The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1875-06-24

buChs ana VIII firOo4oly answer EDOu plL
pose, but the latitnde they assumed IS i'm
mense. -a =
LOCAL PRRJODICEs AND POPULAH
There are strange, nnaccountable preju
dices generated by many causes and affect
ing the town and the country which it il
very difficult to comprehend. Strange, in
to comprehensive expression is often given
these feelings in our exchanges In eleeting
members to the coming convention there
are counties each claiming that at least one
Of the delegates must dwell within its con.
fines, and the people Of neglected county
absolutely deem the proposition 70 select
two candidates from one town insulting.
When We reflect that these delegates have
only to make government for the State,
and are incapable Of special or local legis-
lation, the stupidity of this local selhshness
becomes palpable. For all practical pur-
poses, Austin or Bonham might as well Sc
lect candidates from Galveston as from
Travis or Fannin counties. 1t wasonly i'm
portant, in creating the convention, to make
such provisions that the services of the
great men of Texas might be secured. Leg
islation is often wiser than men who make
it, and Providence surely shaped the action
of John Ireland and of the Fourteenth
Legislature, when it accomplished good
or hopofoaDf y,vr,,oso o1d ,-at tb;s bod,- ~
men, many Of them evidently seeking to
prevent the convocation of trainers of anew
Constitution, wisely enabled, the people TO
secure the wisest, best and most learned
representatives in each Senatorial district,
even if they happened to live in. the same
village or city. OF course the Fourteenth
Legislature never dreamed of the impor-
tance and value to Texas, through all com
ing time, Of this feature of the enactment.
Happily the law was thus shaped and
now we would inquire whether the
constituencies of this defunct body Of
wiseacres and lawgivers will exercise
wisdom enough to take advantage of the
accidental craftsmanship of the Legisla-
ture. Must focal folly defeat a providen-
tial interposition in behalf of good and
wise government for TexasG It was pro-
posed, for reasons above indicated, even
while the Fourteenth Legislature was un-
dergoing all the agonies Of partarition,
that twenty or thirty members of the con-
vention should be chosen from the State at
large. But the idea was too rbenefeent,
too liberal, too wise for acceptance. John
Ireland and many members Of the Senate
and House wanted seats in the convention
and were unwilling that. the great thinkers
and statesmen of Texas, when several oil
these lived in the same city or county,
should inject their learning and experience,
in affairs of law and government, into the
organic law of Texas. The best that could
be secured was the concession TO narrow
districts of the right to select the greatest
men, wherever these resided, in each Sena.
torial district. Politicians of the baseI
sort have pandered to local selhshness and
few counties demand the absolute right
W SAOluuO SHS LuOSt tSdIHSu duu dOlSSt Alcn
of the district from the convention in order
that some dullard may represent the genius
and worth and intelligence of the county
in framing the Constitution. We are told
that about Denton this feeling prevails and
candidate for the convention, in making
speech near Denton, absolutely declared
lawyers as a class utterly unworthy
of representation in body organized to
give origin to law. If the people of Denton
vote for such an ass they. become as famous
in the political history Of Texas as would
this matchless candidate if turned loose on
the Supreme Court bench of the United
States to define the rights of men and
States and of mighty corporations. The
Denton man, we believe, is pandering tc
the supposed prejudices of Grangers. Ha,
he not fired too low Is grapgerism the
aggregation of the stupidityof Texas Q Is il
massed in Oranges so that ignorance, like
this of which we read at Denton, may
WELD it9 If so the Organization, in becom
ing calamity to the country at the very
point in Texan history when calsmities are
forever ruinous and enduring in operation
becomes itself the greatest calamity tha
ever befell the commonwealth.
VIII not the people of Texas in the com
ing election forget local selfshness hnC
vanity, and, abhorring demagOgues. send t.
Austin the wisest and best lawgivers
There is no mistaking them. God always
marks the good and great as distinctly a
the two thousand villains in the .peniten
tiary are branded in their faces and in thei
eyes, and in their very lips and noses
Above all things let Denton spare the coun
try the shame Of having in The constitu
tional convention of Texas member VIII,
would array one class Of men agains
another, and is such dullard that he hai
never learned that a lawyer may be a
honest as other men, and is the more prob
ably honest since he has most opportuni
ties to learn that honesty is the best policy
even as his opportunities are best to learl
how to construct the enduring founda
tions of States enduring government.