The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1876-04-20
GOVERNOR srookDALE IN DALLAS.
Ex Governor stockdale said to the edi

Ex Governor Stockdsle said to the edi-
tor Of the Dallas Herald on the tenth that
g. q expressed myself fully in the conven-
tion in favor Of the policy of encouraging
capital by making Its investments secure.
Ii We could, by making it secure, aud by
exemption from the burdens Of government
for iiIaited term of years, induce the es-
tabiishment of good cotton, woollen and
other manufacturing establishments,
should be very glad to see it done. 1t
would be wise financial policy. But, ia
my judgment, the present great defect OF
the Constitution is found in the insecurity
of aggregated capital invested in these and
-other enterprises. Capital is proveFbially
timid, and will only be invested where 1t
is secured by existing law. The true poi
icy of the State in this matter may be stated
thus: Restrained by law; secured by law"
+ In all this Governor StOckdale has the
concurrence of the great body of the news
paper press of Texasf Perhaps majority
OF the late Constitutional Convention would
have approved this philosophy, but before
its adjournment the grave body was incapa-
BILE, Dy reason of quasi partisan prejudices
growing out of cliques into which the con-
ing many benefcent purposes contemplated
by majority of individual members of the
body. For all that, and as much as the in
strument contains that which IS faulty and
ornits that which was most desirable, 1t is
W ser than they who made it and better
than they supposed who voted for it, and
worse, wherein 1t is defective, than its ene-
mics represented it. To the extent that
the provisions of the organic code repel
capital by rendering the construction OF
railways impossible, even by prohibiting
the enactment of ordinary charters with the
common concessjO jOns, it should be reformed.
We must invite capital if we would haze
roads, and sWestern Texas demands them
especially, since the East has been supplied.
But public as well as private corporations
should be guarded against unwise provis-
ions inserted, or refused to be inserted,
in the Constitution. Capital will not be in
vested in cities subject to the domination
of the nomadic, non-taxpaYing mob that,
each year, grows more and more potent and
more and more ruinous in each town and
city of the tax-burdened South In illus
tration of evils everywhere operative, it is
proposed to abate the dog nuisance by i'm
posing a canine per capita tax of five dol
lars. Two-thirds of the flea-bitteu, in
somnolent white population sign the
petition asking the enactment of the
ordinance, but Mexico and Africa
inveigh against this dog gone :"
legislation; city fathers howl, and bowling
dogs run riot over the blessed capital. Men
elected to Office represent those having no
interest direct or indirect in the fortunes of
corporations, and money is voted out of the
pockets of industry into the pockets of
idleness by those who vote to tax, 9TH
ers, never taxing themselves. Governor
Stockdale's suggestions were wise and
proper, and only too general and too
indefinite, He should have stated that
unless capital were secure, not only
against whimsical legislation, but against
ravenous tax-gatherers representing those
who pay no tax, it would never enter our
confines. He should have stated that suf-
frage is privilege" conceded by the
State, and not "right" inherent in man.
He should have stated the policy adopted
and approved by the Constitutional Con-
vention was born of Thad. Stevens's brain,
that Rutabagaism was its accOucheur, and
the Holy Alliance, whose existence and
purposes were shown before committee of
which the Ex-Governor was chairman, nur-
tured and fondled and blest it.