The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1884-01-31

the treasury department, or in any
other department, without detectives;
Ihere is not postoflice in America
That Is not visited by them, or ma
Clonal bank or railway operated with
out their presence; not a vessel blows
the ocean without one on board; and
there Is no government or city on
earth that can protect property AMI
punish crime without their services.
Why, sir. we all remember when Sam
Bass and John Wesley Hardin, with
Inelr gangs, were terror in the land.
Hardln was tracked and caught in an
other state by member of the from
Tier battalion in disguise, while Hub
para and his adJutant general kept
ucCecGlSe force actively in search of
sam bass. But these commissioners
would go IN daylight, armed with law,
and acting under its limitations. All,
SIT, since the days when Coke, Hub
bard and Roberts freely used detec-
tlveS to stop the wanton persecution
OF sheepmen, times have changed. AS
the social disorder increases. the means
to check it diminish, until now not a
frontier ranger can move to protect
property for fear he would move, like
the king OF France, first up the hill
and then down again." nor can a de-
tective be sent to bring the criminal
to light. Free grass for wan
dering herdsmen and lawless cat
tie corporations beyond organized
counties will never cease until you
create new judicial and executive ma
chlnery to make it cease.
VENUE.
nt L al
ought not, to fix venue away from the
frontier districts; but that the man
should be tried at home, and this, too,
by lawyers. The constitution invests
the power in the judiciary alone to
change venue, but the legislative de-
partment acts without limit when it
fixes venue. Go to your reports and
see where, in The State VS.. Shanks,
/ the forgery was committed in Caddo
/ parish, La, and the defendant was
! never in Austin; and yet the law fix
, ing the venue in Austin was held con-
stitutional. Austin does not cOvet
! Jurisdiction; my people have been
taxed long enough for state legisla-
ton; but fix the venue at least where
law can be enforced.
POLICY OF PENALTIES.
But, Mr.. Chairman, it is objected
that l would visit too heavy penalty
on the man who turns his cattle out
to Craze who owns no grass outside
of his pasture, and that my penalty
is too heavy on him who, without
authority, fences in and uses the grass
of school children and other people:
and also on him who refuses to give
the hester who owns lands inside of a
big pasture way out OF it. That
; may be; but it Is not wisdom to be
more than just to those who feel
themselves oppressed by corporations
and capital, and need the protecting
arm Of the state? Bewarei First be
just to him who complains of oppres-
sion before you strike him, and then,
! when he recognizes your justice, he
will obey the voice Of law, and if he
will not, then make him obey. Should
this turbulent element. which has
f arrayed itself against property and
= order, still defy the laws, let them re-
: member that even if the executive
arm Of the state should be too weak.
they will be put down and punished if
it takes the united power of all the
states to accomplish it. Let those who
control capital also remember that
, their unreasonable demands to be suS
, tanned here in Texas as favored class
) ON free grass, is unjust; that the duties
of capital are no less imperative than
are its rights; that this is a govern
!, ment of the people, for the people, and
! by the people, and that the greatest
J, good to the greatest number of them is
F the high mission of that government.
; In one breath this bill is assailed be-
: cause it would give security to big
, pastures owned by individuals; and in
! the next, because it eXempts twenty
five cattle of the poor man.
:, SECURITY OF PROPERTY.
A big pasture, honestly owned by a
{ citizen, should be always subject to
5 the right to establish roads through it,;
) and, after that, it should be made as
| safe as the humblest cabin in the land,
} or civilization will be rooted out by
: violence. What man gets honestly,
{ whether much or little, is his; and
> wherever there is state on the earth
2 that refuses to protect him in it, there
| ought to be a big hole in the earth
: there, instead of the state.
t The exemption of twenty-five cattle
f for the poor man, is in strict conformi-
e ty with the whole policy OF your laws.
{ If any of you should cut one tree on
f public land the law Furnishes you as a
\ criminal; but the poor man, with no
f property but his axe and no company
: but his wife, may, whenever on public
:, land he pitches his tent, and desires to
\ stay as pre-emptor, cut all the timber
Y he wants. Texas has always cared for
a her poor: and this feature in the bill
:. only continues her policy.
| CONSISTENCY.
: l said to you, in opening this discus
: sion several days ago, that consistency
S was the virtue of fools, and without
: regard to past blunders, we should
bury our past differences and unite on
I the side of social order. For that / am
!, arraigned, and am told of territory
| along the line Of the Missouri Pacific,
+ all the way across Texas, belonging
e to that company. But, sir, Texas can
not ffown on me and say, You helped
L do it." Whatever have been my leg
islative blunders, and they are many,
;. they have never been on the side of
! land grants to corporations. Go to
1 your journals, and you will find that 1
worked and voted to prevent that COM
L pany from obtaining these hands. On
the nineteenth of July, 1876, when
l that land reservation of the Texas
: Pacific railway was forfeited, and a
g relief bill was before us, used this
lang udS6. DIT, C1OS6 over cOuIlu6QC OF
Y our future may smile at that which
1 should make patriot tremble. Capt.
tai in this countryis marching with a
l rapid step to power. 1t already shapes
2 the legislation of national and state
! governments. If threatened by agra
: rianism, this capital will seek securi-
ty in the formation of strong gov
l eminent for the few at the expense of
the many. And, sir, on the other
hand, the unWise exercise of power
: which capital secures, in controlling
sometimes the press, and in thou
sand ways moulding legislation for its
2 own benht, provokes in its turn, the
! very spirit of agrarianism which will
threaten it. It. seems to me that a
wise craftsmanship would husband
our resources for the benefit of the
, great body of the people, on whose
devotion to our form of government
our security in the future must de-
pend. A landed monopoly is more
dangerous to free government than a
moneyed one. And yet, we are grave
ly considering whether a forfeit gift
of twenty million of acres shall be
again bestowed without money and
without price, or nonresident specu-
]atOrs who own a road, which, if ever
finished, is destined to tantaiize YOU
by wheeling the comm, rec OF the CONT
f.lrnf q L