The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1883-03-22

surveys.
Education.-Mr. Davis, chairman,
reported two senate bills changing
the school law in reference to the du-
ties of trustees, and to children
changing from one school community
to another.
BILLS AND RESOLUTIONS.
Mr.. Harris, resolution: whereas,
The list of notaries printed in the
journals, and purporting to be a list
of those confirmed on yesterday, in
many respects is erroneous; therefore,
Be it resolved, That the secretary
of the senate be required to fur
nish correct list for publication
in to-morrow's journal, and that he
it goes to the printer" Adopted,
Mr.. Davis: A bill authorizing suits
against officers of executive depart
ments of the state, and fixing the
venue of the same.
BILLS CALLED UP.
Mr.. Fowler: The bill fixing the
boundaries of Lee county. Bill
passed.
MIR. Martin: House bill No. 269,
granting Z. ID. Crosby the right to
construct, maintain and use boom
across the BraZos river in McLennan
county, for the stoppage of floating
material. Passed to engrossment.
Mr.. Jones: Senate bill No. 211,
for the issuance of bonds by commits
sioners courts for constructing court
houses and jails, and authorizing the
levy of tax to pay for the same.
Mr.. Cooper: Senate bill No. 324, to
provide for patenting of certain land
certificates issued under authority of
the veterans acts.
Mr.. Cooper, amendment to section
2: provided, that said land shall not
be appropriated by said certificates
until the one million acres of land
set apart for the benefit of the state
university shall have been designated
and surveyed"
Mr.. Peacock: Substitute for Mr..
Cooper's amendment, provided that
none of said certificates shall be loca-
ted within the limits of the territory
out of which the one million acres set
aside to the university is to be taken,
until after the said one million acres
has been designated or surveyed"
Mr.. Davis said:
Mr.. President, the sympathies of my
heart are entwined about that system
which placed the spelling-boOk, the
reader and the arithmetic in the hands OF
the poorest child in the state. The sys-
TEN that benefits the whole people, and
helps to make perpetual the blessings OF
| free COVER ment. While no opposed TO
| a university, 1 don't belong to that class
who act as though they believed that the
first and about the only duty OF the state
| is to build a grand university for the lew,
at the expense OF the many Entertain
ing these views. 1 did not intend to
throw any inpediments In the way OF the
university, and have therefore remained
silent upon the subject. The present
| issue and discussion was not sought or
brought about by me. have said that
the certificates heretofore granted to the
| INDECENT veterans OF the Texan revolu-
ton and the crippled Confederate SOL
diers, should be satisfied out Of our re-
naming vacant land, In preference
to further endowing the university,
In the future would be an asylum for our
ca.t-off politicians. That the university
should not be endowed out Of lands
which belong in morals and right TO the
lettering heroes who, at San Jacinto and
other battle1elds. achieved the independ-
ence Of Texas. For saying this mnch,
the senator from Travis, who acts the
I than that of a senator of Texas, has
emptied all the walls Of his towering
wrath upon my head. He has called me
a GRO ss-road politician, a foolish babbler,
who retails the language of the rabble
upon the streets, and other similar
things-all of which do not remember,
| US l kept no memorandum; and his re-
marks did not make any lasting impress
sion on my mind. The senate has trav-
eled out of the record to deliver his usual
| eulogy upon Gov. Roberts, and has also
| discussed Judge Gould. But nature
and training has peculiarly fitted the
senator for the eulOgy business, and he
knows in what his greatest rengLh con-
sists.
i presume am as good q friend to
Governor Roberts as the senator from
Travis If do not act the part OF a bos.
well and eulogize him both in season and
out of season. 1 have always believed
Judge Gould to be one OF the purest and
| best men that ever honor, the supreme
bench of any state. His reputation will
| survive even the admiration OF the seDA-
| tor from Travis. In referring to the prob
able future of the university l had In my
| mind measures and not men, as j will
hereafter explain. But since the debate
has come down to personalities Will say
that the martial air, the military step and
the fierce moustache of the senator from
! Travis has convinced US all that he is In
| training Tor the pE0fessOrship OF military
| tactics. He will nOL only teach the boys
how TO march and countermarch advance
and retreat, but he can teach them pru-
| dence in battle and how to leave failing
cause in time. As is well known, the
senator stuck to Macmillan in the days
| Of his prosperity, but fortunately for
| the univ ersity of Texas he left
Macmillan just in time to keep from be-
ing made martyr OF.
| Several years ago the legislature grant
ed 10 the manned, the crippled and indi-
gent Confederate soldiers certificate for
| I2S acres OF land. am not one that Will
ever attempt to drag up the bitter memo.
| ri IS of the past. but these men were not
| the men who caused or brought about
| the war. They were the humble citizens
| who carried the muskets and faced death
In the discharge OF what seemed to them
| to be thei- duty. For years their lives
were spent in that struggle. They are
manned and crippled for life. There fs
no victorious government to grant them
| pensions Alter Texas has granted them
a certificate and charged them five dol
lars for it, and they have been at the cost
and expense of proving their claims, all
good men agree that they shonid nave
| their lands regardless OF the merits OF the
law under which the certificates were Is
sued. The question now presents itself,
| whether we will satisfy these certih-
Gates or further endOw the university: l
| say that the certificates should be first
satisfied. Let us be just before we at
tempt to be generous. Though epithets
may be bestowed upon me as thick as the
leaves of autumn, they will not drive me
from the path OF right; and though 1t
may be called the talk of the rabble, nine.
tenths OF the people OF Texas think as
do about this question.
In 1879 the Texas legislature, without
dissenting voice, granted to the gray
haired, t0ttering and INDECENT veterans
who, By their valor. achieyed the indie.
pendence of this country and made II
possible for us to be here to-day, GER
tificate for 1880 acres Of land each. Many
OF tht sc certificates have not been located
| because O reservation blocked the way
Should not these certificates be located
| as long as Texas has vacant land out OF
| which they can be sat1shedi Justice,
duty, honor and fair dealing say that the
last one of them should be satisfied
When say that they should be satisfied
before the university Is further endowed
though it may be the talk Of the rabble
on the streets, 1t Is the sentiment oil
nineiy-nine out OF every hundred OF the
people of Texas. Things have come to q
pretty pass when man cannot stand up
In the senate Of Texas, and contend
for simple justice to the limping Cunfed.
crate soldier, and the tottering heroes oil
the Texas revolution, whose numbers day
by day grow less, without the lordly sen.
at, + from Travis denouncing him as q
cIoss-road politician and an enemy Il
education In few years the last of the
)and OF heroes will have c. ossed over the
river, and gone TO his long home. Lei
| not their last moments be embittered BY