The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1884-05-08
In One Way.

LII INV '" uJs
There is one way IN which the |
marked inefliciency of the present |
state administration has been very |
hurtful, criminally so, indeed. 1t is
in its inert and backboneleSs attitude |
toward the reign of lawlessness and
murder which has swept over the state
like a bosom Of destruction since its
Inauguration. Let US be perfectly
fair, however, and do no injustice to
the present administration or it's chief.
Not to beat it outright would TIE
STATESMAN do the slightest injustice
if it knew it. There has always exist
ed condition of affairs on the western
frontier which made it an exceedingly
hard thing for law and order to make
head against crime and the disposition
to avenge personal wrongs by per-
sonal action. The bad people of the
nation sought the frontier as an asy-
lum, and they made by their numbers
and bad qualities, hell upon earth
out of it. OF course there are linger-
ing traces of this order yet to
be found lowering like bloody ghosts
around the old walks, and hiding in
the old haunts. These break out some
times into extraordinary and eccentric
action. 1t is its utter failure to meet
and cope with these outbreaks,
or with the individual mani
festations of the same spirit
which stamps the administration of
Mr.. Ireland, so far practical failure
We have legal tribunals organized in
all the settled counties, we have sher-
ifs, cOnstables, and all other peace
officers, and we have the frontier bat
talon, semi-military police force,
but still murder and other forms of
lawlessness, are just as rife and just,
as active and bloody as ever they were,
even before the days of legal organ
ization. The governor is the priDci-
pal executive of the laws. 1t isn't
enough to to say that he has no power
to deal with the extraordinary cases
continually coming up. That there
are no laws and no money to meet
extraordinary contingencies, such as
the fence-cutting troubles, or some
peculiarly atrocious numbering en-
ergy of banded cowboys or horse
stealing Mexicans. The men who
have made fame as state or presiden-
tial executives have done so by acting
deciSively at the exact moment Wheth-
er there was law or money to pay, or
not. 1t is for junctures such as these
that we have governors, otherwise we
might as well have only clerk to
sign bills and perform the fgure-head
functions these sticklers for mere
rules affect to regard as the very per-
lection of executive policy. Andrew
Jackson's "By the Eternal the laws
must and shall be obeyed,' did more
to give character to this government
than the entire executive work of half
of the presidents we have had.
The governor can always call
the legislature together, and he can a.
ways have the money necessary to
protect the lives and property of the
people, but he makes himself respon-
sible as an officer for the correctness OF
the theory upon which he predicates
official action-responsible politically
If his act is unwise the people will
not re-1ominate or re-elect him. Thus
it comes that weak and indecisive
men permit the moment of action to
pass unimproYed, and the country is
injured. The consideration of re-elec,
ton is responsible for larger share
of executive failure than any one other
thing we can name. Hesitation is fatal
and it is the indubitable and unmis-
taxable sign of weakness. In this
light Governor Ireland's treatment OF
the fence cutting trouble originally
was severely blamable, and his doub-
ling and hedging policy later along,
ridiculous in the extreme. 1t was
neither good policy so far as the state
is concerned, nor so far as his own per-
sonal political prospects and interests
were, or are likely to be affected by it.
The democracy of Texas want and will
have able, nervy and brave men at
the head of affairs, not those whose
acts and policies are formed alone in
the light of personal political advan-
tage.