Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1886-06-15
How the General Has Lost the Major
Portion Of His Support Through.
out Western Texas.
His Policy on the Land Question Re.
garded as MISUNDERSTANDING
Revision Necessary.
BsR'sed Wire What Ross Propose. IN as.
the Westerners in Return tor Their
Votes Tor Governor.


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view and his Sulphur Springs speech were |
ulrecty IN the line OF free-grass. anti. /
iease'law argument. An instance OF the
ialth which the West put in these assur.
Rhees Of Gen. Ross, is the fact that here
tofore Its press has given him an almost
unanimous support, The ccnsu9 OF guber.
natorial preferences taken BY the San An. |
tonic Express at the recent meetipa az
the Texas Press association, deyeloped
that the major portion Of the generals
newspaper support came from the West.
II is hardly probable that the Western
press or the Western people will continue
to regard his candidacy longer with favor
His remarkable flop is not only looked
upon as
BREACH or POLITICAL FAITH
but the position on the land question
which he now occupies is policy which
has always been regarded as miscellaneous
and ruinous. II carried out IL would rem
der the West the home of the prairie-dog
ana coyote forever, and turn Its fairest
cities into waste places.
What is that pollcy2
The establishment Of dead line In the
west beyond which settlement Is forbid
den to go--the erection Of legislative
barrier on the school lands for the protec.
ton of the big pasture interests
Think Of the disastrous results which
must invariably attend such policy.
With the lease rate reduced to 4 or
cents, as 1t is generally conceded will be
done by the next legislature, and the
guarantee of an absolute lease, the big
cattlemen will hastily gobble up all the
public lands west,of the dead line. This
VIII go into 100000 and 200, 600 acre pas
lures, and the end will be that the sec
ton which Gen. Ross labels as ''pastoral
lands" will pass into the hands of less
than a score Of men and firms.
Is this fancy picture?
One OF the best-known counties on the
west end Of the Texas & Pacific, not very
far from here,is to-day in the possession Of
three wealthy cattlemen Their retainers-
twelve or fifteen cowboys each--comprlse
large portion OF the popula-
ton of the county. In this county
a town is brayely struggling for a posi-
ton in the commercial world What
| fearful odds are against III The stranger
who traverses the county finds ii encir-
cled In the deadly embrace of an endless
Gordon Of wire. WHAT attraction does 1t
present TO bimf
This is what Gen Ross proposes to
give the West In return for us indorse-
ment of his gubenstotial aspirations.
And set he charges the present lease
law and land board with obstcucting the
settlement OF the country. Better the
lease law and land board forever than th,
dead-line of Gen. Ross for two years. III
existence for that time would set back
the settlement OF the West FOL
ten years, II Il did not make
the accomplishment of that desired result
almost an impossibility,
Years ago the csttlemen fasteEed thei
grip with wire upon the Southwestern
portion of the state. To-day the populs
ton OF many of the best counties in tina
section IS less than 1t was seven year
ago.
Is there not, then, a living danger il
this proposition of Gen. Ross to turi
over millions of acres Of the public land
to the same class of men with an absolut
tenure for the term of their leasesf
Who win care to buy these lands afte
> they have been labeled by the state a
"pastoraln and unit for agriculture
purposes? win not the state be CON
: PEELED to either lease them forever or I
sell them in unlimited tracts to forme
lessees?
Where will Gen. Ross draw his dead
, line?
At Big Springs farming has been pun
sued with success. This Is attested b
: the prosperous condition Of colon
near by. Thrifty farmers can be foun
all over Tom Green, the border county.
Gen Ross proposes to declare thes
/. lands unfit for anything save pastors
use. His dead-line, II drawn at ell, mus
l. fail to the east OF them. He declare
himself familiar with the topography
the country, and yet any man who DO
passed over IL once ought to know thi
; Western, likeEastern, Texas has its ferti
, and its barren spots, and that there
II no such thing as regularity
their location. Some OF the poo
est lands In Texas can
found almost within sight Of Red river
,s some of the richest are tributary to IN
y Rio Grande.
J, Gen. Ross by the advocacy OF the deaC
i. line policy has forfeited all claims upc
h Inc West, as well as upon those people
le the East who desire the settlement
n this section. This Is not local but
state question. The establishment
these small kingdoms where one mi
rules supreme over hundreds OF tho
sands of acres is not only injurious
Of the material interests Of the whole stat
4. but dangerous menace to its poiltlo
!. institutions. Already popular sentinel
ID has become thoroughly aroused on y
~ subject of land monopoly. Texas, pc
81 hans more than any other state, Is a 81
ferer from It's long train OF attenaa
"a evils. 80. -.
e Shall these evils be perpetuated as
Sc proposed by Gen. Ross, or shall the o
A. nonents OF land monopoly OF every Sc
"a non unite in an emphatic deciarat'
Q. that II the lands are to be leased AZ
j. mot one acre or one foot shall De ued
" from settlement
THE patriotic Westlooks to the patrio'
I'd -, ~ ~ r a. answer 4. G.. s.
as G.ntiemen Gan Find at Y. ). whites
- Popular. wide-awake, progressive suors
veTv superior stock Of clothing, emoraci
/ evefy style aud quality from common
ane manufactured expressly % .
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