Brenham weekly banner. [volume] (Brenham, Tex.) 1877-1907, 1890-05-01
GENERAL HoGG's ADDRESS.
He Talks for More than Two Hours and
Commands Wrapt Attention.

Commands Wrapt Attention.
General Hogg was escorted from
his room at the hotel to the opera
house at eleven o'clock on Friday
morning, where he addressed the
sufragians of this city and county
according to announcement on the
pending state issues. For a few
minutes before his arrival a brass
band stationed on the balcony at the
northeastern corner discoursed two
OF three selections of music while
the audience was assembling. Ow-
ing to the muddy condition Of the
roads, to the fact that the coming Of
Mr.. Hogg had not been advertised
and to the farmers being busy, there
were but few country people in town
and the audience was mostly made
up of townfolks, including fair
sprinkling of the ladies. Seated on
the stage with the speaker were Mr..
Heber Stone, chairman of the Wash
ington county democratic executive
committee, Col. Giddings, Col. Guy
NJ. Bryan, Mr.. E. Reichardt, Judge
Jas. E. Shepard, of Austin, Judge
G. G. Garrett, Mr.. J. B. Saunders, a
prominent farmer of Burleson coun-
ty, Major Moses Austin Bryan, Mr..
E. Pennington, Mr.. A. F. Fielder,
president of the Washington county
farmers Alliance, Mr.. S. A. Morriss
and Jehu Mcguire.
Mr.. Hogg began his address at
fifteen minutes past eleven and spoke
nearly two hours and twenty minutes
being listened to attentively and
with interest throughout. He. be-
gan by defending himself against
the great hue-and-cry of demagoguery
raised against him and spoke of its
being departure for gubernatorial
candidates to go around stumping
the state. As to the charge of his
being a demagogue, he could
imagine some shallow-pated upstart
bobbing up with the same cry when
Patrick Henry declared that he
wanted liberty or death, 1t was al
ways raised when a public official
got out of the beaten ruts of cow
ardice and dared to discharge his
duty conscientiously. He begged
pardon for referring in what might
seem a boastful way to his official
acts, but felt that he owed it to him
self to defend his acts against mis-
representations. His first act was
to bring suit against benevolent and
mutual aid associations and other
kinds of fraudulent, wildcat insurance
companies which were going through
the state pretending to insure
property, life and anything else far
in excess of the real value. While
these wildcat companies were -four
ishing fires all over the state were
numerous. When they were driven
out fires ceased and the commission
er of insurance told the attorney
general that he had saved between a
quarter and a half u million dollars
in premiums alone to the people by
running them out. He next refer
red to his war on the Texas Traffic
ASSOCIATION, a combination of nine
railroads outside of the state with a
central Office in the state with a
manager who fixed rates arbitrarily,
sliding them up and down as he
pleased, thus concentrating the rail
roads of Texas into the hands of one
man. By suit against it he broke
this combination up; and also the
international traffic association and
the international weighers' associa-
ton, which was but dis
guise of the former. Rewriting
to the subject of insurance he told
how the "Old Line" companies had
patted him on the back and encour-
aged him in his war on the wildcat
concerns. But presently the "old
lines" to the number of ffty-nine
formed a pool to keep up the rates
of insurance, and when he instituted
proceedings to dissolve the pool
they tried to scare him off by claim
ing that it would break up the in
surance business in Texas and drive
fully two million of dollars out of
the state. He went ahead, however,
the pool, and since then
twenty more companies are doing
business here in addition to the fifty |
nine which threatened to withdraw.
Of all the suits brought by the |
speaker for which he had received |
abuse and was denounced as a |
demagogue, the suit to forfeit the
charter of the International railroad |
was the only one in which he did |
not win an absolute victory. And,
yet, as a result of the suit the Inter
national has been put in frst-class
condition and they now even have
ice water on the trains. He next
spoke of how he made the cattle
barons come to account with their
ease money on the children's school
lands; how he had secured the for
feiture of the East Line railroad,
The only instance in the state and
The second in the United States.
Nayf Mr. Hono rofaTra5 70 bic e,,,;I