The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1884-02-07
Are We Communists .?
HENRIETTA, Clay county, Texas, !
To the Editor of the Statesman:

/ Are we communists
| HENRIETTA, Clay county, Texas, }
January 30, 1884.
To the Editor of the Statesman:
Texas is to-day presenting a strange
spectacle to the world. All the law,
abiding citizens of the state looked
forward to the day when the legisla
ture was to convene, in the fond hope
and full belief that speedy check
would be put upon the prevailing eYi
Of fence-cutting, an epidemic so wide
spread and so ruinOuS as to threaten
general terrorism and prOstation of
the most vital interests of the state.
A class of property new to our people
was suddenly introduced into ouI
country few years ago, and with a
rapidity unparalleled in the history OF
any state there was invested in this
new property, the wire fence, millions
of money, and by its investment hun.
dreds of millions of dollars were added
to our taxable values. The fact, that
no law protected the owner OF ehis
class of property against the hand OF
the felon who sought to destroy it.
and convert to his use the valuable
| product that it protected, had escaped
1 the notice of the last legislature
| While the man who burns house, q
barn, hut or a wooden fence could be
sent to the penitentiary, and the thief
who stole horse, cow or even hog
was shown a felon'S cell. the william
who Wantonly destroyed ten times the
| amount of property il the shape of a
| Wire-fence, and appropriateS as much
more property, in the shape of grass
| could claim to be a gentleman, and
with part of the profits arising from
his ill-gotten gains, could pay the pal
\ try fine of $40 and proceed to repeat
his dastardly crime. 1t was naturally
supposed by every right-minded man
that on the assembling of the legisla-
| ture no time would be lost in curing
| this strange omission in our criminal
laws. But sadly were we mistaken.
The midnight prowlings of the un-
punished villain seemed to call out
the tender sympathies of our legisla-
tive solons. Instead of administer
ing prompt and decisive remedy,
they seem to be spending their time
hunting apologies for this new breed
of criminals. 1t is claimed that there
is some deep seated cause for this cpl
demic disorder. They do not reflect
that if house burning could only be
punished by fine of $40, every city
and town in the land would be in
ashes in less time than it has taken to
create the mania of fence cutting.
The thief who once saw that he could
grow rich by stealing the goods and
wares of the helpless merchant while
his house was being Consumed by
flames would not hesitate to apply the
destructive torch, and more especially
so if he knew Texas legislature
would stand by and CRY Hold don't
punish this poor man until we find
out some remedy for the great evil of
house burning, for we must redress
his Wrongsw Should the law infict-
ing a punishment for horse stealing
be repealed, how long would it be be-
fore no mans horse would be safe,
and legislators wall would be heard
crying for a remedy for the prevalent
evils of horse raising? "Yes," would
shout the demagogue, "these high
toned horse-owners feel themselves
elevated when they can drive their
fine trotters and high-toned carriages
past the poor laborer whose hands
have fed and curried that same team
since they were colts. They should
be humDled and forced to yield to the
natural right of the poor man who
feeds the horse to ride him at pleas
ure." While the midnight silence OF
the prairie is being disturbed by the
trefd of the wire fiend, and the
sIumbers of the inoffensive COW
are broken by the click OF
the nippers, a Texas legislature is
trying to invent an apology for the
wantOn destroyer of his neighbor's
property. 1t is claimed that it is all
caused by the fencing of too much
land by the rich, or the enclosure OF
land by parties who do not own it.
Bring up your long list of destroyed
fences, and will show you that the
pastures and patches OF the poor
farmer, who owned every acre his
fence enclosed, has suffered his full
proportion of this villainy. will
also demonstrate to any falr-minded
man, by display of shattered fences
that the pastures. every acre of which
were owned or leased by the men who
fenced them, have suffered worse in
proportion to numbers than have
those which were enclosed by men
who did not own them. The pastures
|
gard to ownership of land has beer
given, have suffered least. Then how
can it be claimed that fence cutting i;
the result of fencing the land of 9th
ers? But few short years ago, Texas
and her people were land poor. Tht
, great burden was too much land
Land owners would not pay taxes
and land had no value. Lands were
offered in lavish quantities and at any
price, but nobody could be found tt
take them except as a donation. The
western part of the State was devoiC
of timber, the climate too dry for ag
riculture, and pasture lands were
worthless because they could not bt
Lfenced. To talk to a stookmen abou
buying land was nonsense. To com
} plain of his using the grass of tn,
School children was not dreamed of
PThe taxable value of the lands rem
q ldered in 1876 was only $l06, ,352, 1924
FBut change has come over the land
, The wire fence has changed thu
| wasted dry lands of Western Texa.
, from the worthless home of the vol
and the proftless hunting field of tn,
: Indian into multitude of vast pas
lures producing improved cattle ant
sheep, furnishing millions of hungry
, people of other lands with their dali
. meat and clothing. The lands belong
, ing to the children of the state tina
: could scarcely be given away a few
!, years ago are now bought and lease,
with a hearty good will at fair figures
} The long delinquent lists of lands hav
1 disappeared from the collectors rolls
e The assessed value of Texas propert
2 has risen from $248,415, ,S55 in 1876 t
S527 ,537, 800 in 1883. What magic in
: fluence has wrought this might,
!; change. The answer comes wit
!; every breeze that whistles over tn
); prairies and kisses the wire fence
/ The nomadic herdsman who ha
:. grown rich on free grass looked wit
!; jealous eye upon the clustering stet
r, as it surrounded the land of his ia
seeing neighbor and searched him i
the use of what he had bought an
: paid for. The knight of the brandin
4. iron saw his occupation as maveric
4. hunter growing dangerous and III
d profitable; looking for asremedy the
r found that no law protected the wi
Is and grass Of the pastures The nj
q. per was this remedy, The land own