Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1885-03-07
THE LAND BILL.

/ sOD. lie came down here lully I'M
pressed with the beauties of the lease
system and lease he proposes 10 have,
II it sinks Western Texas into the bot
tomless abyss popularity supposed 10
mark the furthest extremity of hades
MIR. Crane Is the leader of the gallant
little squad that take their lease-law
issue straight, without any mixtures
Of settlement, development or any
thing of the sort. Yesterday he DEM
! onstrated his thorough devotion
to the cause by an amend
ment to the land bill, which should
have been entitled IAN act to take all
the school lands off the market for sale
and reserve them for leasing pur.
poses" II propos ed to increase the
minimum price OF school lands to So
an acre A singular feature of the
matter, and one which betrays
sR CRANES EXTREME soLICITUDE,
for the Lessee was that when the propo-
sition came up to increase the mini
mum leasing rate to eight cents an
acre offered, by the way, by Mr.. HAM
ilton, free-grsss man, the member
from Johnson joined most heartily
with the members in squelching IL.
Yet he wanted to make the settler pay
fifteen cents an acre rental, that
being the interest on or
three times the amount charged
the lessee, taxes on the land not In
cluded. To the credit OF the house, IL
sat down on Mr.. Cranes amendment
without any ceremony whatever, at
the rate of "A to IL, and afterwards
large number of Eastern members
avowed their preference for 81 so as a
selling rate rather than 81, the price
established.
FOSTERS AMENDMENT.
In discussing his amendment to
strike out the provision giving settlers
the right to lease four sections over a
prior lessee, Mr.. Foster of Grayson, un-
Intentionally, perhaps, gave his reas-
ons in the following remark: I'VE
who live in the counties in which
there are no school lands ought TO so
legislate as to produ, as much revenue
from them as possible in order To re-
duce the burden on our own tax pay
ersn
Western people will find great
deal of food for reflection In this.
LEASE VERSUS ANrI-LEASR.
Mr., Founders drew a bead on the
bulls eye yesterday when he declared
that free grass was a misnomer and
thai, stripped of ali talse verbiage, the
issue was simply reduced To lease aud
anti.lease. IA he has been ranked as
very ardent lease man this ought to
satisfy the donbting Thomases.
UPTON SQUIRTING
Yesterday Mr T. pton described the
land bill ~ "free.grass legislation" IL
is suspected that he Ia a little soured
on account OF the refusal OF the house
to take up his appropriation bill before
the land bill is disposed OF
LAND COMMENTS.
Mr.. Foster OF GraSson put himself
: in opposition TO the record when he
declared that the West would never
be "a farming country.
Mr.. Pendleton Of Tsrrsnt cor
A, rected him in pithy and
9 pointed speech against the fnrmer's
!, amendment, striking.out the leasing
i privileges of the settler.
a Messrs. Kimbrough and Moore exc
r cuted neat little coup d'etat yester'
: day in appealing 60 the free-grsss men
: to Join with them in reserving the
i watered sections from lease. Az they
D are two of the most radical lease men
in the house, the scheme was TOO
Q transparent, and their amendments
Y were promptly rejected.
, IL was Mr.. Cravens, and not Mr.
. Crane 80 the wires had IL. that intro
4 ductd the amendment limiting the
y term of the leases to six instead of ten
g ye4rs, and which was one OF the feH
! amendments that carried. Mr.. Ora
n yens IL one of the conservatives who
e favor a lease, but are honestly tryiDs
s to go adjust 1t as not to interfere with
q the settlement of he frontier
l. THE UNIVERSITY LAND BILL
d One OF the most singular measures
II that ever passed legislative body wa
d the bill to give the regents control o
50 the university lands, which yesterday
'e went to engr, ssment in the senate
, The proposition IL perfectly Ulopian
10 and exceeds in recklessness any wild
cat railroad scheme ever projected. L
10 places . O0e, 900 acres Of lands belong
1t ing to the university fund In tn
r. hands of "a boar d scattered all over Tn
g. s ate, who are not bonded officers anC
g uuder the law are not entitled to re
"a ceive any salaries. Such manage
lie ment would naturally come In compe
he tition with the school lands, and tn
troubles that would arise can easily b
u imagined. The circumstances OF tn
!, passage Of the bill lesd to the belle
~ that IL Is
A PIECE OF LEGISLATIVE sPrrE'WoIu
lr against the administration. Certainl
IL an assemblsge Of intelligent me-
9 could never be brought to adopt sue
ii measure on its own merits. IN
to gross mismansgenient OF the uniyel
sity itself indicates what dissstrou
re consequences would follow should To
management OF such vast interests |
Sc intTusted "a the regents. Fortunate
Is there IL not a doubt that the nous
will fail TO hatten out this rockies
ls' proposition At the first opportunity.
az
D GRANITE vs.. LIMESTONE.