The star-progress., December 06, 1919, Page 8, Image 8

About The star-progress. (Opelousas, La.) 1917-1921

Image provided by: Louisiana State University; Baton Rouge, LA

                
NATIONAL HIGHWAY
SYSTEM REAL NEED
TO SEEING COUNTRY
Resort Hotels Hope for Perma
nent Increase in Travel
in the Future
Washington, Nov. 29.—The de
mand for a national highway system
has found expression during the past
week in an unexpected quarter. Re
sort hotels have taken up the èlogan,
"See Amenée ITIrzi," in the hope of
stimulating travel to offset the loss
in revenue which has resulted from
the shut-down in the liquor traffic
and the consequent closing of hotel
bars. To make such a campaign re
sult in a permanent increase in travel
it is cow recognized as never before
that a trunk Une system of national
highways is the first important step.
When the slogan, which the public
is now getting behind with renewed
vigor, was first presented, the pri
mary purpose was to stimulate pleas
ure travel on railways. With the
knowledge that America can be seen
to best advantage from a touring car,
traveling by easy stages and with am
ple time to stop where nature lures
to refreshing side trips, the larger
functions of the public highway be
come more distinct. Oddly enough, it
appears to v have remained for prohi
bition to put in a good punch for road
development on a comprehensive
scale, a result which even the most ar
dent dry advocates failed to include
in thc-ir predictions of national bene
fit.
Advocates of a national highway
system to be constructed and main
tained under federal control have
been keeping Ja close touch with
congressional action and are prepared
to press the Townsend bill (S. 1309)
to a conclusion during the coming
session. This measure, it will be re
called, has already been introduced
in congress by Senator Townsend,
chairman of the senate committee on
postoffices and post roads. It pro
poses to create a federal highway
commission for the express purpose
of taking over such lines as may be
designated as a part of a national
highway system, and to construct
such highways upon a basis that will
not only insure the sound investment
of highway funds, but to create a sys
tem of highways nationwide in their
structure which will serve not only as
the backbone of a perfected highway
transportation system in itself as an
auxiliary to the railways, but which
by example will lead to better con
struction of state and county lines
connecting therewith.
Highway officials and others inter
ested in the adjustment of the public
road to all types and conditions of
traffic, long or short, are pleased over
the fact that the public locally is be
ginning to see the advantages that
will accrue to every community
through the flow of long distance
travel. It has been a theory, national
highway supporters assert, that the
building of roads for tourist traffic,
so-called, would in no way benefit the
i man who is in nçed of more depend
able roads to his local market. But
wherever tourist traffic has been
given an open road, local trade has
increased, both for the -farmer who
has produce to sell, and for the local
merchant as well. Instances of this
phase of highway travel are found all
along the maiif routes across the
country, and new stopping points for
motorists are developing, thus supply
ing greater stimulus to local trade.
The movement inaugurated to in
crease nationwide travel promises to
profit those who travel far more than
those to whom mere coin is paid for
such personal service or comforts sup
plied along the way.
Shortly after the assembling of the
next congress supporters of the na
tional highway project expect to get
in action and successfully launch the
building of federal highways, the
greatest public enterprise since the
building of the Panama canal.
o -
DANGER OF CONTEMPT
FOR OUR FELLOWMEN
George MacDonald has a story of
a young woman who went astray. A
youth who insisted that he loved the
girl broke down all the hedges that
protect the flowers of innocence. A
rose garden is a sorry sight after the
swine have broken through the gates,
torn up the sod and flowers with tusk
and snout! Deserted, the lovely girl
lost her beauty and fell upon evil
days. A minister found her one night
standing upon his door step and
brought her in, guessing what her
tale would be. His little daughter,
going upstairs with her mother,
asked: "Who is it who is in the li
brary with father?" The mother was
a wise woman, for she gave the child
this answer: "An angel, my dear,
who has lost her way and father is
showing her the way back home."
Nothing is easier tha nto judge
one's fellows by the shell without.
Tested by elothes and the street in
which they live and the house that
gave shelter, some of the noblest fig
ures in history would not have passed
muster and would have been ranked
very low. Dr. Johnson looked like an
nnkerapt, broken-down failure. For
a long time he lived in a most squalid
street. His rooms were scarcely bet
ter than garrets. His plum-colored
U at was spotted with grease. When
few acquaintances saw him ap
proaching they turned their eyes the
other way, but their judgment, based
on the outer appearance, was quite
wrong. Many a code is rough on the
outside, but broken upon it is filled
with flashing crystals.
