The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1935-07-11

on such projects or to private employ
ment the maximum number of persons
in the shortest time possible.
were nesting and that they did not
sing much In nesting time.
Stately Palm Trees.
Another thing to hold our interest
during our stay in New Orleans, and
further south, was the palm trees. They
grow in great numbers in beautiful
New Orleans-and in great variety
They are around nearly every home,
they are found in every park. There
are entire avenues Of them. One variety
that aroused much comment was the
Royal palm. The trunk of the Royal
palm looks exactly like a column of
smooth concrete, from tbs top of which
juts a shorter trunk of bright green
and surrounding the green section are
the branches or fronds with their
spike-like leaves. To the Northerner
the palm trees are another delightful
characteristic of New Orleans.
1t is not necessary to go into a de-
scription of the modern part of New
Orleans. In many respects it is like
all large cities, with its huge business
blocks, office buildings, handsome
hotels, libraries, schools, colleges, ETC.,
etc. New Orleans can we'll be proud of
these. And ii is especially fortunate in
its residence sections. Homes are beau
tiful and pretentious, modern in every
particular, placed in beautiful settings
of tropical shrubs, flowers and trees
Many of them are mansions in every
meaning of the word. costing many
thousands Of dollars.
Huey's PalatiaI Home.
One home that was pointed out to
the editors was that Of Huey Long the
boss of Louisiana and the well-knoWn
building Of rose stucco, in a beautiful
yard Of flowers and trees and shrubs
and ON one of the finest streets of
the city 1t gave much evidence of
wealth In fact, we were told and have
read that Huey is wealthy We wonder
just how much of this wealth he will
surrender when he puts into effect his
share the wealth plan over which he
is now SO vociferous and SO noisy
Your guess is as good as mine.
We were in a New Orleans theatre
one night The news reel showed a
fireman and his cat who had won fame
for some reason, a reason that slipped
my hearing. The announcer was in
tervieWing the young fireman. who
plainly was somewhat fused by the
he was attracting. Finally he
was asked what he thought of Huey
Long. The young fellow was reluctant
to answer, tried to evade the question
but finally said, when pressed, why,
| think he is just plain nuts His re-
mark was met with an instant and
spontaneous burst Of laughter from an
audience that filled the large opera
house And the tone Of that laughter
was the significant thing II carried
with it hearty derision and an agree
ment with the young fireman that they
too thought Huey was lust plain nuts,
Buried Above Ground.
On this tour we visited one or two
of the city's finest cemeteries. Here the
visitor is at once intrigued with prac-
tice seldom seen except in New Or
leans-the practice of burying the dead
above ground. New Orleans is all below
the level Of the Mississippi river and
before modern drainage system was
put in, burial beneath the ground was
prohibited by the abundance of water.
The practice then grew up Of burying
the dead in little marble or stone
still followed. And some Of those rest
ing places of the dead are beautiful
and very extensive, running into
thousands of dollars.
One of the finest and most exclusive
has an interesting story con-
nected with it. When New Orleans was
young, there was swanky and ex-
elusive jockey club of rich sportsmen
in that club was limited
to the select ones. They had private
race course of their own. As is often
the case, social climber aspired to
in that club and saw that
his name was presented He was black
balled. This happened several times.
Finally the social climber said he would
try once more to gain membership and
II he was again refused he swore he
would make their race course "a thing
Of the dead" The last attempt was I'M
successful and he planned revenge. He
set secret agents at work buying up
stock in this race track and before
anyone was aware of his intention he
had obtained controlling interest in
the race course owned by the swanky
Jockey club. He Immediately made his
threat good and converted the course
into grave yard, "a thing Of the dead"
That was years ago. Today it is one
Of the exclusive cemeteries of the city.
Our facetious guide remarked, at the
of his story, "And now peo-
pie are Just dying to get into that
cemetery"
On our second afternoon in the city