San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-04-03
A DEFENSE OF TEXAS.

10 De gross EXaggerattOnS.
81 Louis Globe-D Democrat.
ST. LOUIS, March SOL don't know
when l have been more astonish led
than by two remarks in your inter
view with Rev. Joseph Cook, the Bos.
ton lecturer, published in your
Sunday issue, wherein he affirms thai
the new south is today more bitter
and arrogant towards the North
than in ante-bellum days, and that
public sentiment politically remains
unreconstructed. AS evidence Of all
this, he states that Stanley, the A fri
can explorer, has had to cancel his
occurring appoin tments in Texas, ow.
ing to (alleged) threats Of "kuklux-
ingn because ne had deserted from
the confederate service during the
war; and, as if to create sympathy and
pose as something OF martyr him.
self, Mr.. Cook informs the public that
he also has Cancelled his featuring en-
gagements in that state for fear that
he could not be received properly $50
long as southern hands insist upon
thr0ttllng free speech and keep them
ON negro throats."
Were 1t not for the reputation of
this gentleman with northern
audiences, such remarks might 60
unchallenged; but when direct mis-
represen tations are made, casting .
Islander upon q section of country and
. state which are now attracting i'm
migration and capital to 80 great an
extent, one cannot allow such false
accusations TO 90 unanswered. OF
Mr.. Cooks statement about Mr.. Stan
ley, it Is strange that the Texas pub.
lie for the first time hear this queer
story at second ham; and it is poor
compliment to the bravery of the dis.
tinguished explorer to suppose man
who has faced death and hard ships
in q thousand forms would be fright
sned to face q southwestern audience
lest his moral courage might be too
much strain ed. But it is not enough
that people should be asked to believe
these things of Mr.. Stanley upon the
unsupported assertions of Joseph
Cock. AS his name has the prefix of
Reverend" it will never do to doubt
the reality of those lecturing appoint
ments of his own which he has eau
eelled-although this interview is the
first in timation that the Texas pu bic
are 10 lose a treat which they were
not aware the reverend gentleman
had in store for them.
The writer has make Texas the
state of his adoption, and has lived in
San Antonio for over ten years. He
vas not originally a southern man,
but claims to have learned something,
through residence and observation, OF
the correct sentiments of the people
of that state upon most Of the public
questions of the day; and when Mr..
Cook, by implication, asserts that q
Texas audience will not grant the
right of free speech upon any question
even political and partisan, he is not
consistent with veracity. If the Tex
as public did not like either Mr.. Stan
ley or Joseph Cook, they would sim
ply show their contempt by absent.
ing themselves from the lectures, and
not by threatening personal indigni-
ties.
The time was when Texas had an
unsavOry reputation, just as many OF
the Western States have had during
the transition period of society. But
q that is a thing of the past; and in
Texas cities are to be found as we'll
read, refined and agreeable acquain.
lance. as in the best average cities
anywhere else, and no man is asked
the Tenor of his political views before
being accorded his position in society.
Excepting at the ballOt-bOx, when the
Federal elections come around, the
fact of the writer's RepubliCanism is
never brought TO mind-and one is
none the less respected for casting
that ticket than if he votes the
Democratic.
Mr.. Cook and others like him in the
east, who allow their political and
sectional feeling to warp their judg-
ment, ought to know these facts, and
not 90 outside the records to villify a
state which is attending TO it's own
business of material development,
and taking very small hand in such
grievances as exist in his imagiua.
tiOn. There Is as much freedom at
the ballot box in Texas as IN Mr..
Cooks own state of Massachusetts
and in over ten years observation,
not confined to q single portion of
the state, L have yet to see evil
dences of what he terms "throttling
free speech" and laying hands on
NEGRO throats." The colored vote
can be cast just as freely as the white
vote. The state republican conven-
ti0n, held last autumn in Texas,
would indicate that instead of the
negro vote being "throttled," it was
vote which could be cast without
fear of consequences to the individual,
hut, alas, too often influenced toward
the party paying the most money,
such bribery being used by the re-
publican rs well as the opposite party.
For politics the writer cares but
little, but In the material develop.
ment of Texas he feels, as do all 10y a.
citizens, no small degree of state