The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1885-01-22
noapleLe WEATHER At AUSTIN.
Reform and He,renobmtnt-Tbe rsds
iniauity wnobs up serensiy"-Biii
Ia sell the school Lands
Inauguration ON Dts.

/ consequently "ii NNSStohioh Ibi'h''
and p'rished. / am told there are
thousands of square miles in those Sec
tions utterly destitute of grass, but
arid, barren plains. The consequence
was, stock got very thin, and
now that severe winter has come with
unprecedontedly cold, bad weather, the
cattle and sheep are dying, not by
scores or hundreds, but by thousands.
| This, with the closeness of money mat
ters and the hardness of the times gem
orally, enshrouds the country in gloom,
and its effect is to make the present an
unusually
ECONOMICAL LEGISLATURE,
If IL Is not carried TO the extreme of par
simony, no one can object to IL, but
there is such a thing as being
too economical. 1t Is precedence, wis
dom and an actual sav;ag of money to
| get what the state needs; to get the best
and 10 pay what IL is worth. There is
no difference between transacting tho
fairs OF the state and ones own pri-
vale affairs, in principle, and If legisla-
tors Will view matters in this light we
VIII see judicious, pratical and eco
monte legislation.
Both the senate and the house, the
people will he glad to learn, have started
oil under the
BANNER OF REFORM
and with the slogan OF retrenchment.
Each house has already put itself on
record rs severely favoring economy.
II is well. 1t is "a record 10 be proud OF,
to blazon forth with self graduation.
In each house resolution has
senators and request ourrepresentative
In congress TO support and vote for the
Eads proposition 10 obtain deep water
at G WESTON. This proposition calls for
an appropriation of $7,75O,000 of the peo-
ple's money to do that which engineers
equally as skilled in their profession as
Capt. Eads say can be obtained for one
fifth that sum of money. Will this leg
resolution referred to? Will 1t not stul-
tifv itself, falsiiy its record for economy,
If it puts it's endorsement upon so stu
pend0us steal? "But," said member
to me yesterday, "the money will come
from the treasury of the general gov
ernment. There is plenty of money in
its Golfers, and it does not matter if it is
him that we had an enormous public
dept to pay, the interest on that debt to
meet semi-annuslly, hundred thou
sand otlice-holders to feed and clothe
and give spending money to, and the
current expenses of the government
generally to meet, to do all of which an
iniquitous protective tariff was in force,
pressing down
THE POORER CLASSES
with it's fearful weight. Estimating the
population of the entire country at So
100000 and the population of Texas at
1000, 900, the amount paid by the people of
Texas of this sum of S7,750,000 asked,
should it be appropriated, will be exact
ly $4,000. AS this is just five times
more than the work contemplated
ought to cost, according to competent
engineers, this legislature is asked to
vote to rob the people of Texas of $24S,-
600. Is there any economy in that.
Will that stultify the record, or not?
Can the members of the nineteenth leg
islature go home to their constituents
and say to them:
penses by not subscribing for any news
papers TO send you, that you might see
what the legislature was doing, but we
insti ucteu our senators and requested
our representatives to congress to vote
for the Eads bill, which only takes
S2lS, 900 out OF your pockets unnecessa-
rily."
We will see what we will see.
number of important bills have been
introduced in both the senate and the
house. One of the
MOST IMPORTANT,
l take it, is bill introduced IN the |
house Monday by Hon. w. Scott, of
Kerr county. II contemplates the sale
of the public school, university and
asylum lands, OF witch there are some
29,OO0,000 acres. Without endorsing or
objecting to the bill L will briefly give
its salient points.
THE BILL PROVIDES
that these lands shall be put upon the
market at once. In each county where
these lands are located there shall be a
board consisting of the surveyor, the
county clerk and the tax collector who
shall have rh trge of the sale OF these
lands. Tor lands situated in unorgap-
lied counties, the officers named of the
county to which said unorganiZed coun-
ties are attached for judicial purposes
shall constitute the board of manage
ment. For their services this board
shall. receive per cent of the purchase
money: The members of the boards
shall givea bond each in the sum of
So, 900, conditioned that they will not be-
come purchasers of any of these lands
and for the payment of all
purchase moneys into the state treas
ury. The surveyor, who is to be the
active agent in the sale OF the land, is to
receive one-halt the commission and
the other two members the other half.
These lands are to be sold on
THIRTY YEARS TIME
at 6 per centum per annum interest, one
OF the purchase money and the
first years interest of the whole amount
10 be paid down, the state taking the
notes with vendors lien, the
interest to be paid annually. The lands
into dry, exclusively pasture land, the
minimum price of which shall be 81 per
acre; watered lands, minimum price, 50
per acre; cultivable lands. minimum
price, So per acre, and timbered lands,
where the timber is suitable for lumber
Or shingles, minimum price,
~ per acre. NO one
nine sections OF dry pasture land or one
section of watered, arabic or timbersd
and. The boards of sale will be ex-
pect, d to sell the lands, each quality, Sor
he highest price reasonably Obtainable,
and they are paid commission on sales
10 induce them to do SO, as the higher
,he price the greater their commission.
ease, and sales will be final and abso.
ute.
THE OBJECT
of the Trainer of the bill Is to eliminate
,hese lands from the politics ofthe state,
so to speak 10 make them of some prac-
5ieal use and benefit to the public
schools, the university and the asy-
II the burden of the states taxation.
He estimates their salo will
speedily add to the public
school, university and asylum funds at
east $5S,000,000 in the aggregate, if not
more, and increase the taxable values
IF the state, by that amount. This will
enable the tree schools, he thinks, to BE
Keep the rate of taxation down to
maximum of 20 cents on the $780, and
preclude '.he,possibility of deficiency.
He argues that it will take actual set