Date of Award

1-1963

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

History

First Advisor

Donald Millet

Abstract

Arsene Paulin Pujo (1861-1939), prominent lake Charles, Louisiana attorney, devoted much of his lifetime to serving local, state, and national governments. An advocate of the direct primary, he always put his candidacy for public office before the people of his state. His individualism was apparent throughout his public service. From 1903 to 1913, he served the Seventh Congressional District of Louisiana in the United States House of Representatives. Labor, industrial, and agricultural interests benefited from the legislation he supported and the appropriations he secured. An examination of the public records reveals that Pujo voted for and supported many of the progressive measures characteristic of the period in which he was a representative. At the same time, he supported conservative views which indicated he was not confined in his political thinking.

Pujo gained national recognition when he served as chairman of the Money Trust Investigation of 1912-1913. The inquiry revealed that J.P. Morgan and his associates controlled corporations with assets greater than the assessed value of all the property west of the Mississippi River. The investigation did not result in any direct legislation, but it did influence laws designed to remedy the existing financial inequities.

During World War I, Pujo served on the United States Selective Service Board for the Western District of Louisiana and on the Louisiana Council of Defense. His adeptness in the interpretation of the Selective Service Act illustrated an inherent understanding of most laws dating back as far as the Louisiana Constitutional Convention of 1898. Pujo's effectiveness as a public servant may be judged in light of the fact that while in Congress, he secured appropriations for the Seventh District which exceeded all the money expended by the Federal government in the district during the century of American rule before his election.

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