The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1875-10-14

many of our legislative bodies without du,
reflection to invade, in this direction, tn,
domain of private duty. But I firmly be
lieve, sir, that the power to control the edu
cation of the children and youth of til,
S'ate is one, the exrcise of which sGoulc
be inhibited. Hence l have offered thi.
amendment, and will vote for it for The
following reasons:
!. A system of public free schools to bt
supported by taxation is hot adapted to the
condition or wants of the people of Texas.
The State Is barely thirty years old, and
is first settlement l'y EngIish-speakine
| people dates back only little over fifty
| years. Its present condition is like that 0l
q young man with small capital Just en-
tered upon the business of life, with broad
but ,uhdeveloped fields of enterprise stretch
| ing into the distance on every side. With
an area nf 274 365 square miles, its popula-
tion in 1870 was but little over eight hun
dred thousand-fess than three human be-
lDgs to the square mile. Now, sir, let MS
assume for the sake of argument, that the
| population has increased fifty per cent. in
the hall of the present decade now reached,
and It will give us a population, at this
! time, OF one mi ilion two hundred and TWEEN
ty-seven thousand eight hundred and sixty
eight, and our density of population will
still not reach five to the square mile of
territory. Such is the condition of Texas,
as respects its territory and populations.
And now, sir, as this matter can be more
clearly understood by II comparison of our
condition in these RESPECTS, with that of
some of the older aud more densely popu-
lated States of the Union, | will turn to the
State of Massachusetts and ascertain its
condition in these respects. The area of
this State is seven Thousand eight hundred
square miles. Ruiz these figures through
those indicating the area of Texas, and you
will lind that this child state might be dvii-
ded into thirty five States, giving to each the
area of Massachusetts, and still have left
surplus sufficiently large to make a State
almost as large as Connecticut Let US now
Turn to the table of population and we
find that in 1870 the population of Mas
.saehnsetts was one million four hundred
and tiity-seven Thousand three hundred and
nifty one! Kun these figures indicating
area through those indicating population,
and 1t gives to that State density of pop
ulation equal 20 one hundred and eighty
SIX and ii frac ION to the square mile in
1870. So much for area and density of pop
-ulation. Now let us compare the wealth
of these two States. Referring again, sir,
to the. tables of statistics compiled under
the authorityiof the general government, we
find that the wealth of Texas in 1870 was es-
timated at little over ons. huned and fifty
millions of dollars, while the wealth
of Massachusetts reached the sum of two
billions, one hundred and thirty-two mil
lions and some hundreds of thousands, Civ
ing to that State an average wealth OF four
teen hundred and sixty-three dollars per
capita to its entire popufation. While the
" h I'D 10,
tiOn, gave to each one less than two hun
dred dollars per capita-Iess by far than the
average wealth oil any other State in the
Union. - And Will take UUOusiUu here
call attention to the fact that there
are some elements entering into the
estimates of the wealth of a State
which do not properly belong there for the
reason that no State is as rich as IL appears
to be from the estimates as made. TO as
certain, for instance, the actual wealth of
Texas, we would have toi deauct from the
estimates now made all the debts due by
citizens of this State to persons or corpora
tions out of the State ON the first day of last
January. Then, sir, there are a class OF
debts owed within the State, the values of
which are represented twice or oftener in
these estimates. Thus, A lends B $1,000;
the money is invested by 4 in land. the note
held by A, being money at interest, isassess-
Ell, anu the lbnd purchased with the moneyis
also assessed. Thus we have $1,000 appear
ing on the assessment rolls ana enGerng rs
an element into the esi innate of the wealth,
of the State, when bJth the note in the
hands of A and the lalid owned by 3 repre-
sent only $1,000. And there are many cases,
NO doubt, under the present Constitution,
which forbids the passage of laws regulat-
ing interest on money, where money is bOr-.
rowed at ten oritwelye per eenc:. Zn;.a n}'sa-
and loaned by the party paying this light
interest to others at two or three per cent.
per month, and is Invested in lands or I'M
provements, in all which cases the same
money appears three times in the taxable
values of the State. There may be States
careful enonghito collect statistics of these
classes of indebtednesss and, before making
estimates for cxpen Aitures, deduct them
from the apparent wealth of the State, but 1
have never seen such tables. But so far we
have only taken the wealth of Texas in
1870 and compared it with that of Massa7
setts at the same date. Now let US bring
up the estimated wealth of Texas to the
present time and distribute it between our
present population, and it will give as our
average wealth a little over two hundred
and twenty dollars per capita to our popu-
lation. 1IHlsnl
Now, sir, the capacity of people to en-
dure heavy taxation is not to be determined
altogether by their wealth, but other con-
sidefations must enter into the calculation,
one only of which 1 need mention here
That is the productiveness of their wealth.
If the taxable property of the people of
Texas was invested in such way as TO yield
to the owners a large annual profit, they
could certainly pay higher taxes without
experiencing oppression, than they can if
their income is SMALL Here again, sir,
with little statistical information to guide
me, l am compelled to go into this field of
inquiry, relying upon the observation and
experience of the members of the Conyen-
ton to bear me out in the conclusions may
reach. The amount of income derived by
the people of Texas from the investment of
their property cannot be obtained by refer
ence TO the annual increase of taxable val
ues as shown by the assessment rolls, for the
obvious reasen that no inconsideTable part
Of the increase represents the property
brought here by Immigrants or foreign Cap
| ital invested here during the year. But We
can make an approximate estimate of the
actual increase from investments by lookins
| 10 the purSuifs Of Our nrDnlf--bv finfli-t