The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1885-07-05


for the construction of the |
outer walls. When, therefore, the syn |
dicate, after discovering that 0atman- |
ville-the original quarries--and to |
which they had builta railroad, would
not furnish stone acceptable to the
commissioners, offered us q stone from
Indiana, equal in every respect as to |
texture and crushing strength, and su- |
perior in color, voted to accept 1t. |
To have voted otherwise would |
have placed the State in |
the attitude OF saying: III you bring
me white limestone corresponding |
with sample No. 2 from Indiana, or |
anywhere else, will accept 1t without |
question, but IL you offer me stone |
equal in every respect, but little bet |
ter color, will reject it because it
comes from beyond the boundaries Of
Texas
"Neither the law nor the contract
authorised us as Capitol Board to
jeopardize interests so vast for mere
idea of sentiment. 1t can make little
difference to the farmers or artizans of
Texas whether small amount of
stone needed in the construction OF
the exterior walls of this building
comes from Oatmanville, Burnet or
Indiana, so long as You do not call on
them to supplement, by payment OF
taxes, deficiencies created by gi-
gantic effort at economy.
at has been suggested as practical
BILE TO sell the 100000 acres of land
left for " per acre cash, and with the
proceeds and the use of convict labor
enable the State to construct the build
ing. Millions OF money are today
eaa
the result of like experiments
by city, county and State govern
ments. 1t is hardly necessary in this
connection to comment on the present
condition of the money market or to
discuss the grave problem of the en-
ployment of convict labor in the ereo-
| Iion of great public building. We
are only called on to-day to determine
whether Texas shall have State cap
itol or not, and whether it shall be
erected from her surplus OF lands or
be built by taxes wrung from her
hard-worked citizens paid into the
hands of Unsuitable speculators and
cormorants.
81 wish the State, Through her board,
to take such position as Will in connec-
ton with this contract send the syndi-
cate out of Texas naked If they do not
complete the building and keep for
Texas and her future contractors all
that has been 80 far done and all the
land originally appropriated, viz:
100000 acres, and enable her 10 re-
cover the full penalty of the bond
given by the.contractors.
81 am convinced that Texas will
never in the future Llecure on more
economical terms u grand State House
than II secured by the present con-
tract, and If not completed under the
present contract our children and
grandchildren will gaze at its unfin-
ished walls and groan as tho tax gath
erer comes around.
VIEWS OF HON. JOHN d. TEMPLEToN.
ayes, voted for the proposition to
allow the capitol contractors to use In
diana limestone in the construction OF
tho new capitol In the place of Texas
stone, and it receives the unqualified
approval of my Judgment, and | re-
gret 1t as little as anything have ever
done.
81 know that mo- is considered a
safe, prudent and cautious vote. IL
avoids, sometimes, some responsible
ties. 1t is not dangerous vote. If il
fails to defeat good thing, and In
spite OF it that good thing is done, why
everybody is in a good humor and the
! feeling toward the 'noes' is akin tC
something else than anger, but II il
fails to defeat bad thing and the bad
J thing goes, then II Is trump.
. "The difficulty about the 0atnRn,
Vile stone is no recent discovery by
any means. You will find AZ early a.
: April, 1884, the superintendent OF con.
struction called attention TO its imper.
toction, and for many months 1t has
] been a mattor OF formal and informal
discussion among the capitol board, the
commissioners and superintendent OF
construction.
wtwas thought at one.time that stone
} could be found at Round Rock, but II
turned out that IL could not DO found
there In sufficient quantities, squaring
, and fitting the specifications.
81 mentionlthisias showing there wRu
! no haste In the action.
1--WE all wanted granite, but for one
. never did believe the building would
be constructed OF granite, except rs
. the result of legislation looking tC
l that end and making needed prOvis
. /, believing that, did all / properly
y
7 sion TO aid the passage Of the bill au
{ change. It was not particularly espe
: cislly because It was Texas or Burne
| County granite that / wanted th,
change, but II was fer the reason thai
1t was granite, and would make {
} grander and more desirable building
= "I am not OF the opinion that IL Is Til,
province of the State to advertise
anybody's rocks, but the Burne
granite Is being about as we'll adver
, tised, however, by this muddle, as 4
would be II used In the capitol build
ing.
: "The three million acres OF lanC
were not set apart for that purpose by
, the constitutional convention, either
: directly or indirectly. Nor Is 1t limited
at In the law or laws pertaining 10 Il
, nor In the contract, IL rs cold
blooded business venture on the par
of two ana half or three million peo
, pie, few of whom are in tho rock bus
, mess, TO get the best possible building
for their land. II tho proposition were
! submitted TO the people of tho State e
vote TO tax themselves five thousand
dollars 10 have the parts Of the build.
ing into which Indiana limestone Is tC
be put built of Texas stone, don't be-
: lieve IL would get five thousand votes.
"Twenty thousand dollars was ap-
propriated year or more ago TO have
:. all the resources of the State adver-
tised at New Orleans, and you meet
. men everywhere you 90 who think the
. money was wasted. What do you
think they would say of spend
ing a few thousand for the sole
purpose Of bringing two or three rock
quarries into notice and putting recks
into market2 IL 10 my judgment that
tho people OF the State wanted and
want granite because II Is q better ma.
terial, and that the last thing they are
thinking about ia where Il comes
from, who is selling II, or being prof.
ited by its use. Allow yourself Ia
think for moment that the contract.
ors had offered Indiana granite In.
stead OF Indiana limestone on the
same terms and conditions and we
had refused and replied 0atmanyille
stone to them. Don't you think we
would have deserved TO be kicked
into the Gulf OF Mexico2 Now the fact
appears that the Indiana stone is az
much superior 70 the 0atmanville
stone as tho granite Is 10 the Indiana
| laeA I..l