davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1875-04-22
HOUSTON AND AUSTIN.

Houston viii be great city. There is
no possibility Of failure. Its people, for
practical results, are an unit. When any
task too great for one or dozen men must
be achieved, the whole business community
cooperate, and no scheme of benefcence is
too costly for the wealth and wisdom and
pubic spirit Of Houston. There are rich
men and mOnopolists of real and personal
property; but none, we are told, are misers,
and none cursed because they live only for
themselves, recking nothing of the insepa-
rable unity of public and individual for
tunes. We are told, too, that it was never
said upon the streets of Houston, of any of
its capitalists and property holders, that
their funerals would be celebrated with in
finite pleasure. On Tire contrary, burdens
imposed by public necessities, like that in
yolved in the construction of a narrow
gauge road from Austin to Luling or Lam
pasas, are shared not only by every gener-
Gus, 2ublic-spirited merchant, but by hoary-
headed owners of moss-crowned buildings
and of vacant lots, and of pretty suburban
farms. In most cities old fellows of this
sort generally grow penurious or dollars as
Providence is sparing of years, and the
shorter their term Of existence, the longer
their purses, and more tightly clutched.
They absolutely levy exactions upon the
generosity and public spirit of merchants,
bankers and tradespeople, and grow rich
through the expenditures of these classes.
They will sell nothing and buy nothing,
and gloat over their boards of acres as other
misers over heaps of glittering coin, Peo-
pie attend, in proper solemnity, the fun sr-
ais of these Gadgrinds, and while widows
weeds anc dutifIl childrens tears distinguish
the front of the slow, weary procession,
carriages in the rear are full of men and
women thanking God, in behalf of the
city, that the hour of distribution has come
at last. The body returns to dust, and the
"dust' that glitters must now be diffused
everywhere. Since individuals have no
rights which must not yield to public neces-
ity, it has been proposed, in Western
town, to have It's devil fishes, whose all
grasping tentacles paralyze progress, pub
hcly put to death by public authority. Very
certainly an example thus made of bar
nacles fastened upon the body polite would
result in infinite public good, and the day
of execution, like that of tine funerals we
were telling about, would be the brightest
in the calendar. 1t is proper to oremark that
no citizen of the capital is obnoxious to
criticism provoked by the generous conduct
and public spirit of Houston property
holders, and it is only proposed, in case the
necessity for any great public work be dem
onstrated. to pave the way for the CO.
operation of the whole people in its con-
summation.
The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1875-04-22

Pooh, blind, deluded Southern people,
Of course they are blind, and can see and
comprehend nothing = cannot understand
how it is, and why it is, that while society
and government are alike destroyed by
trades unions in Pennsylvania and an abso-
Lutte state of war exists, Sheridan is sent to
Louisiana, the State is enslaved, the people
humiliated and degraded by subjection to
military masters, against the bare semblance
of which an American naturally revolts,
and yet violence and murder and desolation
stalk abroad unrepressed in Pennsylvania,
and Grant is blind and deaf when looking
North, and does not at the same instant
hesitate to place his foot upon the neck Of
helpless Southern community. The
wrong is infamous as base and cowardly.
The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1875-04-22

TIE Legislature, as the Tezas Herald
tells, incorporated the Waxshachie Tap
road, granting it sixteen sections per mile,
or $4,000 scres for eleven miles. The
town Of Waxahachie was authorized 70
issue $75, 900 in bonds to the company II
the "reas estats Osnsrs Of the place con-
sented." Those gentlemen Of Austin who
issue city bonds freely should represent the
real estate owners. These last are they
who must foot the bills. Paying taxes ss
agents for others, or on groceries and dry
goods, is no evidence that, though heavy
taxpayer an Individual feels, while impos-
ing burdens, that he Is taxing himself and
his children.
The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1875-04-22
THE MISERIES OF CITIES
ERNOR COKE,S POLICY.

