The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1892-03-03
II IS WAR TO THE END
He Arraigns the Present Administration For
the Elective Commission, The Alien
Land Law, and Using Public Of
fee for Personal Ends.
HIS PLATFORM CLEARLY DE INED
Special to The Statesman.

Special to The Statesman.
WEATHERFORD, Tex, FEB. 81
Hon. George Clark fired the first gun
in the gubernational campaign here
today. A large crowd was present
and the speech was received with en-
thusiasm. Weatherford was selected
for Judge Clark's opening speech in
response to earnest solicitations of his
old friends, this being the place where
as penniless boy he started out on a
life which has proven eventful, hon
orable and useful. Following is full
text of the grafton:
Fellow Citizens:
1t is said that after the charge at
Balaklava, and which resulted in the
useless loss of many brave and valu-
able men, the cry went up from the
army as the remnant retreated back
to the lines, "Somebody has blum
dered.n And so, when we look abroad
at this fair land, and recall the many
wonderful advantages youchsafed to
us by kind providence, and which
ought to make us the freest and hap
piest and most prosperous people
upon earth, and realize the stagnatiOn
around us, the prostratiOn of trade,
the loss of confidence, the oppression
of labor, the destruction Of invest
ments, the arrest of progress and the
general devastation and ruin which
rises up before our vision, that same
cry repeated by the English soldiery
might we'll be repeated now with
reference to Texas, for somebody has
Numbered" Texas, today, ought to
stand among the sisterhood of states
the brightest and most peerless star
in the galaxy. God has done for us
more than we could have asked. He
has given us land fruitful beyond
computation, an atmosphere more
genial than any enjoyed by the chill
dren of men, and people who will
compare most favOrably with the best,
the bravest and the truest of which
history gives account. And yet, no
thoughtful citizen of the state, who re-
spects his reputation for veracity, can
say, and say truthfully, that Texas is
prosperous today. For some reason
her development has been arrested,
prosperity has left her borders,
sTAGNATIoN AND BLIGHT
have come upon her people, her agri-
culture is depressed, her labor fails to
find remunerative employment, her
money is garnered in banks, her peo-
pie are distressed beyond measure.
And vet she is the banner Democratic
state of the Union. 1t is to be
supposed that her government
and her laws are based upon
Democratic principles. If these
principles and their application have
produced these results as legitimate
consequences, / do not hesitate to
say for myself that | am ready to aban-
don any party which advocates them.
If a strict adherence to the teachings
of Thomas Jefferson have resulted in
prostrating these people and bringing
them to their political and CONNER
cial ruin, causing dosOlatiOn to sit upon
their hearthstones and sadness to rest
in thei: hearts, these principles have
been erroneous and ought to be aban-
doned by free people. But if, on the
contrary, this result has been attained
by an evasion or perversion of those
principles we cannot go back too soon
to their reassertion, and ought not to
neglect or forego any effort until they
are re-established as the land marks
of our government. For one, | do not
hesitate to say, and l believe it with
fervor equal to that of an enthusiast,
that all the evils and all the ills under
which our people now suffer come
from departure from the true princi-
pies of democratic government as
taught by the fathers of the repub-
lie, and that we can trace every we'll
founded complaint uttered by any
man or by any class in our midst, to
neglect, either from Ignorance or de-
sign of those principles which must be
the essential basis of every well or
ganized republic.
THE TROUBLE HAS BEEN,
fellow citizens, that in our mad rush
for wealth and for power and for office
we have not been careful to preserve
the true land marks and the true
principles of genuine liberty in our
country. Too frequently we have
been disposed to sacrifice principle for
expediency, to base our political ac-
ton upon what we thought might
win and not upon what We thought
was right. And the result has
been that our platforms of party
principles have become paper
promises, and their fulfillment
has been usually postponed to some
more convenient season so as to evade
responsibility or to retain place. 1t is
time, my fellow citizens, that we
should call a halt on this line of po-
litical action. If we are party of
principles we must assert those prin-
ciples and not only stand by them but