Show sweet smelling sam houston jones faces task in debt ridden louisiana by ORRIN HARTMAN ased by western newspaper union 1 CATON ATON ROUGE LA ill ifert ext JJ may 14 a mild mannered young lawyer from near the texas border will take charge of louisianan Loui monumental state capitol from its cavernous halls will scatter the ghosts of 12 long years out front in the heros tomb they built after an assassins assassin ys bullet cut short his riotous career cocky huey long will probably turn over in his grave good or bad louisianan Loui new administration will at least be different the young lawyer is named sam houston jones because sam houston is quite a hero out near the e texas line the night sam jones fatowe 5 ka H u e y I 1 s young brother earl in a N witter titer runoff primary he kept a new orleans victory celebration waiting they found him praying in a methodist chur church ch the sort of thing have expected from a medieval crusader not a bad idea there are those who vow louisiana needs a crusader some people also call sam jones the david who slew a modern goliath but Louisi anians who voted for him were probably just as much against the long machine as they were for sam jones nevertheless he is the flesh and blood symbol of a protest against the most amazing political machine america has ever seen it dates back to 1915 when huey long was handling compensation cases for louisiana lumber mill workers the idea was something like this give everything to the poor at a cost of nothing to them that is share the wealth but to accomplish this you need a kingdom and to h 1 1 with the expense huey upheld the people in retrospect now that only the memory remains Louisi anians are recalling hueys hues career they remember how he upheld the rights of the people as state railroad commissioner how he was licked for the governorship in 1924 but came back to win in 1928 1923 how through shrewd political maneuvering he became louisianan Loui lord and master huey provided free school books he packed the courts attacked the corporations po rations and built roads like the state had never seen before and becoming cocksure cock sure he could boast there are not many people in the united states who are smarter than I 1 am and none in louisiana still rising he got elected united states senator but still controlled a puppet governor and legislature back home in the national spotlight he became americas no 1 buffoon and demagogue filibustering in the senate threatening to stop federal money from entering louisiana calling the president of the united states a liar predicted machines downfall and then they got the kingfish shot him to death in the 33 story baton rouge statehouse which symbolized his stranglehold strangle hold over louisiana he knew it was coming and he also knew the long machine last after his death of his lieutenants he said half of them will be in jail after I 1 die they dont know how to handle this power which ive given them huey was prophetic but not until last summer did a crusading newspaper editor catch up with the long crowd the editor was old jim crown of the new orleans states whose photographer hid behind a bush to get libel proof evidence of graft the picture showed a state university truck being used to haul supplies for the new house of a long henchman to jim crowns exploit can be traced the odd indictments that followed the resignation of gov richard leche and the of earl long the flight of graft guilty dr james monroe smith president of the state university who has since been convicted the suicides of three henchmen the frightened countenances of countless small fry politicians whose comeuppance now rests in sam jones hands after mr jones left his prayer meeting in new orleans on victory night he told the crowd 1 I promised to restore honesty and decency in louisiana government and anybody who knows sam jones knows that he keeps his word governor jones was speaking boldly for tax reformers have pointed out the precarious condition of state finances twelve years of the long machine have boosted the bonded debt from to Louisi anians pay the highest auto license fee in the country and one of the highest gasoline taxes they are burdened with sales tax tokens and some 25 other new taxes which huey and his followers used to soak the rich and share the wealth but the ledger is not entirely red for huey long had done something else for louisiana besides providing folk lore for generations to come the magnificent state university the statehouse good roads and fr free ee bridges are assets which partly offset the huge debt vows to cleanse state sam jones knows all this but it makes him no less critical of the long machine he insists that tha t dictatorial tat orial laws must be abolished that courts must be placed above reproach and that schools must be revitalized vitali zed says he A new day has dawned after a long night with foul things happening in the dark its going to seem mighty quiet along the bayous these next four years because sam jones is definitely not a fireball executive like huey or earl long the baton rouge statehouse will no longer provide a three ring circus but win will probably be the epitome of efficiency and economy conversely although hes been called a plodder jones is also known as one of louisianan Loui best orators hes exceedingly shrewd as a successful uc corporation attorney must be and he can turn his opponents tricks to his own advantage they tell several stories about this shrewdness last armistice day when criticized by several speakers from the same platform he blandly refused to argue politics but delivered such a stirring oration on americanism that the crowd went away cheering his name when charged with being enla a corporation lawyer he replied that it takes A pretty good lawyer to win the confidence of so many corporations sweet smelling sam one opponent called him high hat so the high hat immediately became a jones campaign emblem gov earl long labeled him sweet smelling little sam and shortly thereafter a victory celebration found all the five and ten cent stores sold out of perfume in a sense sam jones election completes his struggle for happiness they tell how his law studies were sidetracked by the world war and how his boyhood sweetheart pretty louise gambrell gambrel married somebody else but while huey long was in the saddle sam jones was also making a name for himself in corporation law practice about the time huey was assassinated louise gambrell reappeared on the scene her first husband hav having ing died she and sam were married and it may very well be that the return of louise gambrell was as much responsible for louisianan Loui new administration as was hueys hues death |