The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1884-02-07

must go. A worthless school fund
and lands without value they conceive
to be their birthright. They never
used school and want no land. These
wire cutters own no land and want
none. The cry that the lands of these
men have been fenced and they have
been injured thereby is thin gauZe
and full of falsehood. Every one
familiar with the event knows that
the simple construction of wire fence
around land not owned by the party
fencing has increased its cashable
value from 80 to 200 per cent. The
man who fences the land of another
to that extent places himself in the
land owners power. If his fence stands
on lands not owned by him
the over may appropriate it.
If 1t stands on the lands of the fencer,
he has a constitutional right to let it
stand; subject only to be condemned
and paid for for public use. No, the
land owner whether resident or not, is
benefited by having his land enclosed.
The well-Settled principles of law that
regulate and protect every man in the
use of his land, are time-tested and
age-tried. They have stood and pro-
tected the citizens of every civilized
land for thousand of years, and are Sc
cured by constitutions moulded before
any member of the Eighteenth legisla-
tlEe was born. Yet these solons would
insult the dead jurists, judges and
statesmen of the past by throwing
ide the accumu' ated experience of
the world, and in a called session of
the Eighteenth legislature invent a
brand new set Of laws to adjust the
rights of land owners. They demand
that the land owner who exercises his
constitutional and time-honored right
to improve and make his land produc-
tive, shall be called a felon and be
thrust into cell with the III dnight
proWler who devastateS and destroys
his neighbor's hard earned savings.
All the sickly sentimentality about
cattle kings and land monopoliSts ap-
propriating the lands of the school
childrenEand the small land owner is
but WhiteWaSh to cover the deep de-
sign of these felons to destroy the fenc-
ing and thereby destroy the value of
all lands in Western Texas. Every
land owner knows that he is but too
glad to learn that some stoclzman who
knew not where to find him has fenced
his land, He will know that he can
demand an eXorbitant price and the
stockman must pay. Does the
legislature ever reflect that the
man who has pasture
filled with cattle dare not trample on
any mans rights. For six months in
the year his grass and his entire stock
OF cattle mSy be destroyed by the ac-
cidental dropping of a match by one
enemy. No, the ranchman must con-
ciliate and make friends with every
one around him, for truly does he live
in a glass house. Then why legislata
so as to make him the victim of the
blackmailer, the speculator, the land
shark and the nonresident land
owner? To his efforts is due
the value possessed by the greater
portion of Western Texas to-day. The
stockman is not land expert. 1t re-
quires time to hunt up and buy or
lease all the lands in big range in
the west. There, where from fifteen
to twenty-five acres are required to
feed COW, small pasture Is worth
less. A large one can only be OBJ
tained by patient work and the invest
ment of large sums OF money. Do
you propose to smother the men up
who are trying to redeem Western
Texas from its condition of lawless-
ness, and who have given its lands the
value they now possess? Has the
man who owns three-tourths or five
siXths of the lands within his range
no right to use it to keep his cattle
from drifting into the hands of the
wire-cutting thief, who stands with
branding-iron in hand crying, Down
with his fence and we will down with
his calve?" No, you are allowing the
cunning craft of the criminal to mis-
lead you. Put the hand of condemna.
tion upon the criminal; protect the
property that is now unprotected. The
wire fence is new, therefore no old
law can be found to protect it. But
land is one Of the Oldest kinds of
property, and is fully protected by
laws made by wiser heads while cool
and considerate. would not ask un-
usual remedies. The same kind of
laws that protect other property Will
protect fence. New methods are
always found to contain more evil
than good. The principle that the
criminal should be tried by the near
est fair tribunal is founded in wisdom
and has been tested by experience.
Only the most extreme cases will JUS
tify it's being departed from. Better
spend public money in assisting the
weak authorities than to place a
weapon in the hands Of the unjust, by
which he may destroy the victim of
his malice by dragging him to dis
tance-so far as to make an acquital
almost as hurtful as a conviction. Can
the present legislature return to their
homes without showing the felon that
his crime is condemned? Should they
do so the blood of innocent citizens
will justly be credited to their hands.
Human patience is almost exhausted.
Men have stood quietly by and seen
the accumulated savings of years of
toll destroyed in night. Property
that but few months ago was con-
Sidered safe is now rendered almost
worthless, and the lives of its owners
are threatened. There can beno ques-
tion as to the one plain duty of pro-
tecting property from the hands of
the destroyer. Why insist on extra
ordinary laws that will bring in their
turn new set of troubles as condi-
tion precedent to the perform
ance of certain and unques-
toned duty. The shades of
oblivion will and should bury any
such Legislators, and with them the
party that placed them in office. The
great wars of the people are honest.
When they come to understand this
question and feel the terrible conse-
quences that must follow the public
Notifications of this wanton destruc-
ton of property, thu will cry aloud
for something to wash away the
stains with which the Eighteenth
legislature has blotted their fair
1orooe (ir,rg.,r-,-