The New York city government is the
bonanza of New York thieving politicians.
Each successive Legislature wins power by
promising to reform the administration of
municipal affairs, and the laws of to-day
are repealed on the morrow and the poor
people are ever deluded by mere changes
of forms that signify nothing until men
who pay, impose taxes. The greatest ques
ton, next after that involving the restora-
ton and maintenance of the Federal Union
as it was, now exciting discussion every
where, involves the protection of American
towns and cities against absolute confsca-
ton by taxgatherers having not the re-
motest relations of sympathy or of interest
to those they rob and impoverish. Think
of itl 1t staggers credulity. The thieves
have prated about public schools and pub
lie blessings and amended and remodled
and repealed the city's charter until the
duped people of New York city are IN
utter despair and Broadway property be-
comes valueless. Vast numbers of houses
are untenanted and such are public bur-
dens that rents do not pay taxes, and bust
ness abandons the great thoroughfare and
goes into lanes and alleys. The debt of New
York city has already reached the enormous
sum. of one hundred and sixty millions, and
the annual administration of affairs cost as
much as that of the Federal Union when the
second Adams was President. If tax
payers alone vote in New York, taxpayers
would shape revenue codes ana collect and
expend the city's enormous income. But
when bludgeons and bullies fix the rate of
taxation, and John Morrisseys are supreme.
masters of the rabble, robbery, riots IN
Office, and charters and amendments of
charters signify nothing. We must have a
Moses with heaven-descended tablets of
stone with which to crack the heads of
shoulder-hitters and close ballot-boxes in
the South against the ignorant incapable
black mob that has swept away every trace
Of prosperity from the fairest towns and
villages and cities, and still finds dema-
gogues whose iimidity induces them stiIlto
delude the people by ever amending char
tiers, but never reforming the intolerable
abuses of municipal governments. There
is no recourse left us. We must either
adopt the policy partially proposed by Gov
ernor Coke, and invest the Legislature with
supreme authority over corporations, re-
stricting the powers of the latter till local
freedom disappears, or restrict suffrage in
municipal elections to freeholders.
The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1875-04-22

GRANT will never be reelected. Let him
be nominated. He is weakest with the peo-
pie, though he may be strongest in the CON
vention 10 be constituted necessarily Of
placeholders. The people are weary Of
war, North and South, of its adjuncts and
incidents, of its costly governments and
countlessly multiplied sinecures. Brass
buttons and gore are at heavy discount,
and the people have had surfelt of sol
diers and Of military, sheridan-like out
RACES and madness. The nomination Of q
soldier will be the signal for defeat, and
we prefer Grant, as the candidate Of Radi-
calism, to Blaine. The masses Of the peo-
pie are brought to their senses even by the
contemplation Of memories refreshed and
reproduced by the coming Centennial. Let
Grant be nominated, and not only the grow
ing odium, incident to his personal history
and professional trimming, Will crush him /;
but be seeks, as Blaine could not, q third
term, and the empire is just b 5ond. The
masses Of American people still love free
dom, even more than they love RadicalIsm
or the negro, and more than they hate the
South. We have greatly mistaken the signs
Of the times, or Grants nomination is one
'seminentIy fit to be made"
The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1875-04-22
THE FOUL CONsPIRATOR.