All his life long, men misjudged
Oliver Goldsmith. He has been called
a "battered angel" and also "an in
spired indiot." Through all the years
he was an eternal child. Only a man
with a tender heart and with guileless
simplicity could have mistaken a rich
man's house for a public inn, yet out
of that blunder his best comedy was
born. He failed in his study of law,
he failed in his study of medicine, he
failed as a clerk, and to the end, he
pursued delusive hopes, while laugh
ter and tragedy chase each other
through his life as cloud and sun
shine fill the April sky. Worldly
men laughed at him, successful men
peered him, yet many a popular offi
cial of his time might well have en
vied Goldsmith—"his misery, his gar
ret and his fame." Madame Roland,
just before her death, said she "was
dying of that strange disorder that
the English call 'a broken heart.' "
The picture of Goldsmith spending his
last guinea in buying tulips for his
uncle.
Little wonder that George Mac
Donald owed his story of the angel
who had strayed from her path to
that touching scene in which the old
vicar suddenly realizes that he has
been cursing his daughter's intended,
and says: "I did not curse him,
child, did I?" "Indeed, sir, you did
you cursed him twice." "Then may
heaven forgive me and him if I did."
Through all these pages blow the
winds of paradise. The world is filled
with men who are not strong men, nor
wise men, nor successful men, but
who, within, have beautiful souls.
Alas, for those whose breath is crit
icism and whose presence exhales
sneers and contempt. Tears can fall
like the rain that calls to life the
sleeping seeds. Sarcasm falls like
acid on flowers. To be kind towards
one's fellows, and gentle in judg
ment, just in praise, to pass by all
the accident of clothing and position
and judge men on the basis of their
truth and manhood—that it is to be
in a way a perfect man, honoring
one's fellows, because they also are in
the image of God, big with destiny
and carrying two eternities in the
heart.—Selected from an Exchange.
TAX ON GASOLINE
IS NOT POPULAR
Dealers Object to< Plan for
Raising of Road Rev
enues
Automobile dealers and. ownera
throughout the states of Louisiana
and Mississippi have been aroused to
the fighting pitch by the movement
started to place a tax on every gal
lon of gasoline sold, says the secre
tary and general manager of the
Louisiana - Mississippi Automobile
Trade Association. The tax idea is
being fostered by several organiza
tions and in a canvass cf its members
recently, hte Louisiana-Mississippi
Automotive Trade Association regis
tered almost a unanimous vote
against the plan.
As proposed, the tax would be from
one-half to two cents per gallon. The
money is intended to be used in the
maintenance of roads in the various
parishes. The method of collection
seems to rest with the wholesale
(dealer, with the charge passed on to
the customer.
Dealers are pointing out that the
automobile owner now pays a tax of
|5 per cent on the purchase of a car,
5 per cent pn the purchase of any and
al^ccessori^s, 5 per cent on the pur-1
10 s
chasc of tires';.nd batteries, a tax of
25 cents per horsepower for state
license and on top of this a personal
property tax. This leaves the auto
mobile the most taxed commodity on
the market today.
The dealers are in favor of a wheel
tax or other plan for good roads, but
term the proposed plan class legisla
tion.
The Automotive Trade Association
of Acadia parish, Alexandria, Opelou
sas, Baton Rouge and many other
sections have unanimously adopted
resolutions against the plan.
o
TRUSTING EX-CONVICTS
Warden Murtha of Blackwell's Is
land has had eighteen years* experi
ence with offenders against the law.
Recently he gathered together his
reminiscences and reviewed his ex
periences with convicts. Fifteen
years ago, he said, he sent for a pris
oner, soon to be discharged. "Jim, 1
he said, "you have been here two or
three trips; I hope you will not come
back." "I hope so, too, Warden,"
answered the prisoner, "but it is hard
for a fellow with my record to get on
his feet." "Well, you'll have to try
something if you're not to become a
confirmed criminal," said Murtha.
Have you any money salted away, or
any friend to help you?" "Not one,"
the prisoner replied. Murtha thought
he knew human nature; he therefore
said: "Jim, I.have dug up $200 and
I am going to gamble it on men like
you. I believe you are on the square
or will be with me. If you are and
you get on your feet, send back the
money when you can spare it. If
you send it back, I'll keep it working
by passing it on to some other fellow
who is worthy of a 'life.' If you
r h
To Enable the Large and Small Purchasers
to Secure their Winter Outfit
t * 1 - " 1 •
We Are Giving A . "J
=
of a $75,000 Stock of Merchandise at TEN PER
CENT REDUCTION for
ONE
1
Commencing December 8, 1919.
Don't Miss This
GOODS LOWER THAN WHOLESALE COST.
.0 i
hJ
MAIN STREET
JONAS ROOS, Prop.
OPELOUSAS, LA.
4 I
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don't make good, the $200 fund will
be shy just that much."
