Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-04-22
SOME THINGS THE PEOPLE SHOULD
REMEMBER.

vas IIiIS sOEJ OF Il man III q ltt-tllllleut
degree. with the usual result. When
| the animals are stirred up there is
bound to be roaring. There was roaring
in Texas when the present governor
was Il candidate for state executive. 1t
was heard when he was elected: il was
heard on every side while the legis-
lature was in session. and we still hear
its echoes ringing out from time TO
time. That it will continue is no less
sure than that the governor will con-
tinue 10 be true to his own character
and notions of right. He will be misrep-
resented and antagoniZed as he has been
from the beginning, and every inch OF
ground will be contested by those who
want to discredit and break down his
administration.
The slogan or battlecry of the oppo-
sition is and will be IAN elective com
mission" That is the shibboleth that
they have emblazoned on their banner
and with which they hope 10 deceive
the people and win u victory at the
next election. At the outset it would
be well for the people TO keep in mind
Il few things that it behooves them not
to loose sight of. The first is that all
this talk about the need for an elective
commission is tires0me twaddle and
unmitigated rot. In the next place it
should be remembered that for the four
teen years during which commission
bills have been talked OF or introduced
session after session of the Legislature,
no man has ever introduced bill for
electing the commission. Remember
also that several commission bills were
prepared and introduced during the
session just ended, every one of which
provided for an appointive commission.
This is true of both house and senate,
and when the committees in each
house rejected or disapprOved OF the
bills offered. they framed substitute bills
that provided for an appointive COM
mission. These substitute bills were
considered for days and weeks and
nothing was heard about the rank in
justice OF taking the election of the
commissioners from the people. moth
ing about bestOwing the despotic and
tyrannic power of appointment on the
governor. That was an afterthOught.
Someone conceived the brilliant idea
after all other efforts had failed,
that it could possibly be made use of to
defeat the bill. Ii was attempted with
no sort of success in the house, but
very men who had framed and assisted
in framing appointive bills only few
days or weeks previous. suddenly be-
came converts to it. and at the same
time outspoken enemies OF the admin
istration. 1t prevailed in the senate
by small majority which put the anti
administration forces and the friends
of the railroads in such high glee that
they could not contain themselves.
They confidently expected deadlock
between the two houses with the con-
sequent failure to pass the bill. But
in that they were deceived and the bill
is now law.
The plan is now to use the election
idea for the purpose of illustrating
the ''monarchical and centrizingr
power as they dub it, OF the gov
ernor. He has the appointment of
too many state officials: that is, he has
three or four appointments more than
Governor Ross had. As no one ever
accused the latter Of exercising the
powers of a monarch in the matter of
appointments, it follows of course that
the added privilege of naming three
railway commissioners has conferred
'monarchical and centralized" power
on Governor Hogg. The obvious
follows that if he be robbed
of that privilege he will lapse again
into and a plain servant of the people
with as little power to monarchize as
a string-halted jade has to win a
Derby race. That is the sort of logic
with which the ants hope to hood
wink the masses. 1t would probably
do in lunatic asylum but no where
else
There are two or three states only
out of about thirty that have railroad
in which the same are
and also worthless. So that
in making her commission appointive,
Texas has followed in the footsteps OF |
nearly all the states that have preceded |
her in this respect. II an appointive
commission makes the Texas governor
& monarch, he has no monopoly of that |
sort of prerogative, as the country is
full of monarchs like himself.
Finally, let the people remember
that when they want advice about this |
matter, the worst source under the sun |
from which to take it, is the railroads |
and their friends.