Evening star., 1927-05-15

John NJ. Parker. former Governor
of Louisiana, who has been drafted
into active service as flood relief die
tator in that State, Is the old play
mate and Bull Moose running mate
of the late Col Theodore Roosevelt.
When the colonel, like most of the
"Moosers," went back to the Repubh-
can party, Mr.. Parker returned to the
Democratic fold and by 1920 had sue
ceeded in re-establlshing himself suf-
ficiently to win the Democratic nom-
ination for governor, which of course
was tantamount to election, although
that formality had to be gone through.
Like all the intimates of Col. RooSe-
welt, Gov. Parker Is man OF action
He thought he had retired after
leaving the governors chair in 1924,
but in his States hour of peril he has
been called from his farm. and with
coat off and sleeves rolled up he IS
once more on the firing line, getting
things DONE He is also an old asso-
ciate of Herbert Hoover, having acted
as food administrator for Louisiana
during the World War.
1t was John NJ. Parker who f1rst
took President Roosevelt to hunt In
the cane brakes of Louisiana-hunt-
ing for bear. Some of the political OPP
ponents of Mr.. Roosevelt at the time
insisted that the bears were driven
in" for the colonel, but that was a
canard. After this expedition. how
ever, the colonel was indelibly asso-
ciated with bears.
Following the lead of Clifford Ber-
ryman of Washington, the cartoonists
of the country began to picture the
President with bears, and just at
this time toy plush bears happened TO
be imported from Europe for the
children. They promptly became
known as Teddy Bears and will have
that name until the end of time.
John NJ. Parker, tall. wiry and agile,
is just the man for flood dictator.
In the bright lexuon of his activities
there are no such words as red tape"
He goes direct. In the Louisiana flood
country. far to the north of New Or
leans, his word is law. As governor
he did many things, but his admins
tration is remembered nationally for
his unfiinching stand for law and or
der and for trial by the courts. AL.
though he Is "a, he still lives the life
that Roosevelt loved-hunting, fishing,
roughing it-and he has one accom-
plishment which Roosevelt lacked and
probably never could have attained
the ability to play a darned good
game of golf.
Senator Pat Harrison of Mississippi
| who is an advocate of "levees only
for Mississippi flood regulation,
has aroused the ire of some of his
Louisiana friends by his statement
in Washington to the effect that
when we think of the few places
where breaks have occurred along
the Mississippi River, we can appre-
ciate the long stretches on both sides
of the river where the levees have
held and are holding for the protec-
tion of hundreds of thousands of lives
and millions of dollars of property"
Marshall Ballard. editor OF the New
Orleans Item-Tribune, has taken up
the cudgels against the Senator, de-
claring his statement is 'just about
as luminous as this would be; IF a
wet day were not wet, little children,
it would be dry" or "if a high hill
| were not high, gentle reader, 1t would
be low, or medium, or no hill at all. !"
"As a matter of fact" Mr.. Ballard
says, and he will defend it against
the world, "if Senator Pat were not
| where he is, he would be somewhere
else