The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1881-03-31
TEXAS PREss OPINION :.


The Waco Telephone SAVES We
expect Jay Gould is monopolist-
everybody says he is-but he is the
Eind OF monopolist we want in
Texas just now. He is providing
labor for thousands OF men, making
money plentiful, building up towns
and adding millions of dollars to
the taxable wealth of the State.
The cypress says: The discus
sion of the railroad bill has, there.
fore. developed the fact that the
people of Texas want all people,
whether in corporate bodies, or as
individuals, treated fairly, and that
there is no communism in the Lone
Star State. They Mant what Is lair
aud just. and no more, and all ap-
peals to passion or prejudice are
thrown TO the wiRds and of Ao Pf-
feet.
The Dallas Times, always very
pointed i'll what il says, calls aiten-
ton to the bill requiring religious
exercises 10 he held in the schools
in this style: "A bill. amending the
school law so that religious exercises
oiihil pC hClN III iilt puOIiC StlipOlc, 10
before the legislature. 1t elected
warm debate, and, rs usual, no ae-
ton was had on the subject. If the
joint resolution, amending the con-
stitution, had passed, preventing the
men of the country from drink
ing, and the present bill, pro-
viding for our children's getting
4 religious education, had been
added, we would indeed be chill
dren of the government. 1t occurs
to us that The right TO train a child
belongs exclusively to parents. a
bill, introducing religious exercises
i'll the public schools, amounts to no
more than our paving tax to WY
school teachers to point out to our
children the road to heaven. Most
mothers are better qualified TO teach
their children in such matters than
the hired school teacher. In our eff
forts to he in the front of the line of
progress. we may get so fast that we
will be found To have Overtaken the
tail end OF it."
Touching the proposed amend
ment to the constitution. affecting
the terms of state officers and legis-
lators the jefferson Democrat says:
This change, it occurs to us, must
commend itself to thoughtful men.
There can be no real craftsmanship
without experience. To expect Il
legislator, who has no knowledge
Of the practical workings ofthe gov
eminent, who is unacquainted
with any of its details. and
whose mind has never been
directed to such legislation as is re-
Quired, 10 visit the state capital and
remain there for sixty or ninety
days, with the distracting excite
ment that attends such convOca-
tiOns, and TO frame such laws as are
needed, is not reasonable. Public
life derives its only honor from the
usefulness which characterizes il,
and when il ceases to be valuable, il
possesses no charm to its possessor,
and loses the respect of the citizen.
The fault of our legislatures of late
years, has not been the want OF tai
eat, but the absence Of information
and experience. This is painfully
manifest in the present body,
which, in ability, is far above the
average. There are no leaders i'll
it, and very few possessing sufficient
information to direct public affairs.
Hence it is. that instead of the main
business of the session being at
tended to at once, and minor mat
ter deferred, they have been post
poned to the last. to be neglected or
disposed of hastily in the last hours
OF the session. The members found,
when the constitutional limit OF sixty
days had expired, that they had lit
orally done nothing that was valua-
Bile. and that five hundred or more
bills had crowded the tables of the
speakers, destined to sleep the sleep
that knows no awakening.