The globe-independent. (Hagerstown, Md.) 1943-19??, 1946-05-30

d lung SCIuSSAS.
the fight made u
by the women of
New Orleans to rid their city of the
sitting corruption of the remnants
of the Hughie Long state machine,
represented in the person of Mayor
Robert Sidney Maestri, only remain
ing member of the infamous Long
Leche-Maestri gang and for nine
years political boss of the city.
It is the story of how the women
of that city, sickened by poor
schools, filthy streets, uncollected
garbage, rampant vice and the UNI
checked chicanery of a political ma
chine that had been undefeated in
twenty-five years, overthrow that
machine and elected for mayor in
the Democratic Primary the reform
candidate of and independent citi-
zens committee.
Many of the exhausted women
who had put in seventeen hours, or
longer, at the polls and in the pre-
cincts on last January %, went home
to bed feeling that they had lost
again. On the morning of the 23rd
they awoke to find that they had
achieved one of the most dramatic
victories in New Orleans troubled
political history.
Their candidate, thirty-four year
old ex-colonel deLesseps Story Nor
rison, son of a prominent Louisiana
family, lawyer and legislator. had
defeated Maestri and the arrogant
"Old Regulars" machine by 5000
vote majority. On May 6 he was in
augurated Mayor Of New Orleans
and the triumph was unanimously
credited to the efferts of the women
and their new broom" campaign.
No blue-nose reformer, young
"Chep' Morrison authored several
pieces of intelligent and progressive
legislation before he took up his re-
serve commission and went off to
war as a second lieutenant He came
back a full colonel, wearer of the
Legion of Merit, and a candidate on
the citizens ticket by default. The
original candidate, smelling defeat,
deserted the women's ticket S x
weeks before the Election and went
over to the "Old Regulars" explain
ing to the press that his policy was.
eff you can't beat them, join them"
Chep Morrison's hat hurtled into the
ring from Camp Shelby, Mis- S,
shortly before his discharge from
the Army.
The story of this victory goes back
over several years, several cam
paigns and several defeats. The
women of New Orleans first became
vote conscious when they decided,
in shame and rage, to keep Huey
Longs brother Earl from becoming
governor. They worked like trojans
: for his opponent, S am Houston
Jones, an unknown with nothing to
recommend him but a clean record
of civic decency and responsibility.
Fighting against tremendous odds,
the gals kept the New Orleans ma
jority down to the point that the
rest of the state swept Jones into
office 1t wasn't victory, but it was
not defeat
Realizing that real organization
was necessary, the women went
about it. They insisted on places on
the boards of election commission
ers, they worked day and night
without pay as door-to-door can
vassers, plugging their candidates
and getting new registrants { little
job that few men will undertake
without pay).
They learned the mechanics of
election procedure and the letter of
election laws and they went on duty
at the polls and saw that New Or
leans hitherto wildly riotous and
corrupt elections were conducted 1e-
gally They paraded. They went on
the radio at every possible oppor-
tunity, and on election day one-third
of the officials at the polls were
women. They used every possible
means to reach the people; door-to-
door interviews, telephone, press
and radio. And in 1916 the registra-
ton of women in New Orleans had
jumped from less than $4,000 to
$4,000. In 1912, 100000 persons had
registered to vote. In 1916 the count
was 177OOO.
It all shows what can be done
when any group anywhere decides
to have done with public apathy
and to elect the candidates they
want to represent them.
The women of New Orleans in
their endless interviews found a
powerful ally in the persons of vet
Grams who had come home with a
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