Up & Down

The news from Louisiana was that Governor Earl Long, after only seven months in office, was slipping. "Old Earl" looked like brother Huey, talked like Huey, and tried to act like Huey. But he was no Huey. By last week, Louisiana was pretty well fed up with him.

Earl had all of Huey's lust for power and none of Huey's sure sense of how to use it. Huey had soaked the rich and paid the poor. Earl taxed rich & poor alike. Because of his taxes, cigarettes cost 27-c- a package, gasoline 29-c- to 31-c- a gallon. There was a tax on car parking and even on laundry. Louisiana's per capita income was among the lowest in the nation, but its per capita tax was the highest.

In the Nov. 2 election, Earl had taken a terrific shellacking--a defeat made the more humiliating because it was administered by his old enemy, New Orleans' aggressive young mayor, deLesseps ("Chep") Morrison. Already holding more power than any other U.S. governor, Earl had asked the voters to approve 41 constitutional amendments which would have vastly extended his control over state spending. One amendment would have given him domination of the port of New Orleans through control of the Dock Board which supervises the port's increasing commerce. Another would have made Louisiana State University a mere political subdivision of the governor's office (as it was under Huey).

Chep Morrison, who had felt Earl's whiplash before, battled Earl's program all over the state. And when the ballots were counted, the voters in back parishes and city alike had slapped Earl down. Every one of his key measures was defeated.

Earl, who had made the voters many promises, would now have scant funds with which to fulfill them. Since the election, he has sulked and pouted, refused advice and shunned public appearances.

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