The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1884-01-24

, have his way he would make l6
cents an acre. That would Civ
100000, and the catUemen can we
afford to pay that.
Senator Fleming nade one of tE
strongest speeches made in oppositio
to the bill. 1t was quite lengthy, bu
very logical and brilliant. On accoun
of the Senate net -adjournin
until nearly o'clock on
stenographer did not have tim
with his other work to transcribe tn
notes as fully as we desire to preSen
it. We intend to publish it hereafte
in full.
At the close Of Senator Fleming
speech the committee rose, and asket
permission to sit at 3 o'clock.
At 3 o'clock the Senate again me
and went into committee of tn
whole, The debate on the Terrell bill
was resumed, Senator Stratton max
ing the first speech. He favored tn,
bill. 1t was in the interest OF the poo
men of the country and the cause o
education. Three objections had beer
raised against it. 1st. it was said i
was unconstitutional; -, was i'm
practical: Sd, it was unwise.
AS to the first it had been satisfac
toriIy shown that there was 10 valiC
constitutional grounds of objection
AS to the second objection, he did mo-
see why the commissioners cOurt
could not enforce the law the same as
any other court. The same evidence
and only the same evidence would bt
required that was required in Other
cases in the courts now. lie could
not see any grounds for asserting il
impracticable. AS to the third objec
tion it had been clearly shown it would
be of great benefit to the schools and
the poor men of the state and he
should support it.
Senator Pope followed in a short
speech, in which he ridiculed the pro-
visions of the bill, particularly that
| part relating to the grass commission
ers. He said the bill required these
commissioners to get, first, an abstract
| of the lands then of the bonds and
hunt up the offenders, and in every
county of the state they would
have to search fifty large
volumes, then go into these distant
Panhandle counties and hunt up
offenders. To say that ten men could
do that was an aDsurdity. He then
| gave demonstration as to what the
expense would be. The ten COM
missioners at $500 year would be
| 1926, 600: then the army to support
them would swell the expense until it
would be an unbearable burden. He
closed the speech by the following
poetry. 1t has not very good feet
but it can walk, though little limpy.
But good feet in poetry don't amount
| to much anyway.
1t created roars of laughter in the
Senate. and we give it just as read:
The dews of heaven were falling fast,
As through a cattle ranch there passed,
The leader of a bull-whaclling band,
A blazing banner in his hand,
blowing from his bugle loud DlaSt,l
With motto cOlored in full brass,
"We're hunting grass
The COW boys wondered what it meant,
And gaZed intent upon the band,
And cried, "By whom have you been sent
To make war In this land.
The martial horde, IL halted not,
But rode on quickly en- maSse
And answered as with but one voice,
Were hunting grass.
You dare to ask why we came here
The air with war-like sounds to fill?
! We came the fence-cutters to scare,
And bleed and die for the Terrell bill.
Your cheek Is worthy OF an ass.
And still they rode on quick and fast,
They were hunting grass.
To speak of all their wondrous deeds,
Tn ir wandering marches through the
'Twould those of pious Eneas eclipse;
only Sketch-cannOt relate.
! But through our domain broadcast
They bore their motto to the last
We're hunting grass"
THE BATTLE.
We charOad unOn a herd of COWS
And punched them up all right
Except a brindle, muley one,
That looked as If she'd bite.
But OH We knew a thing or two
Our captain wheeled his men
We wound her up; We round her up
And put her In pen.
THE RETURN.
The campaign over, we turned about;
Our leader gave luSty shout,
And said, "my braves, this ends the scout
And We'll proceed at once and route
To Austin, where we draw our pay.
And God forgive the day, alas!
When we went roaming after grass"
Senator Jones closed the debate for
the day by speech against the bill.
His speech was able and eloquent but
we have not time nor space to present
1t. He was highly sarcastic both
against the bill and its author, par
tfcularly that part of Senator Terrelrs
speech on the communistic condition
of the fence cutting troubles. He
made a strong point on the bill in re-
gard to that part relating to the age
and numer of stock that were per
mitted to run at large. He
said it would require every
person to keep register of the birth
of the stock, because if a man or wo-
man forgot the hour when the young
would reach a year old, he or she
would be subjected to term in the
penitentiary. His presentation of this
point was skillful and highly witty.
The committee then rose and asked
permission to sit to-day at 10 o'clock,
when it is understood Judge Terrell
will close the debate.
A careful canvass of the Senate in
dicates that If all the senators are
present when the vote is taken, the
majority report will be adopted by a
vote of IL to IA. though there are
some of the members who decline to
express themselves until the vote is
over.