The star-progress. (Opelousas, La.) 1917-1921, 1920-11-17
FOR A SHORT CONSTITUTION

One of the New Orleans Journalistic
nouthpieces of the governor, in what
may be considered an inspired aru'
Gle. over at Baton Rouge date line
and by a staff correspondent, says that
the executive favors short constltu-
tioD"-one that every citizen can IN
derstand. and modelled after the FEEDER
al organic law.
Touisianians who take a deep inter
est in the future work of the conven-
tion will hail with delight this In
formation from the governor. The
article in question says that it is pro-
posed to make the new constitution
amendment-proof Sc that it will not be
necessary for the legislature and the
people to tack on necessary changes.
This, toe, will meet with popular ap-
proval.
There are so many ms and outs OF
this deep question that it is almost i'm
possible for an ordinary layman to
discuss it without a certain amount OF
bias. Every person has idea of his
own as to what the state needs, and
the constitution itself should be the
concrete work of the best minds and
best ideas. All useless material
should be kicked into the scrap heap
forthwith and nothing embodied in the
law which will not work for the ulti
mate good of the entire people.
The questions Of taxation, suffrage
the judiciary and others will require
much thought and study Even the
beast informed person in the state
knows that the matter of assessment
and taxation alone will require some
deep thought in order to evolve a
scheme which will fit present and fut'
'ure conditions. The entire world, it
seems, has ben floundering around
in a chaos of conflicting ideas as to
what constitutes justice and injustice
in assessment and taxation, and the
delegates to the Louisiana convention
will have the opportunity of devising
a plan which will lead US all out OF
the badly bungled morass we have
been begged in these many years.
AS to the suffrage, that will not be
such a hard question to tackle. We
realize that the old grandfather clause
useful so long, has lost its usefulness
and will have to be replaced by some
method a little more effective little
more modern, and one which will fill
all requirements for all time to come
Mississippi newspaper, comment
ing recently on the Louisiana conven
tion, and speaking of the suffrage
question, said this state could do nc
better than adopt the Mississippi suf
frage clause, known as the under
standing clause" and which originated
in the mind of the late Senator j. z
George of tina Estate. This may be
good advice and prove a thorough so
luton of the suffrage problem. 1t has
served Mississippi well since the
adoption, thirty years ago, of its pres
ent organic Law.
As to the Judiciary, the legal minds
of the convention will be best adapted
t Otackle that question. Unquestion
ably the supreme court should be the
first thing touched on. 1t is wei
known that cases on appeal are hung
up for several years because of the
4congested condition of the court:
docket. More judges will have to be
provided for in order that this con
,gested condition can be removed anC
litigants given more prompt hearing
of cases on appeal. In the parishes the
district court system has worked vel
and with some important changes as
to redistricting, ETC., should serve the
state for many years to come. Locally
the office of justice of the peace
should be abolished and a return to
the old system of parish judges with
jurisdiction in certain civil and crimi
nal cases be a part of the program
as to the judiciary. The position OF
justice of the peace, so far as salary
is concerned, is poor at best, but in
the aggregate the parish pays large
sum of money to maintain this anti
quated system. One parish judge
could handle the entire work of the
justices of the peace and if he is
thoroughly qualified could do it, per
haps, better There seems to be a
disposition along this line to abolish
the justice Of the peace office and re-
turn to parish judge and we believe
this will be finally agreed upon by the
convention.
NOTICE OF FINAL TABLEAU
ESTATE OF WILLIAM HARRISON
WIFI Gil