Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1884-01-29
wup r ,zETTr. FopT WORTH, TEXAS TUESDAl 1ANoA@e

gets nm 20 answer me he will meet this
question fairly. l hope he VIII
not meet us on this question
like the senators from Cook and Bexar'
Saw that these are diseases In the land,
but neither point out the disease nor
snggest any remedy for them, ana
then make the whole fight in some
technical feature of the bill, and leave
the main issue undiscussed. lnuse
who indulge i'm the delicious pastiile
of DESTROYING their neighbours fences III
the darkness of the night, soothe thelr
gentle cousciences with the fact that
there has been either imaginary or real
causes for their crimes j.istitiaole oy
the law of nature ifnot by the law oil the
land. However wrong this may oe,
and however unjustiiiable 1t may De,
we must as candid men admit
that men have taken lilo.
critics with other persons
property in ways that are not rign.,,
and IL Is our duty to remove any JUST
cause of complaint, and place ourselves
i'm position to punish violators OF the
law with clean hands. 1t is said that
ne cause for fence-cutting IS that
some persons have inclosed and are
using the public lands TO the exclu-
sion of others: another Is that persons
owning large pastures have turned
their cattle upon the commons for the
purpose of getting they benefit of the
! grass on the outside in the summer,
and then when the grass is all eaten
nm and winter comes on,
they nut their stock in their pasture
and will not divide with their neigh
bors. Upon this question the bill be,
fore us proposes to make it criminal
oflense for any one owning n pasture
TO turn his stock upon the commons
unless he owns or controls lands upon
the commons sufficient for the stock
he turns out.
Jones--Did not the senator from
Montague say in discussing this meas
ure that it was not large pastu res that
had been cut by fence-cGtters
Afatlock-I said this. that there
had not been as many large
pastures cut as small ones in
nv county, and II you Will
call nv attention to that point after
awhile. | will discuss that phase OF the
question. But what WINS attempting
to say is that these alleged grounds
are what brought about ience-cuttihS
1t was this that gave the ever-ready
communist the ear of the public press !;
il was this that caused the newspapers
all over the state TO sympathize with
those whom they believed to be
! wronged, and it was this that made
them slow to condemn the crime of
! fenee-cutting. And the communists,
! whose nefarious doctrine is that our
water and land are the free gift of God
! to man, ever ready to catch at the
/ slightest excuse to put Snto effect their
unholy principles, aided by the GRIM
inals who delight in an excuse
( for crime, and the man who wants
I free grass, began the war upon wire
fences, both large and small. An
other section in this ill is that no man
shall herd his cattle upon the land of
another. That is just to the sheep
! owner as well US to the cGtileman. We
! have II law now to prevent shcepmen
| from herding on the lands of cattle
men and others, but you have no law
to protect the sheepmen. Another
cause of complaint is that men have
! inclosed others inside of their pastures
and have injured the value of their
/ property. While doubt that it has
ever been an injury to anyone TO be
surrounded by n large pasture, and
while / know it has been
Il great benefit TO mauy, and while |
know that it has not been the man
who is on the inside cutting out, but
the man on the outside cutting in
Sill in some instances * is alleged
that wrongs have been done and we
propose to remove that weGpon from
the hands the enemies OF law and
order by providing that il you incl0st
.. Liz
sent, You shall pay him reasonable
COMPENSATION therefor if you use it o.
be Punished for inclosing it, but ii tht
party inelosed desires to use and doe
use the land we provide as n matter o
, right how many stock to the acre il
the absence of an agreemen
both parties shall turn looa,
in the Enclosure in proportion
TO the land owned by each, and pro
vide for means of egress and ingres
over the adjoining surveys.
Fleming:-Will you point out sucl
provision in that bin rs provides fol
payment?
Matlo ;k:--I think could find it il
had time. Have you read ii?
Fleming: Yes, sir. You have no
read ii yourself.
Matlock:-When the gentleman
speaks on the bill | will try to poin
, out to him the section in the bill re
lating to 1t. These and the defects il
, our road law are some of the cause!
; that the fence-cutter and his conspi.
rators in crime Justify their acts upon
and it IS our duty 10 remove all these
causes, and disarm the fence-cutter 10y
taking from him public sympathy
4 we ShOuld make laws So inst that hpr
dens and blessings will fall on ali
alike, and there will be no more feai
from the fence-cutter.
The grievances that ] have pointed
out are embraced in the bill of the sem
ator from Travis. and to remedy these
evils he has prescribed certain agen.
cles and penalties. If We have sug
gested the disease and missed the rem
edy will senators on the other side
please lend as their valuable knowl
edge and experience, and provide 4
remedy? There is no evil but that
there Is somewherea remedy for it nC
law should be made, unless
there is come way to enforce it. | am
not strictly bound to the machinery OF
this bill, and am willing to accept any,
thing better that may be proposed
( All ask is that you either admit on
deny the truth of the proposition We
, lay down. And il true, and YOU arc
{ not satisfied with the manner we have
/ attempted to correct these abuses, sug
| gest better way and we will accept IL
, But if you deny the truth OF the prop
J ositions in the bill, please tell rs wha,
10 the matter with the country, anC
suggest remedy. III it is the sense OF