Under the heading ''Foul. Conspiracy"
the Gazette attempts to show that the
STATESMAN has entered in a conspiracy
with the Galveston Ne1s and even ex-Gov-
erAor Davis to defeat the Democracy in
the coming constitutional convention. The
points attempted to be made in this arti-
Gle are so weak, SO hackneyed, so devoid of
honesty, or anything else deserving respec-
table consideration, that we pass them all
as unworthy serious consideration. But
since this foul conspirator-one Of the foul
est in the history of Texas politics, has
dared lift his head above the degradation
to which he belongs, we will devote a
short space to this man, who pirates in the
columns of the Gazette about devotion to
party. He was one of few sorehead poll
ticians, who created division at Brenham
in 1869, which secured the election Of E.
j. Davis as Governor. His services in this
capacity were afterwards recognized by
Davis, and there was not paper ip the
State, not even the State Journal, which be-
came the more decided supporter of that
gentleman as the chief executive of the
State. This is matter of record, which be-
came notorious throughout the State. It
was he who pledged himself at Corsicana
to support Greeley, and afterwards, upon
consultation with another foul conspirator
against the destiny of Texas, Judge NJ B.
Walker, late of the Supreme bench, con-
cocted plan to defeat the Democracy. He
was at that time convicted, in the public
estimation, Of secret assaults upon the Dem
ocratic party, and on number Of occa-
sions forcibly elected from its ranks. He
it was who became the Democratic conf
dant and informer to Governor Davis, who
was placed by him upon the Lunatic Asy-
lum board, and who remained there during
the celebrated thieving operations carried
on by the escaped Green. he it was who
was the companion Of this same Green, who
supped and drank with him at the Lunatic
Asylum. drove his fast horses ct win, and
who finally entered into combination with
J. p NeweOmb, in the State Journal Office,
to do the State printing At rates allowed
by the Twelfth Legislature. All these
things, and much more, are facts known By
too many to be denied, and yet this man
now dares talk about s.foul conspiracy.p
he is recognized As the lowest, bassst and
most damnable conspirator who eEcrpIayed
traitor TO any people, and We hold ourselves
above replying to his unmsaning and con
temptible insinuati0ua. He is the man who
praised Governor Davis upon every occasion,
IN the columns Of his paper, until Governor
Coke was safely inaugurated, and undispu-
tably recognized Is the Governor Of Texas.
when he publIshsd the most Abusive
articles sgainst Davis Il vas this nan,
playing the s5cophant 70 plncenen, Who
uPOa the publication Of thess urtiCles
against the sx-G0vsrnor, ssnt him . nss
sage that his feelings must not Be regarded
The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1875-04-22

JUDGE IRELAND, IN his philosophical
didactic proclamation addressed to the
Democracy of Texas, says:
SIN order to have full conventions and o
free expression of opinion, and to avoid
failing thegy cQnKeptiapsO recommend the
of Representatives and ten Senators.
Wherever there may be imperfect organiza-
tions recommend to the members of the
Executive Committee to appoint a chair
man ia each county, where there may be
vacancies. If the principles of constitu-
tional government can be restored to the
people of this continent, 1t can only be
done by the Democratic party-the only
party now IN existence that has the slightest
regard for constitutional guarantees. Let
Texas in 1876 be the banner Democratic
State in the great work of turning Nthe
money changers out and restoring the house
to its ancient purity"
The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1875-04-22

Hox. PRYoR LIZA, because Of advanced
age, declines to become g candidate for 3
seat in the constitutional convention. The
whole State win deplore the fact, His gen
uine modesty in speaking Of his fitness for
the position should serve e . lessonto much
younger men whose heads are empty as
their consciousness Of ability l. fun. he
says that "the people are 70 vote on three
kinds Of questions: FirsE whether there
shall be > conventionl Second, who shal
be the deIegstesi Third, shall certain
proposed amendments Be adopted The
present Constitution appears to Be % OBJ
noxious that il could not be rendered satiS.
factory By amending IN the ordinary mode,
and q constitutional convention is the
proper alternative. With sch view the
voting ought 70 Be for oonsiltu.lOnai con
vention, and for delegates, bat against The
proposed amendmenfs.r
The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1875-04-22
OUR SUPREME ooURr.

The Supreme Court is now earnestly at
work in this city, in disposing of the i'm
mense docket. 1t is indeed source of con-
graduation to our people that this court of
last resort enjoys the confidence of all just
minded men in every portion of the State.
We know that 1itigants are sometimes i'm
patient over the delay in obtaining decis-
ions, but the fault is with the judicial sys-
tenn, not the judges. They labor as men
labor in no other department of the gov
ernment, both night and day. The STATES
MAN office has been publishing the Supreme
Court Reports in book form, and we have
had opportunities for knowing the labori-
Gus habits of the present court. The for
tieth volume of Texas Reports, containing
over 700 pages, embraces only portion of
the work of the last Austin term, and all
the decisions of that court, except two, rem
dered after June 1, are yet to be published.
Indeed, we learn from the State reporters
that they will be compelled to omit in fu-
ture almost entirely all notice of attorneys
briefs, on account of the rapid accumulation
of opinions, to avoid burthening the profes-
sion. Texas enjoys the proud distinction
among Southern States of having on her
Supreme bench two .ex-Chief Justices who
presided over that tribunal before the era of
Radical rule, and associate justices who
were also in other days regarded by all as
pure and distinguished jurists.
The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1875-04-22

