San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1885-10-15
A Question Of Policies.

u
up mischief that has made II notorious,
publishes in a telegram from Wealth
oriord the following letters
EXECUTIVE OFFICE, STATE OF TrxAs'
AUSTIN, June l6, 1885. Horace Ia
ker, Esq, Weatherford, Tex; DEAR
Sm-I have your letter of--toueh'
ing emigration and requesting letters
from Ine TO aid you. / am often urg.
ed by others 10 do these things, and
while would take pleasure in aiding
you and those referred to personally,
l have not thought it advisable to set
on foot emigration projects. l am
not satisfied that such labor will re-
dound to tho prosperity or happiness
of ourselves or our children.
Our descendants will be elbowing
each other into the seas in order to
find standing room in the near future
We have enough population for
self.protection, and while 1 desire to
see good men with vim and energy
come to our country, 1 am not dis
posed to aid persons who have not
the energy and push to come OF their
own accord.
Our constitution prohibits the use
of money for such purposes. This In
dicates policy.
/ am, sir, very respectfully, your
obedient servent
JNo. IRELAND.
It is lamentable indeed that it
should be advertised abroad that Tex
as does not want immigration. Com
ing as it does, there can be no ques-
ton of its power to great mischief.
If the Globe Democrat has q 1.-THE OF
that honesty whichit exacts OF others,
it will not leave uncontradicted an
idea that is SO entirely foreign to true
Texas sentiment. Unfortunately the
present constitution is arrayed against
immigration to the extext that it pro
hibits all aid in that direction, but it
was the result of revolution worked
by Radical stealing in the days OF re-
construction. The policy which it in
dicates was given to the state by
honest p,ossbacks, who, with a few
notable exceptions, have long ago
been relegated to private life. There
is no one thing more universally ours
ed from one end of Texas to the other
than her Rutabagian constitution,
and it is but q question of very short
time when it will be dishonored and
buried.
Texas has a population Of about q
100000. 1t can accommodate ~
900, 900 and still have room to spare.
On 3O,OOO,O00 acres of public lands
elbow room is now claimed by cattle
alone Some day in the near future
the policy of settlement will be adopt
ed by the state, and this will increase
the demand for immigration.
Texas wants bone and sinew as
we'll as wealth. The honest, sturdy
yeoman who comes here may expect
and claim as hearty welcome as the
millionaire.
We clip the above from the Fort
Worth Gazette. The San Antonio
Express also copies the governors
letter, under the caption, "a Black
Eye for Texas" and comments as fol
lows:
The letter of Governor Ireland tc
Horace Baker, published elsewhere
is one of the most unfortunate docu
ments yet signed by a governor OF
Texas. We can stand the ridicnle
the governor will bring upon himself
through his fears thatin Texas, which
could hold the whole population Of
the United States and be no more
densely populated than Massachusetts,
is now, the children will soon be jost'
ling each other for room, but we can.
not afford to have our material pros
perity injured by such rebuff to in
tending immigrants. While the press
and people have been persistently
calling aloud to induce immigrants to
come here to assist in developing our
undeveloped resources and to occupy
our waste lands, the governor OF the
state "turns the back of his hand,
and coldly says to the intending i'm
migrant, he can come if he wants to
he won't be driven away. The duty
of the press now is to proclaim to the
world, what is fact, that in that let
ter the governor does not reflect the
sentiments of one in one hundred OF