Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1884-02-18
TERRELpS SPEECH.
Continued from rim Page.

dies, Though its stockholders may. ie
visible, yet powerful, and dwartiny In
dividllai enterprise by the power IL az
ercises. Such legislation lead 10 com
munls,m 10y the preiudices il ,xrite.
The rich individual dies, and his nrn,,
erty issca't, red by his spoiled son f.,
society Is like wugon.wheel M il 49,,
gress.s. always carrying the mud from
tne Dottom 10 the top, and always drop
ping down that which has been ele
waited. The children of the rich he
come poor, ana those of the poor. rich
,.ot so with land corporations, they
die not, neither can they be indicted
lor they are Intangible, invisible and
soulless; artificial creations of law
with all the rights of a man, and with
greater vitality. And, sir, here tbev
are, with their stockholders in Scot.
land, owning and fencing In entire
counties, with the county seat in the
middle OF their pastures-a political
pu6lic corporation In free state.
called county, owned and controlled
by a private corporation whose stock-
qolders are subjects of the British
hueen
TO this complexion has IL come. and
now you have the last touch to This
picture when you see them using The
school lands Of Texas as a pasture and
the senate refusing to place tribunals
on the staked plains to stop it. The
United States will not permit even a
charitable corporation to own over
S50,OOO worth of land in any TERRITORY.
and yet we, blind to our interest. per.
nit corporate ownership of counties.
Inc grievance of bad road law, |
nave said, must be provided for in
some other bill. So, also, must the
check on speculative land corpora
lions; and though the governor does
not seem to have thought that a sufli.
cient evil to invite the legislature TO
consider it, / will at the proper time
test the sense of the senate by a resolu-
ton that under authority of article
5Ii OF the code the charters should be
so amended as to restrict their duration
to one year, and require them in that
time close shop, pay debts and divide
their land assets among the stockhold-
ers. Their very existence is against
the genius of the constitution, which
prohibits perpetuities and monopolies.
III the governor will not recommend
the reform, or you will not adopt it,
so much the worse for Texas. Right
here / say that | will never vote to
sci school lands except to an actual
settler, and want the law so framed as
to be sure he is one.
l have attempted to show that we
have on our northern border, and also
along the coast and in the west, PAM
pered industry of less than one-twen-
tieth of the people, who grow rich un.
der vicious laws on a great trust estate
for the education of our children, while
the toiling masses must, by direct tax
aiion, pay for the prosperity of the few.
L announce here that this is robbery,
and that until this free grass is throt-
tied, until those who fatten on it are
by law to pay for local hab.
itation and fasten themsely es to the
grass by lease or purchase, the fences
will continue to disappear, and there
will be no peace. And i can no more
be shaken from this conviction,
grounded, as it is, in reason and in
truth, than the winds of the north can
shake from their deep foundations the
cliffs of the Colorado.
| say, further, that you might as
well attempt TO prevent the bursting
Of an engine by sticking straws in the
seams of the boiler, or shooting the en-
gineer, rs to expect to stop fence cut
ling by penalties alone. You must
reduce the steam, reverse the lever
and pull the throttle. Votes of conf
ience will not save fences, and we
should remember that the commune
once cared as little for the council of
i've hundred as il did for the Swiss
guards of the palace, when they paid
IN unceremonious visit TO him, who,
hree months before, they worshiped
Is god.
Free grass, ] say for the twentieth
line. is legislative robbery the rob-
Dery of patient industry; the robbery
IF the many to enrich the few. And
announce further, that it makes no
Inference to me whether i am robbed
Dy the partial laws of the federal gov
arnment, which shovel, under the tar
I'll, the wages of agriculture into the
pockets of manufacturers, or whetner
am plundered of school taxes to make
4 race of cattle kings here in Texas.
I'm both cases it is robbery. My coun-
" is taxed $1,000 more for schools
han she receives back, which goes to
)ther people, every cent of which
should be saved and education made
indeed free-free, without taxation, if
We force those who use grass on school
and 10 pay even half that ii is worth.
But you are gravely asked here,
When did Senator Terrell become a
rec school advocate? If | were not
amused by such stuff, so oft repeated,
/ would tire of it. This hand penned
he law under which every child of
Texas, attending free schools, has
been instructed for seven years; and
because | could not walk gravely to
,ome gimlet-hole, to which j was in
,ited by n new solon, and see through
t the broad day of inspiration shining
III new systems of education, / was
ieretic.
From the constituents of these self
champions of public educa-
ion we are now attempting to rescue
he school lands; and from the pro-
Getting care of all such may the good
Lord deliver the children of Texas.
The stock convention, with similar
good judgment Cif they are sincere,
declared that free grass must cease.
The real estate convention, meeting
here the same week, pronounced the
anne verdict of the 32S, 900 farmers OF
Texas, who toll and pay taxes to make
yrass free to the favored few. And
low remember my predictions: If you
fail to heed their interests, and eXalt
Yourself, not only will you perpei uate
he reign of violence, but you Will be
made to initiate that ruler of old, who,
for exalting himself, was despoiled OF
MS power and turned out on free grass