Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1884-02-18


neved. Let me tell you, rude of speecl
as he Is, in all thai. pertains to patriot
ism, he Is the pee r OF any of you, an'
his unheeded " arnings will yet peste
us.
You tell me that under existing law
these school lands win be leased. bu
how and " hen? At the present rat'
under tho law It would take abou
sixty years, and your land board
which seems to make law rs well ~
execute IL, will be bound To lease u
the best bidder, and not in limited
| quantities, which will increase the
evt, and place those lands. IL ever
leased In the long purses of land cor
porations. Mark my prediction, when
\ you have buried my bill, you VIII pass
i some high sounding measure That VIII
| give preference in leasing to the man
who already has n school section In ms
pasture, rs IL priority in theft should
| invest him with superior rights, ana
you will put the lands to the highest
| bidder TO enable concentrated capital
to strangle competitions.
You know that there Is not consta-
| BILE or magistrate in the iifty-four coun-
ties of the Panhandle; and now, mark
my prediction: II this bill Is defeated
you may make penalty Tor grazing
on school lands, but will refuse to
create any tribunals TO enforce your
law in that vast territory, covered all
over with cattle. Lay not the flatter-
ing JUNCTION to your souls that this
dodge of the iree-graZer will pass mus
ter, or that your policy can be con-
cealed.
Sir, the weather prophet when lie
foretells a storm, first finds out from
his signals stations where the atmOs-
pheric pressure Is greatest. Let us inn
itate his example, ard sean the politi-
cal horizon. Close along the edge of
the unorganized counties, north of us,
this fence-cutting mischief ii rst started,
for there the pressure was greatest.
The farmer, making his 81 month,
found the range around his home de-
stroyed 10y the wand, ring stOckmen
who owned no grass. He is
a hester, but his little
nest with his white-headed babes
are as dear to him rs yours can be to
you. This country was made and has
been defended by these same nesters
Looking across the border into the
he discovered a new race
of men springing up, who without Ia
Dor were enriching themselves oman |
rented lands, solemnly dedicated to
the children of all Yes, sir
a new breed of men who are called
kings. | told you about |
them the other day.
Mr. Driskill, of my town, authorized
me to say that eleven years ago he
owned SOD head of cattle, aud now is |
worth 100000, every dollar of which |
was made from cattle raised On free |
school land, and that he never was |
aven called on TO pay one dollar OF tax
As. | told you that he was good man
and not To be blamed, but the fault lay |
1t our doors. Senator Davis wanted to
know why he did not give some of il
% the poor. Well, he gives by rule,
ust 10000 year To the pOor-more
money than that senator ever made in
me year by his practice, or otherwise
This Is not all; as the hester looks into
hat broad waste covered with mes
uite grass, he ices the driit fence OF
he Matador company, n corporation
With its 800 native and foreign stock.
holders, and knows that the grass that
hould educate his children is enrich.
ng men in foreign lands. while he
must labor for taxes to educate the
all He sees un.e the op-
ration of partial laws, IA breed of pam
cred spectators enriched by the state
nd the deep gulf between the rich
nd poor widening AID deepening
very day. No tide of emigration can
wade those vast possessions usurped
y corporations and individuals: for
he stiffness ofdeath is upon the plains,
roken only by the lowing of the cat
lie, and all the land is partitioned by
he arbitrary boundaries set up hy
hese modern Labaus and Jacobs. No
in these plains, for those
kings made their pastures safe by the
rec riders of the prairie, who are as ex-
,ert with the pistol rs with the lasso.
Sir. this picture is not over-drawn.
md even fool can understand how
mall farmer, goad ID by his surround
ny, finds himself working nj the nip
,ers by the side of the free-grass herds.
nan, on the wire fence around the
pasture of some rich neighbor. | have
10 excuse for him; there is no excuse
or him who violates law. Along the
inc of the organized counties of the
border The clouds first settled that
threatened us, and il has spread until
low the drluded hester is striking
lands with the herdsnlcn over halfthe
tate in destroying property, never
roaming that he Simplifying the torch
o the very framework of society.
Let us pause moment to see also
where the pressure that threatens TO
trand this bill comes from in the sem
tie. Cast your eye along the edge of
he frontier from Red River to the
Rio Grande, and you will find the SEN
tor from Cooke (Senutor Davis, the
enator from Dallas (Sienator Gibbs |
he senator from Parker (Senator
'hannon), the seuator from Easlland
senator Fleming, and the senator
rom BeXar tSenator Houston). In
GAINESVILLE, Weatherford, Dallas and
hn Antonio, where these senators
we, these cattle and land corporations /
'hieh have divided up these iifty-four
Dunties, have their Headquarters and ,
here many of the free Grass kings |
We. These are the champions of the 5
pposllion. who see nothing wrong in
ne nnolganized countless these are d
ne speakers of the opposition, whose I
)nstituents are those who hold the 3
urse-strings of those IA, 900 ranch Y
Zen. No Eastern Texas, no Central /:
eXas senator has opposed this bill in f
ebate. Along that border are the n
Vo other senators, Senator Matlock,
ON Montague, who represents over Y
r,y counties of the Panhandle, h
id who lives not ut the headquarters a
the corporations, but in their do o
inions. Rising TO the full height OF Il
Texas senator, he sees the danger of "
e hour, and by his fearless course on ii
us PHI gives assurance of further VI