The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-02-21
A oRRAr ,I.i MAN. MAI. |, !.

aoout every m an-m0Te about the Arkan.
 saw legislator and less about the person
 who cares not to represent " Ny people
 on the floor O this here house, sah. ;"
 The great aim of the Arkansaw legisla-
 tor is to perform some trick that will en-
 dear him to the ignorant and prejudiced
 many whose votes elected him. If he
 thought that his course would be ap-
 proved, he would abolish all the offices,
 and purely upon experiment, he would
 wipe ont the public school system. This
 IS not the emblematic Arkansaw legis-
 lator, understand, but is the oily, un-
 educated, aspiring d. f. Qiberd con-
 struction) who cries out against every
 institution which tends te civilize a
 country and induce man not to wear his
 brooches in his boot-tops nor to spit on
 the parlor carpet. When all other re-
 sources fail, the panderer to ignorance
 and prejudice raises his cry against rail-
 roads. This hobby has been ridden until
 its back is sore, but putting on a fresh
 blanket, the panderer spurs the "o old jade" and makes another attempt to gallop
 into favorable notoriety. The other day, in
 the house of representatives, man who
 has become hump-shouldered under the responsibilities of .tase-redeeming posi- tion, arose and made the following speech:
 "Mr. Speaker: Sir, arise to lift my voice in favor of the down-trodden peo- pie. Irepresent one of the best counties Tn the state and know what am taking about. l quiver when l see how the railroads are imposing on our natural rights. Why, sir, hear that some of the railroads in the state are actually making money. This is shame. The state of Arkansaw cannot afford to allow rail road to make money. As long as a rail- road loses money, sir, it is very good thing for the state, but, sir, when it be- gins to realize profit on the investment, it begins to gnaw at the tender root of our glorious institutions. came bere to represent down-trodden people and Pm going to do it. want law to compel the railroads to carry passengers and freight at our price and not at theirs. If they lose money, it is their own lookout. know that we begged the railroads to come, but now that we've got lem on the hip, we can throw 'sm any way we please. You may say, sir, that such a course will prevent the future construc- ton of railroads in our state. Suppose it does3 Why, sir, we don't want rail- roads. My people are opposed to 'em. They scare the game. A few years ago Bear Wallov bottom in my county was a perfect paradise. You could go out be- fore breakfast, in the fall of the yeai, and kill two or three deer by the time the old lady fried the bacon and made the hoe-cake smoke in its grandeur. In the summer time, the children could go down and kill enongh snakes and frogs to make sportsman ring-streaked and spotted with envy. What is Bear Wal low bottom to-day, sir1 A desolate waste. In the height of its great useful ness, a railroad came along. The deer ran away, the frog disappeared in the bayou, the lizard sadly shook his head, and the snake gaped in despair. That is what your raiiroad-your iron arm of civilization accomplished. Yes, sir, where the happy young deer raked the velvet from his horns, jumped and popped his fiinty hoofs together in the of sunlight that sifted down between the leaves, the broad rapscallion of another cline now guides his plow to the ever asting annihilation of the marsh toad. Is this right, Mir. Speaker2 I ask $ it just3 No, my dear sir, for noisy 'chool children disturb the once hal owed spot The wildcat distillery has over the hill, f.ding like nlsf, ana the man who murdered his ,eighbor in self defense has been com- oelled to leave the state and seek 'efuge where the internal snort of the To- :omotive startles him not when the early Jews are falling. What . shock to the of our state constitution Sir, this is not the worst. I'll illustrate. As long as this devilish enterprise lost money, we maintained q stoic indiffer- .rence, but now, sir, we cry with loud voice. That road is now making one md half per cent. on the investment. Think of itl Contemplate the robbery 1 Mediate upon the inhuman wrongl owe my state, MT. Speaker, and my heart oleeds- shut oat the agonizing picture wish, sir, to introduce the following bill"
 The bill, which was sent to the clerks