
i laws which win conserve our natural
resources and viii give US drainage,
schools, roads and agricultural coli
leges. =
AS have stated, Louisiana has the
greatest natural resources Of any
state In the Union, and let Us, for a
moment, consider how these resources
have been applied or used for the
people Of the state. IL you will ex-
anime the records, as ] have, you win
find that one Of the most valuable
and easiest assets to be used for the
DEVELOPMENT Of the state has been
practically given TO private lndIvld-
nails. who have massed great private
fortunes fherefrOnn I refer to what
WAS commonly called our cypress
brakes and pine lands Of the state.
70 nv personal knowledge, IN the
pasf twenty years, there has been at
least q quarter Of a billion dollars OF
private fortunes made out Of this one
Il asset. while we were without school
houses in which to properly educate
our children, and our teachers not
sufficiently paid for the lack Of
/ money. We were also, throughout
the state, doing without roads and
without the much needed drainage
4 III can cite to one individual alone who
has made a fortune out Of our timber
LANDS, that, had il been conserved
the state, would have built every
school house needed IN the state. AND
in addition, that amount could have
been invested and the interest would
have paid, for the maintaining sueE
schools and the salaries Of the teach
!. sers. for the next fifty years x
come. IN fact, there has been pEivatl
fortunes made out Of our timber
lands which were an asset Of the STATE
and belonging to every man, woman
. Il and child il the state which. has
they been applied for the improve
ment OF the state, would have bull