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

wealth without labor and without |
price, while we, the trustees of ter
ritory for children yet unborn, stand
dly by. Was 1 not right when l said
only yesterday that Texas, in turning
over that country to the common use
Of cattle spectators, had made her
self the champion communist OF this
continent? How can she punish the
fence-cutter for coveting his neigh
boris grass so long as she encourages
by refusing to punish
and individuals for tres
passing on the pasturage owned by
the children OF this state? The author
ity of law is never felt in that Pan
handle country, which, with morgan
lied counties southwest of it, covers
territory larger than New York. One
encioses 100000 acres,
covering nearly three counties, and
its five hundred stockholders are scat
tered in every city from st. Louis to
Paris.
CONDITION OF THE PANHANDLE
COUNTRY.
Go with me into that Panhandle
country and explore its mysteries.
There you will find wire fence said
to be one hundred and twenty miles
long, running east and west, crossing
school lands and the land Of private
parties. 1t is a straight fence to catch
drift cattle and connects with no other.
North of it, men who own grass and
those who own none have divided OFT
for their use the territory of Texas;
and woe to the unlucky stranger who
drives his heardS to share with them
the grass. Streams and dividing ridges
from the arbitrary boundaries of their
usurped domain. Lines of side
riders pass every day from north to
south and fence and keep the stock of
each lord on the territory claimed by
him. Vast pastures, without regard
to ownership of land, now enclose
counties. Passing from MObetee to
TascOsa, one hundred and thirty miles,
YOU are only out of pasture for twen-
ty-three miles of the distance. The
Kerr Land and Cattle company is said
to have 10000 head of cattle in pas
ture, across which is a days journey.
The Franklin Land and Cattle COM
pany is reputed to have over 7O,OCO
head in Gray and Hutchinson counties
while the Matidore Cattle company
donates with stock men and cattle the
territory of Crosby, Dickens and per-
haps Motley counties. One firm alone,
which purchased over twenty thou
sand head from the NIillett Bros, and
which is said to own two millions OF
dollars worth of cattle, has hardly
enough land in Texas for their vast
herds to be penned on. Free range
men, who neither own or lease land,
occupy most of the Sand Hills to the
north, and from Red river to
the Rio Grande, along the
border, except that fenced in those I'M
mense pastures. Roaming over unOr-
ganized counties and along the border
from one water hole to another, they
tralnple under their hoofs the grass
around the humble home of the pio'
neer hester; and thus, away from law
where power measures right, there is
no redress.
When is this madness to cease? an6
does not this wholesale use of schoo
lands by associated capital, and it's pur.
chase by indirect agencies call as loud
" for an executive recommendation t
correct it, as the evil of the statute moi
giving lien on an animal that goes
into another mans pasture, which hi:
excellency thinks we should correct?
Be patient, senators; [ am doing {
sum for the farmers of this state, an(
if that stenOgrapher will report my
words. | will send it through the land
l am showing the evils that threaten
social order before l answer your OBJ
jections to my remedy. In one county
three months ago, there was pasture
,>eG lNr1il n
sections owned by the pasture men
The fence was all on their land; bu1
inside of that pasture there were ovel
$4,000 acres Of land which belonged tt
private parties and to the school fund
not an acre of which was rented tt
them. Near that pasture runs a stream
Of living water, up which the hardy
emigrants had pushed their way, anC
built their nests. From that pasture
herds of cattle poured out. during The
summer to consume the grass arounC
the humble homes, and tread to NOR
tar the prairie where verdure grew
only to return to fine range, on the in
side, during winter. Put yourself II
the nester's place-unable to raise {
milk COW or beef on your own land
You look over into the pasture of YOU
neighbor and reflect that he has appro
priated to his own use the school lane
dedicated to your child as well as his
and would you not curse in bitterness
of heart the partial laws that gave yor
no remedy? My friend, Senator Hen
derson, who lost an arm in the service
of his country, is said to own a section
of land inside Of that pasture, which
he could neither rent nor sell to the
usurpers.
ROAMING STOCK MEN.
Along the border counties, now organ,
lied, skirting the panhandle, and in
those below the sand hills, the same
wrong and oppression is found. Won.
dering, nomadic herdsmen range across
dividing ridges from one stream tC
another, over their kingdom of free
grass, consuming the range and starv.
ing the home stock of the small farm.
er-men who own nothing but thei1
stock, their herd horses, anC side
arms. To some Of these gentry, the
wire fence, whether around the farm,
erS pasture or school section, is eS-
pecially inconvenient; and among
them are found warm disciples of Mr.
George-men who believe that land
ought to be free, and who whisper into
the ear of the hester that these pas
lures alone cause all the trouble. I'm.
less this gentry is controlled by law
unless they are made to cease theil
wandering ways and buy or lease the
grass on which they feed, there is nc
peace for Texas. The fenced in water
hole is in their way, and with the helI
of the deluded settler they make it the
special object of their devilment.
see man now in the lobby who will
tell you that the corporations which
own fat herds and no land, are not the
only depredators, for that, within one
hundred miles of where l now stand
there are scores of men who own from
500 to 5000 cattle, who hardly own OF
lease enough land on which to round
up their herds. These gentry are the
same in all ages. Since the days when
the herdsman of Gerar strove with the
herdsmen of Isaac at the well-since
the days when Jacob swindled his
father-in-law Labon, by fixing his
has been gathering by craft and hold
ing with the strong hand. Their hab-
its are wild and unrestrained, and the
custom of marking a calf without
knowing the ownership or its mother
will never improve your civilization
l know this class well, and for thirty
years have both tried and defended
them. Faithful in friendship and vim
dictive in their hate, they will make
your best citizens when you
once stop their roaming. Until
then they will sometimes practice the
strange morality of seeing no wrong
in docO1atino tho ropra around the