davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1877-03-15
DAVID NJ. KEY AS A CABINET
OFFICER.

The nomination Of Key as a mem
Der of Hayes's cabinet must be regarded
as the initial step in the development
of a policy, seeking to disarm Southern
distrust and to promote peace and good
feeling th-ough the Southern States.
MIR. Key led q Confederate regiment
during the late war, and was the Dem
ocratlc Senator appointed to fill An
drew Johnson's vacancy, but at the last
session of Congress lie was the first to
make speech from the Democratic
side looking to Southern pacification
through Cancellation of and co-opera-
ton with the incoming Republican
administration. That he and Presi-
dent Hayes would be able to harmon
ize was made sufficiently clear to
the latter by the sentiments
of a private litter addressed by
Mr.. Key to a personal friend on the
sixteenth of February last, in which
he said:
81 snl ready to do all I can to restore
confidence and government to the peo-
pie of the South. This can only be
done by the hearty determination OF
the sections, for which have labored.
II, without requiring of me the sacri-
fee Of my personal or political inde-
pendence, you fad that my name can
be used for the good of the South in
your best judgment, you are at liberty
to use it. If 1 were to become mem
Der of the administration l should not
feel myself at liberty to place myself
in opposition to its general policy, but
should feel bound to build it up and
strengthen it in the hearts of the peo,
pie. If the time arrived when l could
not heartily cooperate with it l should
resign. If, as 1 hope and believe, the
administration will develop broad
and liberal policy towards the people
OF the South, 1 would not hesitate to
incorporate my fortunes and sell
with it," H.
Let US accept Mr.. Keys position a.
an earnest that Mr.. Hayes proposes t.
carry out generous policy towards
the South. Blaine, Morton & Co. ma!
drive him from this position; but 81
long as they do not, let the Southern
people lend him the moral aid which
is demanded of them.
The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1877-03-15
HAYES AND WHISKY.

President Hayes proposes to execute
his proper Official authority as COM
mander-in- chief of the army and navy
and withdraw both from the Southern
States. In view of this fact it surely
becomes every citizen of the South to
conduct himself in such a manner that
Hayes's action in this behalf may be
approved by the whole country. There
should be no lawlessness or violence.
OF disorder and bloody deeds there will
be none where there is no drunken
ness. There was never development
of so-called ku-klux violence that
whisky did not nerve the hand that
struck the blow or fired the pistol, and
the peace and prosperity of the South
and maintenance of the force in gov
ernmcnt that resists insane Radicalism
depends very largely upon the sobr,ety
of those whose follies and crimes have
done the South infinite harm. These
misdeeds have been grossly exaggera-
ted. An act of whisky-born folly be-
comes, when illuminated by telegraph
ic lightning and diifused over the face
of myriads of newspapers, myriad of
murderous deeds. Our very political
peace thus depends upon the suppress
sion of the crime of whisky-vending
If the President withdraw, as he pro-
poses, all soldiers from the South
his conduct can only be approved
by the people when perfect repose
and order and safety for all classes
of citizens, white ard colored, is uni
versally confessed, even when there is
NO power to protect the weak save that
of decency, sobriety and correctly de-
fined public opinion. But the law
should be the capitalization of this
opinion and nothing has done so much
to reform it in Texas as the discussion
of the whisky trade, and nothing has
done Texas such service in the world,
eyes or SO much to correct the worlds
opinion OF US as tho adoption by the
best populations of the State of the
provisions of the whisky prohibition
code, and surely nothing could serve
the State more than the success of the
prohihitionists at the State capital.
The moral effect of this event would
be felt not only in the South, but
throughout the Union and confessed al
Washington. In serving ourselves W,
serve Texas and declare that they who
have pronounced Us drunken, murder
Gus savages have spoken falsely of us
If whisky die and be buried wher
Hayes's soldiers 60 out of the South, 81
may more than half the cost of munic
ipal governments and of courts, anC
peace will be maintained and life and
property be secure without the inter
vention of bsIpuets or bailiffs.
The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1877-03-15

THE German-American Female
School has published at this office q
circular which serves to show how
earnestly the people of Austin are de
voted to the benefcent task of eiu-
eating their daughters; how these are
instructed thoroughly not only in
mathematics, but to speak German and
French. A majority of the pupils are
daughters of the best German citizens
of this and adjacent counties and
towns, and since children acquire a
spoken language with facility that is
even marvellous, there can be no such
school as this for the proper training
of American girls. Moreover, the
opinions and prejudlces of these are
liberalized. They soon learn to respect
German intelligence and virtues, and
admire German genius in art and let
tiers, and since emigres from Germany
constitute so potent class of society
everywhere in Southwestern Texas, a
thorough knowledge of the German
tongue and an acquaintance with Ger
man literature becomes almost indls-
pensable in social life in the capital.
1t will be q blessed day for Austin
when it may become the central seat of
learning as of legislation for Texas,
and this consummation is only posi-
BILE when the bar-rooms that poison the
atmosphere and corrupt popular morals
are closed. Then people would gather
here to rear and educate their children,
not in the vices of dramshops, but In
schools like this, conducted by admir-
able German ladies who are doing the
city and country infinite service.
The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1877-03-15

