, 1884-02-01
TROUBLE IN TEXAS.
The Land Question in a Now Guiss
Landlords and "Nssterz'

t"Hanson" In Chicago Times
Recognizing that these and many other
7endettas had their origin In or were greatly
aggravated by the loose methods Of herding,
a movement soon set in to fence the pastures,
and in a littls while all the large landowner
had their tracts fenced Then came the rail
roads, and those who held under their grants
fenced still larger tracts. Last OF nll came
the great capitalists, foreign corporations.
and even noblemen. and inclossd pastures as
large as the state of Rhode Island One man
owns a fenced tract thirty miles square, 100
square leagues, or 5To, 600 acres. Tracts five
or ton miles square under one fence can
DO found almost anywhere, even
near good-sized cities. One corpora
ton has 2so miles OF inclosing fence.
/ am told that a foreign corporation has in
the Panhandle region one fence eighty-hve
miles long in a nearly straight line, but |
have not been able to verify this. or course
such a frightful land monopoly as tsis Is
against public policy, but the fence-cutters
concern themselves but little about that.
They havo present and very serious evils to
complain OF. Having travelled through their
territory and seen with my own eyes how
eaily a small holder may BIS injured accord
ing 20 law, l think 1t fair TO give some spec;-
men cases showing that the "nesters" rs they
call the fence cutters, have real grievances
htTt u an Olu seILleT on u uhll hcCllOut WIN
has driven to tho nearest pond or stream In a
dry time, for many years. Now comes a
capitalist or corporation, buys and fences up
all the land between him and the wator. His
ranch IS simply worthless. He must sell it
for whatever the capitalist Is willing TO give
Again and again have the small holders
insisted that they only wanted a way
TO water II the stats would pro-
vide for roads all would b well.
But there Is no law TO establish roads across
these plains In many instances the land
lord would not leave q single opening in q
line thirty miles long. In the Panhandle
they have even bought the public land in
strips a milo wide, such strips extending
around and enclosing a vast central square of
public land; they fence the outside and use 1t
all. Elsewhere they have bought up living
springs and running water, which are
proved to have been of free, public use for
Indian, Mexican, ~freighter, and rpncher for
$40 ysars-since the expedition of Coronado
In i5ii. Whefs the capitals. ha= . small
tract say Eve miles squaps-his practice Is to
grnzs his cattle outside on the public lands
and save his own pasture for winter. OF
course he has as good u right to the public
LAND In law rs the small herder, but, in fact,
1t drives the latter away. Those are but a
few Of the evils OF large l-and-ownorship In
Texas.
Well, the small holders and herdsrs bore It
50 patiently at first that it seemed they would
submit to anything. They complained, but
tho legislature paid no attention. Tho capi-
talIsts simply said: ave don't want oui
land cut up into little tracts by public roads
it would double the expense" And it was
not done. Then tho fence-cutting began.
Some OF "nesters" announced their plan to
raise hi on principle, till the legislature
paid some attention to them. 1t never would
listen as long as they were peaceful. But all
experience shows that unlawfu methods of
seeking justice are like tho issue OF legal
tender paper, the beginning Of strife, or the
letting out of water. Anybody can begin 1t
very few indeed can stop 1t at the right time.
The small herders raised hi on principle"
but the product soon got beyond their prfnci-
Pics All the lawloss elements In which such
a region abounds turned themselves loose
evory man who had a private grudgo found
this a good way TO crafty 1t, and 1t soon ap-
peared there was lots Of personal vengeance
left over from the war. the vendsttas, the
Mexican troubles, and reconstruction. Al
FIRST they cut the wires on tina big tracts, only
enough TO open a way to water; then they
cut on all the big ranches; next they Clipped
up the wire and burned the posts, and in a lit
tic while squads were out cutting all fences,
even on hAlf-section ranches. and swearing
that none OF the pastures should DO fenced
they should be public property forever. Fences
were cut within a few miles Of San Antonio,
while / was there. Towns are tsrrorizsd in
broad day, and to illustrate how far this
thing has gone, / mention Brownwood, Brown
county, which was invaded by an armed f,rce
OF over 200 mounted "nestsrz" TIL sheriff
and citizens succeeded In bringing them K
a peaceful pArley.
Conjecture Is weariod In the attempt to o.
innate the damage done. 1t is certainly vero
great In thirty counties 1t is estimated that
at least 5000 miles Of fencing has been do
stroyed. Mon from Coleman county tell m,
that county suffered most Brown has alsC
suffered much In a region something like q
hundred miles square, on the upper middl,
Colorado, all improvement is checked; bott
parties appear to be waiting on the action OF
the legislature, and as the have-nots outvot,
the HAYES at least three 10 one, / Am curiou,
to see how the politicians will treat It, Per
haps we are on the eve of a new agitation oil
the land tenure. 1t is certainly a ssrioui
matter for Texas. The action Of her legisla
turs may give US important light on a new
and embarrassing problem in civic economy,
An Art Critic Sat Down Upou.