The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1884-01-24
VOL. XIII.
bill No. be taken up, and the motion

bill No. Z be taken up, and the motto
prevailed. The bill is as follows:
A bill to be entitled an act to reserve certa
lands for road purposes and furnishing Il
Section !. Be it enacted hy the legislaru
OF the state OF Texas: That here shall he al
Is hereby reserved, for use rs public road
twenty feet on the boundary lines Of all trac
. Of lands which may her eafter be disposed
by the Staie Of Texas, by patent or otherwis
including school Lands.
| Sec. .. Said re -ervatfOn Is from each or sal
tracts and shall be understood rs a conditlo
precedent OF every land grant or sale hereaftt
made.
| co mission. rs C lrt Of any county in whic
| said land IL sitnated, that the same Is necess;
| ry for road purposes. or Whenever 1t Is so dt
termined by the co,"lr..- ..'.-- court OF an
county TO which an un"I sI4.A county /
which the land is situated Is attaC..ed. It sha
be unlawful for any one TO build or maintain
fence or other obstruction across such roa
Sec L. II, after notice from the commission
ers' court havIns jurisdiction, any person o
persons shall erect or maintain any ience o
other obstruction across such r seryatiOn, sucl
person or persons shall be deemed guilty OF
miSdemeanor, and upon convection Sh Ill bt
ii ed in any sum not exceeding $40, and edcl
day that such fence or ,struetioh shall remail
after sixty days notice, shall constitute sepa
| ratr off nse.
Sc. 5. Each pat mt hereafter executed 70
lands gran ed subsequent to the passaFe O
this act, shall contain this claim; "Twenl!
! feet II boundary lines OF this survey Reserved
are used by the coun,y for road purposes Il
| snail be tree OF cost to The county, n,'twlth
| tsanding said reservations are included in the
| IN tes and bounds Of the gra. t.
Sec. 4. Whereas, great deal OF the public
| land Is passing rapidly into the hands OF lndt
| v1dualS and corporations WHO are lnclOSlne
| them TO the detriment OF the travelling pu lie
and, whereas, proper road Iacll,tlrS can not bt
obtain in the future without great cost to the
counties, therefore, a public necessity exists
that the constitutional rule requi ing this b I
to be read on thr several DAYS be su-pended
and the same IS hereby suspended, and this act
shall be IN fore anu take effect from Its pas
Sage.
Senator Houston offered IN amend
ment to add after the words school
lands, in section l, university, aSy-
lum and capitol lands"
Senator Matlock opposed the bill
and amendment in a long and able
speech. He took the ground that SO
far as the capitol lands were con-
cerned the act would be impairing the
obligations of the syndicate contract,
and under both the state and national
constitutions, be null and void. He
also thought the law was repugnant
to that provision of the state consti-
tuition which says that these lands
shall not be appropriated for any
purposes. He also opposed 1t as bad
policy and calculated to diminish the
value of the lands. and for the further
reason that these tracts would not be
of uniform size, and per consequence
these roads would be unconne cted
and of no value.
Senator Gibbs made the speech of
the session. He said the want OF
roads was the cause of all this trouble.
In all other states the government
had laid out public highway on the
boundry line of the sections, and no
such trouble as Texas had on her
hands had been known. 1t was i'm
possible to have civilization without
roads; they went hand and hand to-
gether. Instead Of Texas laying off
these roads when the government
owned the lands she had, by her sui
eidal policy, forced counties to buy
roads at extravagant prices
after the land had became
enhanced in value. It was
time this policy was changed. The
bill was not repugnant to the con-
stitution, for it did not transfer the
land to other purposes. The supreme
court had decided that highways
were but easements, the title remain
ing in the owner, not in the public.
and the inhibition of the constitution
did not prohibit the legislature from
creating an easement upon these
lands. The intent of the bill simply
was, that when the county commits
sionerS opened road they could do
so without paying heavy damages for
the land taken.
A division of the amendment was
called for. The entire amendment
was defeated by successive votes.
Senator Matlock offered an
Provided it shall not
apply to any lands sold by the state
prior to the passage of the law.
Senator Kleberg offered an amend
ment to the amendment, to the effect
that it shall not apply to any lands
that have been paid for, having been
sold by the state. This was accepted.
carried.
Senator Gooch offered an amend
ment to the effect that the section
was not to apply to leases of these
land. Carried.
Senator Harris offered an amend !
ment to strike out sections 1, 2, 3 and |
of the bill and insert in lieu thereof,
q section in substance, whenever
any of these lands shall be
sold, the purchaser shall take them,
and the sale shall be made, subject to
the right of public roads, to be there
after laid out. This is the effect of i
the amendment Carried. Then follow
sd a long debate. Finally the matter
was recommitted to the committee on
roads aud bridges by a vote of Is TO 9.
Senator Gibbs moved Il recensidera-
lion of the vote on Srnate bill No. 8.
The president stated that the bill
had gone to the House and it would
require motion passed by the Senate
to bring it back.
Senator Gibbs then moved that the
bill be returned to the Senate for fur
ther action. Before vote was taken
On this motion motion to adjourn
until 10 o'clock to-day was carried by
a vote of IA to IL.