THE Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe
Railway Company propose that if Bel
ton will grade and crosstie the road
from the International to Bolton, the
Galveston company will at once supply
the iron and locomotives. The pres
ent is Belton's golden opportunity.
The value of property will be doubled
as soon as the contract is complete, and
every acre of land IN the county will
be enhanced in value twenty-five ol
fifty per cent. When the road is com
pleted these figures may be agair
doubled. The future attractiveness o.
Bell county's broad prairies, unmatched
in richness and fertility, cannot b.
overestimated. Surely the people ar
too wise to let this opportunity escape
unlmproved. A century may elaps'
before such another presents itself TO
their adoption.
The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1877-03-15
THE DOOM OF A RAIL WAY AND
ITS AREHoLDERS.

The consolidation of the Information
al and Central railways of Texas will
probably result from the foreclosure of
mortgages on the Central effected yes
terday. In fact this result seems to
have been contemplated. There was
no need for more than one depot and
railway station at Austin if we are to
have only one road. The Internation-
al alone has provided proper accom-
modations for passengers and recepta-
cles for freight. Then the two cor
porations secured frem the city the
right to unite their lines and the Cen
trail based its application, We believe,
upon the alleged necessity for access
to the stone quarries. But this was an
adroit dodge" We imagine, to hood
wink our blear-eysd city government.
But the concession wAs duly made and
the two railway lines became one, and
now the Central goes into bankruptcy,
to be bought by the owners of the In,
ternatlonal, chiefest of whom we be-
Iieve to be the admirable Christian
gentleman and philanthropist, Mr.. VIM.
E.; Dodge, now in this city with his
attorney, Mr.. Phelps, the most felici'
tous talker of modern times. But how
are the mighty fallenl Stock worth
not very long ago, even after i
was watered 10 unutterable thin
mesa Eve for one, has become ut
terly worthless. Not many day
The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1877-03-15
DISSOLUTION AND RECONSTRUC-
TION OF PARTIES.

1t was hardly to be supposed that
commonplace violent partisans could
do justice to the chief representative of
Republicanism. With most men parti-
sanship involves keen anxiety for
power and Office. Bereft of these by
Hayes's triumph and maddened by de-
feat, 1t IS hardly possible, in the very
nature of things, that we can give Pres
ident Hsyes's declarations of purpose
perfect fairness of discussion. If we
would know the precise value of the
inaugural, distrusting as we do our
own Judgment affected by ineradica-
BILE prejudices against Radicalism
which President Hayes represents, we
should scan the pages of leading Eng
lish. French and German newspapers.
The state paper which we read Tues
day morning so anxiously and so in
tently was read six hours earlier in
London and Paris and Berlin than in
Austin. The London TimSs gave its
opinions of the inaugural and this was
telegraphed Wednesday night to the
ne wspapers of the United States and
thus the opinions of the two hemi-
spheres were almost instantly inter
changed, and when we state that those
newspapers Of the South which
have spoken most generously of the in
augural have almost copied the judi
cisl fairness and justice of the great
European journals, we must conclude
that tie liberal press of America which
lauded the President most freely spoke
most wisely and most truthfully. Very
certainly il the Presidents deeds be
coincident with his assertions of pur-
pose, the unexampled prosperity of the
South is absolutely assured. the result
Of Mr.. Hayss's administration will be
the termination Of the ascendancy OF
New York and New England in Amer
can politics and government and the
perfection of a partisan alliance between
the West and South. Politicians may
declalm as they viii and party leader:
may deplore with breaking hearts thu
dissolution of old organizations that
lived and breathed and threatened and
roared and ruled and distributed pabh'
plunder in States and throughout th'
Union, but IL President Hayes pursu'
the policy defined for himself, thes'
old parties, IS organised to-day, vii
The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1877-03-15
HONEST DICK THOMPSON,

