The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1876-01-27

due reverence to Him who spake as ne'er
man spake, and .he casting out of Con-
gressional devils, next after converting
whisky into water, must be the first mirale
wrought by the party that triumphsin 1873.
TOM sCOTT'S KETENT DODGEs.
There are three or four Texas papers prb-
lished in distant States and cities. Thse
are now and then literally Landed by our
local contemporaries that lavish condemIa-
ton on ''patent outsides." Are not he
publications referred to all "outside" ald
outsiders" One of these, the Teras ND
Yorker, so-called, says:
We trust Congress and the whole country
will wake up and come to the relief of he
Texas aud Pacific, aud enable this trlly
great man Tom Scott, to build our Sourh-
ern highway from Atlantic TO Pacific ire
he goes down into his grave-for such men
as Thos. A. Scott are only born once il a
century.
True enough. Such men as the illuSri-
Gus Thomas are not often born, but we hvs
enough of them. II was Tom Scott Wlfo
went through the South, not many years
ago, buying and leasing Southern railways.
These had been destroyed by armies and
Radicalism was ravaging by ''reconstruct-
ing" the country, and Tom Scott came rep
resented as a very savior. Innocent railway
shareholders suffered the good man to rope
them in. But he had undertaken too big a
Job. His schemes failed, Morton and his
gang and carpet-baggers and universal suf-
frage were still unclaimed, and Tom Scott
and his Southern Security Credit Mobi-
lier scheme was exploded, and the raw
aged railways of the South reverted
to their original owners. Tom glided
from under and became part of a
Missouri construction company, in
vesting six or seven millions in the st.
Louis and Vinita (Atlantic and Pacific road
and in the little swindle of the age that
cost eleven millions, known as the big
bridge at st. Louis. These last investments
are simply ruinous, and the only remedy is
to be found in inveigling Congress into the
assumption of Scott's losses. This is prac,
tically effected if Congress, by any device,
either that proffered by Atkins or by the
original St. Louis convention bill, may be
induced to cooperate with the Rutabags
convention of Texas and transfer to Scott
an imperial domain with which the debts OF
the magnificent speculator may be paid. He
demands $40, 900 per mile, when the road,
at the present prices of iron and labor, will
not cost $50, 900, and yet Congressman from
Texas are active agents in the service OF
this magnificent 'highwayman, whose
life has been devoted to the business of rob
bing corporations and States.
No Southern road, built in the interest
of Texas or of the South, should be built
by Tom Scott. He will shape its conduct
when it is finished, controlling the course
of trade over it and giving preference to
such termini and to such connecting lines
as he may choose to enrich. He is part and
parcel and the body and soul of the Penn
sylvania Central, and it is an extension OF
this road to which Texas -stnfaiaiJ uPProPrl-
ates the richest boon ever conferred bya State
upon corporation; and the foulest shame
ever done was consummated when a body
of Texan lawgIvers repelled Tom Scott
contemptuously as he deserved on Mon
day, were tamrered with on Tuesday,
and then surrendered themselves to him
body and soul on Wednesday. And then,
to crown criminal weakness with sublime
folly, Tom Scott himself was made the sup.
pie tool of Rutabagaism. 1t was declared
that unless the new Constitution be adopted
Tom Scott should have not an acre of the
rich, broad domain of Texas. Statesmen
were once suspected, and damned be-
cause suspected, of &C bargain, intrigue anG
corruption )" but here the facts are patent
and confessed, and honest people, SO bold
ly is the deed done, forget that 1t is thei
moral duty to condemn the combination
and all its incidents and all who shared il
the indefensible transaction. Meanwhile
let us not forget to instruct our Congress
Scott. His interests and those of Tex
as, and of the people and cities o
Texas, are wide as the poles asunder
and whatever the virtues or crimes of Ja-
Gould and Huntingdon, their necessitie
and confessed interests impel them not t.
build road competing with their owl
Union and Central Pacific, but to seek tn
Atlantic ports nearest California that ma
be made accessible by Southern road. Il
other words, Huntingdon's interests an,
those of the people of Texas are identical
while Tom Scott can, by no possibility
serve two masters, Pennsylvania and Texas