An Austin preacher furnishes an excel
lent editorial 10 the San Saba Ners defn-
ing the practical necessity for the erection
of churches in each Texan town and
village 1t Is quite impossible to induce
any desirable class of immigrants to seek
homes in town or county in which there
are neither churches nor schools, and when
it is known abroad that schools, like
churches, are sustained by the voluntary
contributions of the people, the estimate
entertained of the virtues of the inhabi-
tants and the attractiveness of the locality
are infinitely heightened. In illustration
of these plain facts Luling is presented as
town given over to the devil because it is
churchless. 1t begged the Legislature,
when that body was in session, to protect
it against lawless adventures who ravaged
it in drunken debauchery, unrestrained by
the law and recking nothing of the ''in-
visible church." Everybody votes in cor
porate elections in Luling, and the drifting
mob of adventures gathered there
made the place, for a time, Hninhabitable,
and yet the Legislature, composed, to
great extent, of timid party leaders, dared
not apply the only remedy accessible out
side the church and school house. They
had not the nerve to place the government
of LuliDg in the hands of freeholders of
Luling-of those whose mUneyod- interests
would impel them to enforce the statutes,
and compel practices of decency, and OBJ
servance of law and order, 1t would be
well for the whole country if the preachers
employed to a greater extent facilities
furnished by the press for the promotion of
practical morality. The value of newspa-
pers in Texas would surely not he lessened.
The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1875-04-22
NO. 40



Ihe first dispatches from Connecticut
were not conformed. in the statement OF re-
suits, to facts now before us. Democratic
gains were greater than originally repre-
sented by the Press Association. and we
may well infer that though the reyulsiOn Of
popular feeling, which seemed somewha.
checked in New Hampshire, is stil pro-
gressiye, and If the Democratic majority
In Congress play wen its part we may begin
to believe that the revolution begun in
local elections may be progressive and not,
as has formerly happened, be turned back
ward when the great national contest su.
pervened. Partisan newspapers and party
leaders are very apt not only to exaggerate
facts, but to excite false hopes and over
wrought confidence, and therefore many
blunders committed and many omissions of
public and personal acts of prudence lead
to unexpected disaster. We may therefore
thank the compiler of original dispatches
from Connecticut that he withheld those
details which now induce the belief that
Radicalism is finally undone and that the
resumption of business by the outrage mill
viii not result in any augmentation of
Blaine's or Grants political riches however
heavy the tolls they take.
The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1875-04-22

IT is fact that Radical legislation has
expelled from the country all decent liquors.
Even the glass. bottles in which the hest
wines are exported from France are sub
jected to tariff. Germany and switzer-
land and England consume, therefore, the
best products of French vineyards, and
very rarely does one see glass of genuine
French wine in America. Our blessed Con-
gress excludes it by the horrible customs
duty, and the American voter is turned over
to the tender mercies of villainous whisky,
which soon cauterizes the stomach, makes
the liver rattle like dry rawhide, dessi-
Gates the brain, makes ones hair and nails
friable as piecrust, and converts human
eyes into rotten oysters. Such are a few of
the results of Congressional wisdom, as
illustrated in Congressional legislation, and
we are only too happy to state that most of
these tarif-breeding lawgiveis are lying,
because of their own Legislative crimes, at
the hands of delirium tremens.
The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1875-04-22

Carr. COEDOx, the free trade PhilosO-
pher and advocate Of canals as substitutes
for levees in the valley Of the Mississippi, is
q company in New Orleans to
build q steamer whose speed and capacity
shall be at least One-fOurth greater than
that Of the present Mississippi river vessels,
and the durable value lessened In moth
ing. II Eads succeed in deepening the
rivers mouth, and Cowdon's steamers &C
compHsh all that Is claimed for them, the
course of American trade win be speedily
and wholly reversed, and the whole
countEy's wealth, between the Alleghanies
and the Rocky Mountains, viii Be drawn By
4 relistlsss force iato and not finn cities on
TIE shores Of the majest1c nver. Then the
s0ath win resume in power sud wealth and
progrsslivsnes, the position lost By the
internal war.
The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1875-04-22