Richard NJ. Thompson, Hayes's
chosen secretary of the navy, resides
in Terre Haute, a town made famous
because it contains "Honest Dick
Thompson" the logical lawyer, famous
even before the war as a practitioner
at the bar of the Supreme Court at
Washington. Terre Haute is also
"high land" because it is the home of
Dan Voorhees,, the ''tall sycamore of
the Wabash" Voorhees, Is the peer
less balrister and popular orator even
as Honest Dick Thompson is the log
ical thinker and adrcit reasoner of the
Northwest. In 1S60-1, when Lincoln
was first inaugurated, Dick Thompson
spent several weeks at Browns (now
the NationaD Hotel. He watched
with infinite interest the proceed
lngs of Congress and of that body
of great men who were gathered at
the capital to devise plans that seces-
sion and war might be avoided.
Judge Thompson, if we remember
Alright, was Wing, never an extrem-
ist. He is of family famous In the
juridical annals of Tennessee and Ken
lucky, and, like David NJ. Key, will
do honor to any office assigned him.
Mr.. Thompson must be growing old.
He was thin, wiry and methodical, and
these physical facts may have given
him unusual vigor of body and of in
tellect. Robt. M. Hatton, then mem
Der of Congress, and Harris, of Vir-
gina, and Brown, of Kentucky,
and other young lawgivers, even in
1860, were accustomed to address Mr..
Thompson as "Uncle Dick" and con-
stantly spoke of him as ''Honest Dick
Thompson" If Mr.. Hayes's selections
in other instances have been as wise
as when he chose Thompson and Key
to fill places in his cabinet, no patriot
can complain that virtue and truth and
country have not been served by the
new President.
The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1877-03-15

A REPORTER for the Knoxville
CTenn.) Tribune interviewed Hon. D.
NJ. Key at the Athin House few days
ago when the distinguished gentleman
was on his way to Washington. Key
said to the reporter; 81 am en- route to
Washington and am not positively
offered anything. have had some
correspondence with ex-GoYernor
Brown and Col. Kellar, editor and pro-
prietor of the Memphis A0alanche, as to
my taking a position in President
Hayes's government-just what l can
not say-and I have assured them that
if can take the position without any
sacrifice of dignity or of my convictions
| shall do so. II take such place il
will be for the purpose of aiding the
new President in the development o.
his apparent kindly and just policy to
ward my people of the South"
The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1877-03-15
THE Sherman Gas Company, thre

THE Sherman Gas Company, three
hundred miles nearer the coal fields
than Austin, charges 1926 per 1000 for
gas WnIIU VIC nuVO nUIO IN husLln,
made of the best coal, at $5. What
Austin needs is direct railway to the
coal fields north of US, and the gas
company of Austin will be foremost In
aiding a narrow gauge road in that
direction. Very certainly, in view of
the distance over which coal is trans
ported by rail, the cost of gas in Aus
tin is the least possible, and that the
cost of this indispensable need of intel
ligence and civilization may be lessened d
and cotton and wool manufacturing
made profitable and our firesides com,
Portable, we must construct the mar
row gauge even to the coal fields oi
Northwestern Texas.
The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1877-03-15
HOW WHISKY FIGURES IN
TRAVIS COUNTY.

According 10 the nvenue returns of
the Federal tax collector there are 158
licensed liquor seller; in Travis county.
We have a list of them now before us.
One of these dealers has said that the
smallest average sals per diem amount
to $40 by each dealer or $3.50 spent
daily for this helps broth that makes
men devils, drives women to shame
and children to begary, filling peni-
tentiaries and poor-louses and making
the capital of Texas odious in the eyes
of decent civilization. The $3.50
spent daily are worse than wasted.
Money could not b, more fatally dis
bursed. We nigh buy the cast-off
clothing at a pest house and distribute
it and only the bodis and not the souls
of men would be Infected with foul
contagious with whi,h people had rot
ted into their grave; but when we
spend 1915, 700 annually for whisky,
we transmit all these woes t. the morals
of the people. Their hains are parched
and souls fired for an eternity of flame
and death. These half million dol
lars would assure the completion of the
narrow gauge railway to the coal fields
and mining and cattle districts of the
Northwest and quadrrple the wealth
of the capital, and yetthis wasted half
a million dollars is ony used to mad
den, destroy and degrade, and
men stand up before the community
to defend the government that licenses
these gateways to.pov.rty, madness and
perdition. Think O. it. With the
$500, 600 saved, there would not be a
savage loose in the county to faunt
six-shooters in the faces of decent peo-
pie. On the contrary there would be
pretty farms and blight homes and
blossoming gardens, md churches and
school houses would slpplant the dirty
dens of whisky that are reeklng in
pollution and befoul the very breezes
that fan the faces of innocence and pu-
rity and beauty. Godknows that the
country's laws should be employed to
restrict evil to the narowest confines
and give energy and force to every
agency of good. Whisky should be
incarcerated and men made free. The
shsckles should be knocked from the
limbs of the depraved and weak, and
fastened upon the hdl-born monster
Strong Drink. 1t has made fends OF
those once akin to Golhead in majes-
ty of virtue and he.ven descended
genius. No "licenseG' class has any
divine or irrepealable right to destroy
both the bodies and souls of men, and
no government is true to those it was
instituted to protect i it legalize the
expenditure of $50r,000 in Travis
county alone, that rs people may be
imbruted, impoverished and destroyed.
The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1877-03-15

