The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1890-02-20

ly to the material progress and the
intellectual and moral advancement
of this great commonwealth.
We have special reasons at thi,
time for qualification at the higf
privilege of entertaining, as best We
may, so important an assemblage;
cannot mention them all, for they are
numerous, nor will the time and oc
casion permit me to state as l might
those which are strongest.
In the first place we court the calm
dlspassionate judgment on our state
and people of body of men and
women so distinguished for conserva
tlsm,and fairness, and so capable o.
intelligent, critical and disinterested
observation as the members of the
American Horticultural society. The
business of your lives makes you q
part of, and brings you into close re-
lationship with the great mass of the
worlds most patient and earnest
tollers, whose chief characteristic is
their sturdy honesty and uncompro.
mloing adherence to the truth, and
whose highest ambition is to observe
as far as human nature will permit
the golden rule of doing unto Others
as you would have them do unto you.
We would, therefore, first enlist your
attention and sympathy, and through
your meditation would reach the hearts
and consciences of the thousands with
whom you shall hereafter come in con.
tact.
In all of the older states Texas has
heretofore borne a hard name, and in
many OF them it is yet regarded as
only a refuge for the lawless and out
casts OF other communities. Our citi-
zens have been and are constantly
being maligned and misrepresented
by men with no loftier ambition than
to promote selfish and partisan ends
at any cost.
The good name and character OF
100000 people, however sacred and
unsullied, they cheerfully assassinate
when it becomes necessary to divert
public attention from issues of more
immediate concern or turn the tide of
immigration elsewhere. Then again,
we have been held up be fore the world
by sensational press as border ruff
fans and semi-savages, whose chief
delight is in pruning the human form
with a sixshooter and spading up the
vitals with bowie knife. And, while
we do not believe for moment that
all of the people abroad give credence
to these blood-curdling stories about
us, yet thousands of intelligent, think
ing citizens, forgetful of the fact that
our state has been peopled by men
who are bone of their bone and flesh
of their flesh, whose fathers felled the
forests and subdued the soil of New
York, Maine, Ohio, Georgia, the Caro-
linas and other States of the Union,
have come to regard us as people as
devoid of refinement and reckless of
human life as Comanche Indians.
1 have alluded to these things for
the purpose, if possible. of quickening
your power of observation, that you
may count the murders you see com.
mitted and take the number of the
slx-shooters and bowie knives worn by
our citizens during your sojourn
among them; that you may search for
our public buildings, school houses,
churches and such other evidences of
civilization, as in other countries and
among other people are regarded as
more substantial indexes of the real
character of a people than an occa-
sional murder or the brandishing of a
sixshooter in a public place in VIOLA
ton of the statutes of the State.
In the second place, we have few
things to show you, in which we take
delight ourselves, and which we hope
you will find it profitable and interest
ing to study. The first and greatest
is our State, great not only in area of
territory, but great in history, great in
the science of war and mighty, yet
mightier still to be, in the arts of
peace.
We would point out to you our bat
tlefelds and invite you to read the in
scriptions on the monuments of our
dead as sufficient cause for any spe-
cial pride of ancestry and love of coun-
try manifested by us. The Alamo,
Goliad and San Jacinto and score of
other battlefelds on our soil attest the
bravery and heroism of the men who
wrested this great empire from the
grasp of king and dedicated it to the
cause of freedom. They wrought out
for this State a history which will ever
remain distinct and separate, and won
for themselves a name and place
among earth's most renowned states
men and warriors as enduring and i'm
perishable as the granite walls OF the
magnificent capitol.
But, Mr.. President, "Peace hath her
victories far more renowned than
those OF war;" and it is h. arts that
now fill the measure OF our highest
hopes and fondest ambitions. Within
the school houses and churches rest
ing beneath the shadow of her white
wings, we gather our children and
teach them that the first great duty
imposed by God on man is "to replen-
ish the earth and subdue it" and that
he who makes two blades OF grass
grow where one only grew before is a