Theodore H. Price, in telling this
story, says "that Murtha's revolving
fund was active many years. In all
those years, and in all the transact
ions, there was only one instance in
which the borrower did not repay. 1
Murtha tells us that there is a pe
culiar hbnor in the underworld that
is more exacting than a higher soci
ety. Over and over again, the use of
this bit of money, tided the ex-pris
oner over the first month, and made
new men out of persons that might
have become habitual criminals. In
reviewing his experience, therefore,
he affirms that about half of the
loans made to his friends have been
repaid, but that his loans to criminals
had all come back with one single ex
spark of good that is found in every
ception. It is a singular tribute to the
man. It goes to show that often times
a crime is committed in a weak hour
and an off moment by a man whose
real nature and disposition are anti
criminal.
No better illustration of this im
portant principle can be found than
in the story of that youth who sud
denly began to drink, and after a lonjf
"spree" found himself in this western
mining town, hundreds of miles away,
in which he had once lived. The cit
izens of the village were holding a
nominating convention for mayor.
The saloon crowd had just nominated
a candidate, and the honest men knew
that there was not a ghost of a show
of their defeating the liquor interests.
When this intoxicated youth stum
bled into the meeting, to show his
contempt for the other candidate, a
merchant arose and nominated the
boy for mayor, saying, "even though
he was drunk he was a thousand times
a better candidate than the nominee
of the machine gang."
To the astonishment of the com
munity, the youth was elected. He
never drank another drop. He stud
ied law, gave the town a perfect ad
ministration, won a host of friends,
became an ideal citizen, fulfilled a ca
reer of honor and distinction. That
strange nomination was like a power
ful tonic to his intellect ahd his con
science. Men had trusted him and
he became worthy of their confi
dence. It is some times said that
"every Shakespeare who ever grew
up has been heard from." In terms
of poetry that may be true; but in
terms of manhood and heroism, not
every noble soul has been heard from.
Many a man is full of undeveloped re
sources, packed with latent treasure,
that wait for the hour when some
friend will evoke the latent gift and
start the youth on a new and noble
career. Nine times out of ten, con
fidence is repaid, and men answer
trust with loyalty, friendship with in
tegrity. It is this that explains the
steady upward progress of the race,
and the fact that society is gaining
from year to year. One little book
of reminiscences by Warden Murtha
is worth a whole library by syndical
ists like Foster, and pessimists like
Marx, who believe that man is only a
selfish animal, that every man has his
price, and that force is the real in
strument of human progress.—Se
lected.
at
7,
to
in
United States marshals acted as
enumerators at the first nine decen
nial censuses. Each marshal had as
many assistants as were necessary to
properly cover his allotted territory.
NOTICE OF TRESPASS—Hunting
IT is strictly forbidden on Silvarmine
farm,l ocated near Rosa, Li., this pa
ish. T. C. FOOTE. nov22-6t
S
UCCESSION SALE.
ESTATE OF EDWARD NELDARE
No. 7054, Probata Docket, Sixteenth
Judicial District Court, Pariah
of St. Landry, Louisiana
By virtue of an order of Hon. B. H.
Pavy, Judge of the Sixteenth Judi
cial District Court of the State of
Louisiana, in and for the parish of
St. Landry, and pursuant to a com
mission of said court issued thereun
der, directed to the undersigned ad
ministrator, or any duly qualified
auctioneer of St. Landry parish, there
will be sold at public auction, to the
last and highest bidder, for cash, at
the principal front door of the court
of the parish of St. Landry, in
house
Opelousas, Louisiana, on
SAT--------------
TURD AY, DECEMBER 27, 1919,
at 11 o'clock a. m., the following de
scribed property, to-wit:
One ( 1 ) lot of ground, with all the
buildings and improvements thereon,
and known as Lot No. 4, in Block No.
7, in the John 0. Leblanc sub-division
to the town of Port Barre, La., and
situated on Third Street of said sub
division. Being same property ac
quired by deceased from A. D. Hanks
by act before C. 0. Dejean, Notary
Public, May 1, 1919', duly recorded
in Conveyance Book "J" No. 4 1-2, at
Page 417.
TERMS—CASH.
ALVA D. HANKS,
nov22-6t Administrator.
TWE^TN rVEffSACtCXW
Hie Ford One Ton Track is serving business
just is faithfully and economically as does the
Ford Touring Car serve all the people faithfully
and economically. The Ford Track is a neces-|
rity to die grocer both in delivering goads 2nd
In bringing goods from the stations, docks and
from die country. It is an ideal motor car
because there isn't a want of the humer or
bosinea man that it doesn't supply in the way
of quick transportation at a minimum expense.
Come in, examine thc_Truck, and let us talk,
over, the subject*. *
BORDELON'S GARAGE
OPELOUSAS, LA.