The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1885-05-21

put it would lead Democrats, and all
good men who joined them in over
throwing bad government, to feel
that victory is useless. Mahone's Of
in Virginia are a bad set.
They are now reported as being very |
defiant, in addition to their we'll |
known incompetency as a rule, and
their retention in office under such |
circumstances is said to be having a
demoralizing effect upon the. Demo-
cratic organization in the
State. Prominent Democrats
from the State say that they will
have all they can do to carry Virginia
next fall. in view of the coupon decis>
ion, and that the President can help
them by making little more head
way in reference to turning out Ma
homes offensive partisans," who are
drawing pay and doing very little
work, because of their lack of interest
since Democracy triumphed and their
inability to perform the duties assign
ed thu m. The Legislature to be elected
must choose Mahone's successor.
Under Republican administration the
victors have been awarded all the
Virginia spoils; 10 Democrats have
been named to office, though the
boasted Pendleton civil-service act, to
which the Republicans are now so
devoted, has been in force all these
years. TO fight the Devil successfully
in Virginia the Administration must
use fire.
The fatal epidemic of disease in
the town Of Plymouth, Pennsylvania,
has been attributed to drinking i'm
pure water, contaminated by excre-
ment from typhoid patient, to alb
sence of drainage and sewerage, and
hence to impure water in the wells.
But the most curious fact in the mat
ter is that the least clearly districts
in the town should have suffered least.
There are localities infested with
Hungarian miners, more filthy even
than the Chinese of San Francisco in
their habits. A letter writer says:
"The Hungarians are filthy
beyond belief. They have come to
be a by-word in the town, and in all
the neighboring towns, for their dirty
ways of living. I saw here to-day a
house in which number Of Hun
garians live, where there are five
double beds in one room. They keep
chickens, II IS and &c ats and let them
live in the house with them, the chill
dren running about like young saw
ages" And yet the Hungariapd have
been singularly free from the ep-
idemic, while the neat and tidy
Welsh, Inving in comparative. comfort
in their own homes, have been the
special sufferers. This fact does not
show that uncleanliness is a prophy-
Tactic against contagion, but it does
show that disease battles all laws that
we are acquainted vi b.
THE Commissioner Of Agriculture
finds his appropriation exhausted.
Enormous prices have been paid for
pretended vast quantities of seeds.
For instance, 1900 bushels of turnip
seed are made to appear in the voueh-
ers, when the largest amount ever
bought before in one season was a lit
tie over 1900 bushels. Other similar
useless alleged purchases appear on the
books. The result Is, the force in the
Department is being temporarily re-
duced to allow it to go through with
as little expense as possible, to the
time when the next annual appro-
priation begins-Ju ne 30.
THE Dallas Times wants to know if
it is not time steps were taken to de-
eide the ownership of Greer County.
The late Legislature made an appro-
priation $4,000 to pay the expenses
of State Commission, to be appoint
ed by the Governor, to act with a
United States Commission, appointed
by the President, to run out the old
boundary line between the United
States and Spanish possessions, estab-
lished by treaty of 1920, the location
of which will settle the Greer County
question. Is the Governor going
to adopt the plan of the Land Board
let Greer county go by default?
THE Commits s1oner of Agriculture
has begun the war against bogus
butter, and he is going to fight it out
in that line if it take all summer. He
insists that laws should be passed,
permitting no compound to be sold
as butter, and he suggests as the
universal trade mark of the pure cow
product round globule with St.
Andrews cross on it. The hash-house
keepers have not yet been heard from
on the subject.
1t seems that Rob ertson got the best
of McCraken in locating the silve:
lead in Mexico. 1t is told that both
made the discovery together, and that
the latter attempted to get the advan-
tage in denouncing the claim, when
the former beat him at his own game.
McCraken depended upon the speed of
his team and Robertson upon the sad
die and the spur. But after all, it is
said, the find is mostly lead.
IF THE story of kidnapped laborers,
which appeared in our telegraphic
columns of yesterday, be true, there
is further use for Uunited States au-
thority in Central America. The
matter viii, no doubt be investigated
and if the story be founded on fact
we may soon expect some govern.
mental interference in Guatemala
There is a crying necessity, in fact,