Now that Blaine and his ardent
clique have pronounced against the ad-
ministration it only remains to be seen
whether the President have the courage
and tenacity of purpose that distin-
guished his predecessor. If Blaine and
Morton and Cameron can drive the
President from his chosen line of
policy, then the South will be victim
lied and ruinous intervention in the
affairs of Southern States will be con-
tinued. But the Presidents personal
friends declare that his tirmness often
degenerates into sheer obstinacy and
that if will DO wholly impossible to
shake his purposes or the course map
ped out when he accepted the Cincin-
natl nomination, Blaine and Morton
and the party repudlating this pro-
posed scheme of administration
throughout the canvass. The conser-
vative people of the country will watch
the development of President Hayes's
policy and character and purposes,
through the next few months, with
eager interest. Just now we can only
congratulate ourselves and the South
that Blaine and Morton and Cameron
have thrown down the gauntlet and
Radicallsm from both directions wages
outright war against the conservative
President, who says he was elected
by party to be the proper, honest,
just President of all parties and of the
whole country. But it is most for
tunate event in the history of the times
that the worst men in Congress ant
those who most hate the South and it
civilization have pronounced agains
the administration and policy of thu
President, and it is only amazing tina
we find here and there in the Soutl
newspapers pretending to be Democrat
ic and friendly to the South co-operat
ing with Blaine and Morton and Chand
ler in the base work of breaking dow
a power now exerted in behalf of tn
best interest and good fortune anC
| freedom of the South.
The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1877-03-15
TOM SCOrT,s ORGAN AT AUSTIN

Tom Scott persists in his purpose OF
robbing Texas and sggrandiziLg the
Pennsylvania Central, and while he
turns the great highway towards the
North on this side of the continent,
Huntington has forced him to make 8
like diversion at the other end OF the
line, and the road is to be built for
Philadelphia on the one hand and San
Francisco on the other, and Texas and
the South are cheated and robbed. II
the road were built by Scott and Hunt
ington, as they propose, and its man
agement surrendered to other men and
other corporations, We would have
branches which might become trunk
lines to Galveston and New Orleans on
the one hand aud to San Diego and
Guayamas on the other. But the act Of
Congress makes Tom Scott and Hunt
ington an immortal corporation, and
when these two men die, their power
as stockholders will be transmitted to
successors having the same interests
and purposes, and there can be nc
change and no relief, and the travel and
wealth and commerce of the continent
viii remain as to-day at the disposal oi
Philadelphia and San Francisco. Anc
yet Hancock and Schlsicher have beer
silent, and even now il is alleged tha
Tom Scott is about setting up = news
paper here at Austin.
The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1877-03-15
pc dissolved, and even here in

be dissolved, and even here in
Texas, fixed and immutable IS
our prejudices may be, we will see two
Democrats competing for every local
Office. There will be two Democratic
candidates for the Governors Office,
each sustained by strong element OF
the Democratic organization of to-day
the extreme Radical party of Texas
will be absorbed by the two fragments
of rent Democracy, and the majority
of 100, 900, which the omnipotent
party claims, will disappear.
Even if President Hayes fail TO ac-
complish the disruption of parties as
now organized, this whisky question
will interpose to achieve the purpose,
and the integrity of political organiza-
tions, as constituted for years past in
Texas, was never SO seriously endan-
gered. The ardent and eloquent Rog-
er Q. Mills will lead IN one direction,
and Throckmorton, Hancock and Others
will not be silent, and while the two
worlds applaud the conduct and state
craft of the President, party leaders
should weep that the machines which
they have engineered so deftly for
years past can be employed no longer
In lifting dead weights, as by an Ar
chimiaean lever, into places of honor
and power with degree of force and
absolute certainty of which Archiml-
des never dreamed. While these must
be the results of the Presidents policy,
if conformed to his declared philoso-
ply, we are not the less compelled by
the opinions of the unprejudiced for
eign newspaper press to confess the
generosity of President Hayes's inau-
gural. 1t defines an admirable scheme
of government for the South, however
ruinous it may be to the solldity of par
ties in the South.
The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1877-03-15

THE beauty ef farms and homes in
Kansas and the rapid growth of the
richest districts in that State has ever
been ascribed to tho operation of the
very law Inhibiting the introduction
of whisky, which we would enforce
here In the capital of Texas. Whisky
was made inaccessible, and the youths
Of the country have grown up, know.
ing nothing Of vices and habits its
use entails, and the most industnou:
farming population on the globe is that
which grows rich in Kansas, because
il expends not 3 dime for whisky.