Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-05-04


that inquiries into his methods of extor-
ton, are both the unrelenting enemies Of
free government and national happiness
How long will nation last that permit:
the one TO rob its wages to spend in an
srohist dissipation or the other to extort
means with which to buy foreign princes
for their daughters?
The toiling many suffer from high
freights; the favored few get rich on re-
bates.
Render unto railroads what is legiti-
mately their own and no more. From
the birth of the world the arrogance OF
wealth and power has seen its own down.
fall, but we can t afford to let it carry
this nation with it. The farmer burns
corn for fuel, when the president of the
railroad running by his door lay awake at
night to study some new society fad upon
which to spend his wealth. The farmer
on poor land can't condemn his neigh
boris fertile farm upon which to make q
living; the merchant can't condemn his
neighbours corner lot upon which to do
business. Yet men say that railroads oc-
cupY the same relation to the people and
the law as individuals. When a man
who says this, honestly believes it, his
skull is as thick as his foot at the heel.
Now, my fellow citizens, 1 want no
Office at your hands, and Jim Hogg as
governor, will have nothing to bestow
that would accept. I want to see this
fight won for the glory of Texas. Iwant
to see its farmers, its merchants, its
stockmen and manufacturers and its
laborers all prosper and live contentedly
under wise laws. The labor of railroads
should be compensated fairly, but as
public servants they are only worthy Of
their hire.
The people have got to make this fight
at their firesides, in their conventions
and at the ballot box. Communist,
farmers Alliance, Knights of Labor,
and the devil knows how many ISLANDERS
and names will be hurled at you. What
do you care if yop are trying to do right
and serve the best interests of your coun-
try? The loud-mouthed, as well as the
whispering, lnsinuating slanderer,
always brings contempt upon himself. If
q man does his duty and asks no favors
except those he is willing to return, he
eau afford to have q contempt for the
opinion of as many men as has it for
him.
We are goingto win this fight and the
country will be better of for it, and then
why care for the words or cold stare of
few men from whom you should have
nothing to ask? The loss of a woman's
smile might grieve me, but mans
never, and if your conscience and judg-
ment approve them, fight for this prin-
ciple on the hastings as you never fought
before, and let the devil have the hinder
most.
A big victory in Texas will mean much,
and defeat Will sound the death knell of
railroad regulation.
The people don Il need any money to
make fight. When every man resolves
himself into hustler and DICTATOR in his
neck of the woods, if each man will do
his duty we WON'T need the sun to stand
still on election day, for we will have it
whipped before it rises in June.
Hogg will make good leader, for he
was raised on pawpaws and persimmons
in East Texas, and is long-winded aud
game.
This fight is going to get too hot for
anybody to keep out. All of our con-,
gressmen and legislators will have to
commit themselves on the main issue.
OF course we will have to fight like the
Irishmen at Donney Brooke fair, all in
the best of humor, but the hair will fly
just the same.
ARGUMENTS ANSWERED.
God Almighty made man for His own
glory and He has got right to regulate
him to the proper performance of this
duty. Corporations are the creatures of
the law not subject to confiscation but to
every equitable regulation. If these COR
porations are our masters and not our
servants; if instead of instruments to
promote the prosperity of our state, they
are TO be engines of oppression, why
those extraordinary granite of land and
powers of eminent domain? About the
best methods of regulation men might
honestly differ but don t see how there
can be any question in the abstract or in
view of the decisions of our various
courts as to the right to regulate. It
will be very effete government of the
people and feast of either judicial ig-
norance or corruption when we reach
that stage where we will concede that
carriers are so powerful and
vested rights so sacred. Even with a
czar and a Siberia q country might pros
per, but never with such concessions to
lines of transportation. Railways have
got to be built and operated on q BUSH
ness basis and be satisfied with reasona-
Bile returns on actual investments or
nothing can, will or ought save them
from continual attacks by the sovereign
power of the people.
Does the government exist for the peo-
pie or the people for the government?
Were the railroads built for the benefit
of the people or the people created for
the benefit of the railroads? If the abb
solute power of comforting poverty or
is to be lodged anywhere, let
1t be in the sweet Will of flesh and blood
who, however cruel and de-
spotic, would sometimes yield to his hui
man nature. If corporationt have ina
lienable rights, the same as individuals,
within the purview of our constitution
and bill OF rights, then one of these
wooden Indians in front of a cigar store
is g first-class American citizen within
the meaning of the Declaration of Inde-
pendence. Not even slaves. much less
railroad corporations, were contemplated
by the declaration of these holy lnstru-
ments. Jefferson, Patrick Henry, and
every revolutionary daddy we had, re-
belled against the exorbitant tithes, even
by e church corporation acting in the
name ct the Lord. The most the king
or established church ever took from the
producer was tenth; now the producer
is lucky if the railroad tariff, the pro-
tectiye tariff and the other tariffs don't