Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1875-09-15
CORRESPONDENTS.
Politics and the GrangerS in Texas,
From an Occasional & ClrreSDondap-

From an Occasional CJrrespondentI
FORT WORTH, TEX September 10
Our constitutional convention assembled
last Monday at Austin, snd, as vet, w,
can only speak of the personnel Of thii
body, and conjecture as TO what they
VIII do. None Of the patriots Of 1873
are in it-in fsct, only eight Cf thos,
who legislsted in the face Of seven mil
hons OF MeXicSns are now living, the
others sleep the sleep of the martyrs OI
the Alamo. Only one Of the conyeD.
tlon OF l645 is there-Genersl Nicholas
ID. DarneD, of this place, & native ot
Williamson cOuuty, Tennessee, a mem
Der from old Rutherford to your legisla-
ture in 1887, and who came to Texas in
1888. He is the acknowledged father Of
cur munitcent homestead law incOrpO-
rated IN the instrument of 1915, and our
supreme court has up to the present time
given IL Z liberal construction, though
II was point in the late canvass to FIX
lts value to q certain amount, and COM
| pei The head OF family 70 designate II
| ana spread IL on the records. As il now
Is head of a family is entitled 10 two
/ hundred acres in the country, or five
thousand dollars worth of hOmesfe cad
! property IN town, and can claim it at
any time before an actual sale under
! execution, and may place million dol
lars worth on it, provided it does not ex-
| Ceed the amount mentioned at It's deeio-
nation. Tne present plan comes nearer
| sboLlshing the credit system than any
| thing yet invented, but the question is. Is
mora fraud than fairness engeDdered by
1t? There are eight who sat 70 1861 to not
| CaSe the State out, anu but one Of those
OF 1856 who brought it hack, and mona
OF 1869 who fashioned the one we are
now reconstrpcting. or the present
members, Reagan and MiLssu have
served in the United States congress,
and Reagan and Wright IN the Confed-
erate congress. Resgan is best known
As the Confederate postmaster. General.
Llisre are forty farmers, two physicians,
twenty-four lawyers, three editors, three
negroes, one merchant, one printer and
one rancherd IA stOck-raiser on a large
9cale) ninety in all. The stock interest
is confined chiefly to southwestern
Texas with San AutOnia SIS its center.
though all along our western frontier
stock-ralsing is the principal business.
Ex-Governor E. J. Davis is charged
with Whilom scheme to carve out the
free State Of CayOte (prairie wolf with
San Antonio for the capital, but we are
not yet ready to divide the memory Of
the Alamo. You will perceive that the
grange is largely represented in these
forty farmers. The grangers, as an or
ganizstion, abstained from politics, but
they were charged to look well to their
ballots as individuals, with the above
result. An episode on the origin of the
order seems apropos. In the fall Of
1878 Mr.. Robert A. Baird, Of Early
Grove, Mississippi was deputed by
General A. J. Vaughn, of your city, a
high priest of the order, to
leave the plough il the furrow and the
OK in the meadow, Cincinnatus like,
and come to Texas and organize the
grangers all over the State. He came
oSd st. Louis, and first landed at Sher-
man, where the Radical barbarians were
lying in wait to capture him as their
meat. He flung his Iasso out at the
Texas long horns, but Sherman was too
intensely Democratic to be roped in by
anything that Radical editor would
commend. So Bob left and came here
next, perfectly innocent of the cause.
aud was about to throw up his commits
sion aud go back to the plough, and
charge it all to the native cussedness of
these wild Texans. But few of us who
had messed with Bob in camp, showed
him their plan and put him in the right
crowd, and the modest farmer took
heart, and now they are debating terms
to the State. And yet am not a gran
ger, nor the son of granger, but one of
the calling they most f1nd fault with.
They say they mean economy and re-
trenchment, and will have all business
and no gas, and will get through quick
and go home, and will leave it 80 plain
that any farmer may read as he runs,
and that child may understand, Now,
as to the time they will be there, let US
bring up the lamp OF experience; that
is the best light to guide our foot
steps. So said Patrick Henry, that Vir-
ginia lawyer that gassed freedom into
America. The constitution of 1886 was
framed ia seventeen days, but thew were
legislanDg for twenty-five thousand peo.
pie, and were pers u4ded to make hast
by seven millions Of Mexicans. who had
an army as large as half the Lumber tf
people in Texas at taat time, crossing
the Rio Grande. That of 1915 took fif =
three days; 1851, fifty fur days; 1866,
sixty days; and 1869 required two ses-
siOns, and then they didn't make it till
General Reynolds helpsd then out. Sc
with tleir best gas -mt t3rs on, they will
be there at least through October The
Judiciary Il the most important branch
of their libOrs. We are at sea ss 10 wDGt
is best III tle selection Of judges; u heth-
er to elect sll by the people, or to ap.
point the supreme and district ju 'ges,
as now, by toe governor, and cOntirm
by the senate. 1t would do, say the re-
formers could We alWay have such p
governor as now. It would do II elect
say the -ref0rmsrs, if the pee pie
would 5 95T clear Uf Wuisky and dema-
gOguism. The mine shI uld not drag
gle, SAYS one side But juiges should
account t their principiS, says the
other; and 20 we %; tut II il c,ncedzd
they viii be elected by the people, with
clause, probably, to T6 turn II aFPJint-
ing on q two thirds vote If boGh houses.
We will soon see how that is. Am l
right in assert ng that Mississippi fret
inaugurated tle election OF iu lgts in the
United states, IL 1882?
c. {. CUMMINGS.
An Arkansas Traveller.
From an Occasional Correspondent
STEAMER Rosa MILLER, Monday,
September Is, 1875. - Approach
ing Memphis the Arkansas has
lOOL AOlhluR VI ll5 luI6ISSL " pl1OlB
and those interested in steamboat prop
erty, by its late rise. 1t brought down
from the wilds beyond the Indian ma
ton specimens of the largest kind of
trees, logs, stumps, and all kinds of OBJ
stscles to river navigation, and deposit
ed them in the most annoying positions
all the way frsm Fort Smith to the
mouth 1t has also brought with it or
has massed along its banks, o. what is
termed the bottoms, an unusual amount
OF chills and fever. Almost every renter
in the vicinity Of Van Buren, and their
entire family are down with this terri
BILE disease, and many have died from
very severe type OF bilious fever that
prevails, both in the bottoms and on the
uplands. The crops are universally
good. The overflow has simply de-
stroyed few lows Of cotton or corn on
the immediate banks-nOt enough TO
make the renter complain. Every one
that we tailed with congratulated him
self upon the prospect and the prObabil-
ity Of his b lag sbundantly able to pay
eff the debts contracted last year by the
entire failure that universally prevailed.
We are indebted to Colonel George E.
White, Of Van Buren, one Of the most
courteous Of gentlemen, and real, live
agent, who seems to thoroughly under
stand the interests Of the
public and those who en-
ply him, for suggesting to US
the propriety OF our taking the river
route in preference to the stage to Usage
and the cars from thence downward.
We are also, perhaps, indebted tn Colonel
White for much of the attention We re.
ceived on board the Maumelle. AL
thOuUh we baiipVa infrOduppG ar NOT