San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1884-10-16

F"
would not throw anything in the wa,
OF its material development Afte
the land board raised the price o
lands there were meetings in tn
West and offers were made by mel
who came to the board with bids TO
tho lands, but the board refused
Not until after this was the grea
clamor made against it. Yet the
land board has received all the abuse
which properly belongs to this leas,
system. / think hear some on,
say, Mr. Governor, you should have
vetoed the bill, but it was passet
Just as the legislature was about Il
adjourn, and had I vetoed that bill
nothing would have been done at all
and the lands would have gone a
four bits, the same as under the ole
policy"
FREE GRASS.
"Did it ever occur to free-grasi
men that the settlement of the coun
try does not exist in thickly popula
ted country But you want it in the
meantime. You must consider thai
these lands are dedicated to the
schools and asylums and they mus
be protected. If you will not con
slider the schools and asylums, you
should give these lands to actuaI
settlers in one and two sections. Yet
under the constitution, you must moi
forget the schools and asylums, foi
the lands are sacred trust in theii
interest. 1 cannot say but that the
lease system, retards immigration.
In the early days of Texas grass
was free and cattle cheap, but later
the price Of cattle rose and men
quickly sprung into fortunes but
times have changed and grass has
become factor in the destinies OF
this state and the disposition OF il
has become grave and momentous
question.
The speaker alluded to line-riding
and said the settler no more dared 60
inside these lines than he would put
his head in the fire and that under
the lease law man could go inside
the leased territory, select his section
and keep it by the strong arm of the
law; that the state has guaranteed
the settler in his purchase and will
put and keep him there; that this is
the advantage of the lease law over
line-riding.
"The people had not been fairly
dealt with in the free grass agitation,
and the herd law talk was bugbear
to scare the people. Nobody in the
state is in favor of herd law. Men
are deceived when they hear of a herd
law or free-grass. I heard of a man,
Mr.. Jones, who said, Il am opposed to
q herd law and lease law. Who
ever heard of q herd law ? One was
once put before the legislature, but it
died an ignominious death and no
one shed tears over its demise. The
question before us is whether the
differences between herd law and
lease law will separate and disrupt
the great Democratic party of Texas.
It is a great SANDER on the Demo-
Gratis to say we will pull the temple
down know it is not SO. know,
my men, I know you are slandered
when it is said the Republicans are
going to carry North and Northwest
Texas. [Applause.] There has as
yet been no efforts at remedying the
wrongs you claim to labor under. I
know that you claim to have a pecu-
liar interest in this matter, but we
argue and reason from selfish
standpoint, we are unfit to decide,
and should Listen to people from
other sections. Don't level your
hatred at the land board, when that
board protected the lands, and for
this purpose it was created. We are
responsible to the people OF Texas
and are willing to go before them on
our record.
You are paying 124 cents on the
$100 dollars for school taxes. Now
these lands were given by all the
people for the purpose Of supporting
the schools. Now will you continue
to pay taxes and turn these lands
over to few men who control them
by line ridiugf 1t is a difficult ques-
ton to settle" The speaker then
suggested how it would do to lease
the land in limited quantities while
other remained free, saying he only
threw this out as suggestion. He
advised the free-grass men not to
anathematize the land board, but
abuse the law-making power, and
send the best men to the Legislature
to remedy evils they complain of.
Continuing he said: "Don't 60 off
after false goods in the shape of men
who would form alliances with the
devil 10 overthrow the Democratic
party. Don't go after men who fool
the people with talk about q herd
law. People talk of ring in the
Democratic party. The ring is held
and welded by the people of Texas
That's the ring l belong to and pro-
pose to work in. They haven't o
ring because they have not enough
men to make the ends meet No
man ever heard me mention the name
of probable candidate before the
late convention l do not believe in
political interference IN elections, and
the viii Of the people is the power