Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-08-18

In +baorv America is the land of freedom
and Independence, where ancient lineage
GOES for nothi ing, and where titles, decora-
lions and Other symbols of the etfete monar-
chicaI syst in. do not exist In practice,
however w ! Id that there Is among the
neonle a defJ aoi love of titles, and an inor-
innate desire ttrace back their descent TO
William the Conqueror The freedom con-
sists in nrotertiGn of the most stringent
kind. and the Independence IS sucn that
pauper immigrants are flsst!!S eNcluueu'
while there Is now a new feature IN the
growing attempts of certain OF the states to
prevent real property being acquired by
anyone who is not a citizen of the great re
public. The Texas legislature, following IN
the wake of Pennsylvania and Minnesota,
has lately passed an alien law, which came
into operation about week ago. The actual
text of the main clause in the act is
as follows: mo alien or a person VINO is
not a citizen Of the United States of Amer
lea shall acquire title TO Or own am inter
est III the lands within the state of Texas,
and any deed or other conveyance purpOrt-
ing TO convey such title or interest to any
alien or unnaturalized foreigner. or to any
firm, company or corporation composed OF
such, i'll whole or in part, shall be void
The clause is slightly modified by being
rendered non-applicable if the alien. at the
time of acquiring the property, signify his
intention of becoming a citizen, in which
case he must carry out his intention within
six years, and property acquired by devise
or descent may also be held by an alien for
six years. In short, where lender on real
estate has 10 take the security instead of
his money, he will in future only have six
years in which to realize. If he cannot dis
pose of the land within that period it will
escheat to the state. ana the alien will lose
both his money and his security. This is,
OF course always providing the act to be not
repealed.
1t is certain that the new law, although it
may possibly ipjure those who have adj
vanced money on land in Texas, will be far
more detrimental to the best interests of the
state and its inhabitants than to the aliens.
1t is all very well for for such paper as the
Forum TO write that 1.-The virgin soil of the
West is rapidly ceasing to be the home and
possession of the sturdy American free
man" 1t sounds, too, very like Il recital OF
Irish grievances to be told that the farmer
lis but tenant at Will. or n dependent
upon the tender mercies of souliess corpora
tons and absentee landlords But the
bulk OF the people are far too sensible to be
lieye such nonsense, and the agitation is in
reality worked for political purposes by the
organization known Us the Farmers Ali
ance. 1t is always trump card TO play
with the uneducated classes to talk of the |
monopoly of the earth by the wealthy, and |
TO tell them that this is the universal curse |
OF humanity; but wnen the theories of even
sincere reformers, such as Henry George, |
are put IN practice. their practical impossi- |
bility very soon becomes apparent From |
1881 TO 1889 were undoubtedly bad times for
agriculture, and the last census showed 4
that there We're actually 5000, COO homG |
steads mortgaged. But even these figures |
do not necessarily prove the depression
10 have been so bad as they would make it'll
appear. The go-ahead disposition Of tue |
American is such that he is always tryfas \
10 add to what he has got and it is quite |
that, as opportunities ofNac-
luiring more land arose, the farmers mort
gagged their original holdings, as well as the
new ones. to pay for their increased acre
age. If this be partial explanation, the |
heavy mortgage debt, as shown by the CEN
;us, would therefore De explained by specu-
alton rather than depression. But, in sum-
ming up their grievances, the farmers
anne to the unanimous conclusion that
hey must have cheap money, and, with
his object in view, they have assisted in
ioing the very thing which Will drive for
,ign capital out of the country, and conse-