The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1890-03-20
Mr.. President and Gentlemen of the Con
ventiOn:

Mr.. President and Gentlemen of the Con.
ventiOn:
The life of the stOckman, from the
days Of Abel-the first to die in his
vOcation-the first to die of the hui
man race-down to the present age,
has been attended with risk, labor
and anxiety.
Pastoral life has been clouded with
troubles, and the fortunes of those
who followed it have been as varied as
the hills and mountains over which
his herds roam--as uncertain as the
wind that sweeps the plains and val
leys and hilltops where they Craze
The shepherds may have guarded their
hocks by night. In their idleness,
while their fiOcks fed or slept, they
may have watched the stars and plan
cts and handed down from one to the
other their observations on the courses
of the heavenly bodies. In their crude
way, with eyes and thoughts rambling
and straying upwards, the humble
keeper OF sheep on the Chaldean
plains, may have laid the basis for the
grand and elevating science of astron-
omv; but their thoughts thus straying
and struggling were only pastime
thoughts. Their interests-their com
fort and support, were with their
herds.
From the beginning the herd has
been endangered by disease. That
which brings death to the flock and
ruin to shepherd and herdsman turks
in the air, in the water
and in the green heritage on
which they feed. The weaker and
less ferocious animals that become the
companions and supporters of man,
and domesticate as part OF his house
hold, are prey to the ferocity OF
beasts that prowl on their track,
They are a prey to enemies on the
wing. The gad-hy that lays its eggs
beneath the skin-the fly that lays
the germ that breeds into the screw
fly, are more terrific than the eagle that
SWEEPS from the clouds and lifts
the lamb in his talons, and scars with
his struggling victim to his eyrie.
Disease, ferocious animals, and even
insignificant insects are the natural
enemies of our herds.
The herdsman-thes hepherd-has
other agencies to cOmbat-these
named would be sufficient; and ordi-
narily call forth all his powers of in
vention, observation and discovery to
combat successfully.
The worst enemy that the herds
man and the shepherd meet is not the
providing, sneeking cayote. tits not the
Maverick-hunter, that seeks for the
unbranded offspring of his long-ago
purchase. 1t is not in the foul buz-
zard that watches the birth of the
puny lamb. 1t is not in the insignifi
cant gaudy mite of the insect world
the most terrific enemy of all others.
You may ask-what worse enemy
can be had by those who are following
pastoral pursuits than disease, poison,
beasts of prey and insidious and gaudy
parasite breeders, whose offspring feed
on the vitals of their flocks?
! will answer you. The greatest
enemy that bars the way to success,
full and profitable development, is
civilized opposition-that limits his
pasturage, burdened with taxation by
legislation both State and National
and permits eXtortion and injustice by
those who claim to be the common
agents of the people-the common
carriers of the country-with their
vast possessions. franchises and their
controlling influences, partly acquired
as free gift from the very people
whom they Cypress.
But the illiberal government and
the common carriers are not the sole
agents that are the oppressors of the
stockman. These, if we would weigh
their demands and absolute eXactions,
take the hide and horns-the hoofs
and the tallow-while those demand
ing commissions take the profits OF
the peaceful sheep-raiser, or the bold,
daring cowboy, and leave only the
lore of astronomical studies to the one
and the lasso, the saddle and the pony
to the other, for the long year OF toll
and hardship.
When | say commissions ] do not
mean merely the gam to the men to
whom we consign in shipping. |
mean the gains of all middle men who
stand between the producer and the
consumer. All of these in the line OF
their business must, and will, have .
living in their vocation, and surplus
besides, to lay away to form part of
the gains OF life for future support for
themselves, or to hand down to per
haps an idle and luxuriously pampered
offspring. These middle men look
rot, may say, generally care not,
whether the transactions leave Il
profit or entail loss on the producer.
Profit for themselves is the cardinal
principle that underlies their
transactions. To secure profit for
self they cut down the
producer in price. He is miles and
miles away from home-from his base
of supplies. The market is in a tur-
moil-the producer is panic stricken
fearing falls in prices from intlu-
ences that he neither understands nor
o,, ., ,,noblo 70 h,I1 on