LOCKE, (Hon.) Leon, Oxford County, ME., then Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by Mike Miller


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Locke, Hon. Leon, secretary Interstate Inland Waterway league of Louisiana
and Texas, Lake Charles, La., was born in Oxford county, Me., Jan. 4, 1869,
son of James and Sophia (Douglas) Locke, both natives of the state in which
the son was born.  The paternal ancestors came from England to America in
1643, and located in New England.  Several representatives of the family
served in the Revolutionary army.  In 187l James Locke, the father, with
his family, moved to Wichita, Kan., where the son, Leon, passed his youth
and was educated in the public schools.  At the age of 15 years he was a
licensed and registered pharmacist, which was his father's profession, and
established a drug business on his own account, near the city of Wichita.
One year later, having merged his business with that of his father, he
became a teacher of pharmacy in the Wichita schools.  During the succeeding
years he was engaged in the drug business at various places in Kansas,
until 1903, in which year he located at Lake Charles and became associated
with the Keyley-Weber Co., in the capacity of secretary, so remaining
during three years.  He then became secretary of the Daily American
Publishing Co., and secretary of the Lake Charles board of trade, these
relations continuing until 1908.  In 1907 the Interstate Inland Waterway
league of Louisiana and Texas was organized, and Mr. Locke became secretary
of the organization, of which important position he has remained incumbent
to the present time, and to which he devotes more and more of his time as
the project nears completion.  Briefly stated, this league's plans
contemplate joining the Mississippi and Rio Grande rivers, by means of an
inland waterway, navigable, and to be used for commercial transportation
purposes.  Funds in support of the undertaking, to the amount of
$1,388,000, have been furnished by the Federal government, and at this time
the work has been more than half completed, and approved.  The remainder
will probably be finished within a few years.  Boats are now being operated
between Corpus Christi and Galveston and between the Mermenton [sic] river
and New Orleans.  Mr. Locke has been actively identified with the
democratic party from  the time of his earliest political affiliation.  He
has 15 times been a candidate for elective office, and 13 times successful.
 Previous to coming to Louisiana, he served 5 terms as mayor of 2 towns in
Kansas, and was a successful candidate for member of the Kansas
legislature.  He refused the nomination for treasurer and auditor of the
state of Kansas.  In 1906 he was elected a member of the Lake Charles
school board, and resigned this position 2 years later upon his election to
the Louisiana legislature.  During the succeeding session he served as
chairman of the committee on education, and was a member, respectively, of
the committees on appropriations and Federal relations.  It was during this
session of the legislature that Mr. Locke introduced and secured passage of
the famous measure known as the Locke bill, which provided penalties for
and successfully abolished race track betting in Louisiana.  In 1912 Mr.
Locke was again elected a member of the legislature, and was honored with
appointment to the chairmanship of the committee on appropriations, the
duties of which largely occupied his time during the session.  During this
Session, however, he introduced and secured passage of the bill prohibiting
dual office-holding, which was consistent with his own course in resigning
from the school board when elected to the legislature in 1908.  He
introduced and secured passage of the measure removing Southern university
(a professional Negro institution) from the city of New Orleans, with the
purpose of training the Negro youth for agricultural or other useful
pursuits, instead of giving him only a high school education in the city.
He also introduced and secured passage of a bill giving the state railroad
commission larger powers in regulating railroad rates.  He was instrumental
in the introduction and passage of various other measures, all of which
have met with hearty approval, but those mentioned above were measures of
greatest state-wide importance.  He served as a member of the committee on
rules during the 1912 session of the legislature.  Mr. Locke is recognized
as a leader of national importance in the democratic party, and during the
campaign of 1908 he spoke in Chicago, and throughout the states of
Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio.  In 1913 he took a leading part in the
organization of the Lake Charles Chamber of Commerce, and at the state
meeting in Jan., 1914, was elected president of the Louisiana State Chamber
of Commerce, he not being present at the meeting or having been previously
consulted.  He is at this time a member of the Employers' Liability
Commission of Louisiana, and a member and director of the Southwest
Louisiana Development Bureau.  In 1913 he was appointed a member of the
state tax commission.  In 1914 he assisted in the organization of the
American Mutual Life Insurance company, and became secretary of that
corporation.  He is affiliated with the Woodmen of the World, and
represented his local organization at Jacksonville, Fla., in 1913.  In 1889
Mr. Locke was married to Miss Frances King, and one daughter, Miriam, has
been born to their union.  Mr. Locke is thoroughly identified with the
forward movement in Louisiana.  He is one of those earnest, capable,
persevering men with ability to initiate and carry to successful conclusion
such measures as he believes will operate to the advantage of the people
among whom he lives.  He is one of the most active and most useful citizens
of the state.

Source:  Louisiana: Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events,
Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form, volume 3, pp.
779-781.  Edited by Alc‚e Fortier, Lit. D.  Published in 1914, by Century
Historical Association.