BLAINE is Grants great rlval for the
presidency, and Blaine has said that hls
own chances, as against Democracy, depend
upon the maintenance of the issues on
which all Federal elections have turned
since 1865. Grant is inimical to Blaine,
and therefore, with this assertion of Blaine
before him, Grant suspends the operation Of
the outrage mill, and its creaking crank
has not been heard for many weeks. But
let the Radical convention sit, and Blaine
or Grant become the candidate, and then
we will have reason to remember the last
lines of Mother Goose's nursery stanzas:
"I smell the blood of an Englishman;
Be he live or be he dead
I'll grind his bones TO make my bread
The blood of martyrs is the seed of the
church, and modern Radicalism is sort of
Noah's ark adrift on sea of negro gore.
The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1875-04-22

THE most pleasing incident Of modern
times was that evoked in the action of the
Chicago a few days ago. Many leading
Uficers of the army, General Sherman
among the rest, were present. To the
astonishment of everybody an old soldier
moved to invite all the soldiers of both
Union and Confederate armies to share in
the festivities OF their next convocation.
There was dead silence At last shout
welcomed the proposition, and only one
single protest was entered. Grant is going
to change his tack, There is no help for
it. Feelings excited by the approach of
the centennial celebration at Philadelphia,
the want of money begotten by lavish
waste of public money wrested by multi-
tudes of place-holders from the toiling
poor, the earnest desire for peace and for
the reproduction of honest, economical
governments, rapidly effects Cancellation of
the sections, and unity of popular action
and purpose. Parties even may be slaugh-
tered by the people that patriotism and
honesty, rather than demagogues, may
shape the country's fortunes. This Incl
dent at Chicago is surely most significant
of better time coming when soldiers them
selves declare that they want no Union
pinned together with bayonets. Such is
the substance and effect of their invitation
to the soldiers of the South.
The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1875-04-22

as changed toward him, but that the an
tagonism was displayed for the purpose of
gaining favor with powers that be. This is
the kind of man, we repeat, who pirates
about ''foul conspiracy" Heis beyond the
pale of respectable consideration, and the
STATESMAN will not extend it, as he de-
sires. HelsS first class political traitor,
sycophant to place and power, fraud upon
the introduction of respectable house
maids, and as such we wall only treat him.
The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1875-04-22

HoE. Jonz HEzKY BnOWE il . candidate
for the constitutional convention and has
issued an admir.ble address 70 the voters
Of Tarrunt. Ellis and Dallas ccuBties. He
criticises the ConstitutiOn u 1859 made By
men who did rot represent The people Of
Texas. He would have the Legislature
conveyed bi-snnialIy and thus save, By q
single act, twice the cost Of the convsn-
tiOs-each session q the Legislature cost
ing $50, 600 snd the convention itself viii
not cost more than $50, coo OF f7o, 600 and
mileage 1900. II ue woaId have Iess-
ened taxation, therefore. We win vote for
the conysntion.
The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1875-04-22

SAM BARD was removed from the post
Office at Atlanta "fOr neglect Of duty"
This is mistake, and the World Is at fault.
Sam Bard, the people said, last fall and
winter, was the best Of postmasters, and
Atlanta is curious to know whether Grant
Is not about to 90 on new tack to head of
pl.sna
The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1875-04-22

GEN. FoRREsT, it is stated, goes to Cali
fornla to find home-at least in Sonora.
he has fancy that the States Of Mexico,
proposed to be annexed, are enormously
rich, aud that when our government grasps
the wide districts botween the Rio Grande
and the Pacific, and north of line drawn
across the country from the rivers mouth
to that Of the Gulf Of California, he will
find magnificent field for the developments
of his wonderful genius for government.
The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1875-04-22

CoUNTKRFEITERs are driven to the ragged
edge of insanity and suicide by contemplat.
ing the awful chirography Of the new Fed
eral Treasurer. Most Of Chicago is in tears,
and those twenty or thirty villains from
Chicago. recently captured by the vigilant
and sctive United States Marshal in Texas,
are content, after reading Mr.. Ne,s's auto
graph, to go up to Ward, Dewey & Co.
forever. The business is done FOR, and
Grants chances for third term, to this ex-
tent, are beginning to blossom with flowers
of spring.