Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1892-03-21

and Until then any effort TO collect higher
rates shall be deemed extortion, fer which
the shipper may recover a penalty. This
is the evil complained Of. Just pause one
minute and reflect upOp the operation of
the different rule. If the roads may plum
der at viii while their suit with the state
is pending, what protection is there Tor the
citIzenl Sustained By bcundIess wealth,
the roads would litigate forever. If during
the tendency of suits there was no fixed
rule to govern their exacdous The clJi-
zen litigates 1t fearful advantage with a
road. and few merchants are bold enough
to provoke the resentment Of the invisible
power that can delay the transit OF goods
TO the ruin OF business. And so the state
takes this litigation on herself and says
to this iron carrier which was
given legal existence by her law "Obey
my law Observe the rates fixed b. ny
sworn agents, until my courts set them
aside, and viii advance your suit that YOU
may be speedily heard. Ii you violate
them until my courts pronounce those rates
unjust YOU shall suffer penalty" What
is wrong in all this2 A different rule would
convert the commission into a rope of sand,
and your roads unconstrained by law, would
be turned loose TO Cypress our industries.
Control these roads and they become bless
ings to the people-leave them uncontrolled
and the red Dragon Of the Apocalypse
would be their only prototype. Be not de-
ceived! The real objection of Judge Clark
and his railway clients to this law IS that
eleventh section which requires Us to ind
out how much money would rebuild the
roads so we can measure the water in their
bonds. Experts have already gone forth
and from their Investigation the holder of
fictitious bonds will finch like 4 mule from
q hot branding iron. In this contest, you
must not undervalue the resources of your
adversary, and tell you that the owners of
these $500, 600 Of stocks and bonds will
if needed,
SPEND AIILLIoEs OF IT
in this canvass rather than sec honest COM
missiUners squeeze that water from those
bonds and rescue our commerce and agri-
culture from their vampire-embrace. At
the request of the Hon. Tom Brown, than
whom no purer patriot with clearer head
treads on Texas soil, and the committee of
internal improvement, of which he was
chairman, I aided in the preparation of the
commission bill The assertion that the
law was prepared at executive dictation IS
utterly untruei The version given by
Judge Clark of his efforts to agree with
myself and other members OF the legiSla-
ture, is equally misleading and has
been denied over the signatures of the
signatures of the members Of the legisla-
ture whose names he gives. Regarding his
efforts to make peace, as he terms it, he
was recognized as lobbyist for the roads
during the last legislature, and the men,
Ders VINO met him in conference agreed
among themselves beforehand that they
would express no views, but obtain il posi-
bic an inspection of a commission bill which
they learned he had prepared, that they
might be ablo to know its earmarks in ad-
vance as the work Of the railroads. He
failed to produce his bill, and that was the
end of it.
AN APPoINTIvB COMMISSION.
Never was a bill more carefully consid-
cred than your commission law, as 1t now
exists. and the appointive feature was then,
as now, the chief point of attack Let US
consider it.
No man in a Texas legislature ever OBJ
ected to any commission bill which gave
he appointment to the governor, until the
asst session, when Judge Clark made the
discovery that it was not Democratic. 1t is
great pity that Clark could not have been
consulted in framing the Federal constitu-
ion, and still more recently when the state
more Democracy could have been placed IN
10Th instruments. Let US see. The presi-
lent of the United States appoints the
of the Union, and your secre- |
aries of the war and navy, and can remove |
hem at will. Thus the purse and sword |
re united in the hands Of one man. Under |
our state constitution, the governor ap- |
JULIUS your JUAN l-g6uGIdl, WHO directs
he state forces in the field, and can remove |
i'm at will, and if your treasurer should |
lie the day after his election, the governor
ills his place by appointment. If q pes
Hence should sweep your judges from the |
ench or make vacant the departments of |
reasury or comptroller, the governor ap-
ointS all. Now, there are certain important |
Ulcers whose avocations in life do not
ring them in prominence before the whole
eople, and to nominate whom in conven-
ion, would be guess work. Such are your
tate biologists, your commissioner of
tatistics and history, your superintendent
the grand asylums of the state and your
Ulcers Of the penitentiary. Hence the law
7lsely provides that the fitness of men for |
lese places shall be judged by the peoples
overnor, who is given power to remove
hem II unworthy or incompetent. If |
ected by the people, they would hold their
hdces for two years unless removed by the
ow process of legal trial. What would !
on think of sending your child. if insane,
, be cured by the nominee of Democratic
invention?
Among all the laws to create a commits
on, offered during the past fifteen years,
D man ever thought of making it elective.
he reasons even q fool can understand.
N the one hand, the people if they are to
Ominate and elect, would in the nature of
lings be divided in their choice; on the
her hand, we behold millions of money
in electing poems to serve its
terests. The masses of men in so large a
ate would have no personal knowledge of
10 peculiar fitness of candidates for the |
ork. Il is a place of great labor, involving |
e MANAGEMENT of properties costing mil
ms of money, which would be used to
rrupt a commission, and the very men
no would seek a nomination are the very
en- who should not be chosen. The quail
,ationS are: lncorruptibie integrity, {
lsiness capacity, an accurate knowledge
the channels of our commerce, and a I
Dad understanding of the devious ways I
which incorporated capital defes law I
d enriches itself at the expense of toiIing l
iliols, full knowledge of all business I
ethods, aud above all a nerve of iron to !
and for the right between the children of I
Dor who produce all wealth, on the one l
nd. and the iron power that q
aches to grasp that wealth as a
on as it is dug out of the earth I
the other. This combination of quail a
S will be found most often far removed e
I'm the turbid sea of partisan strife Such 1
N exist, but nothing save a lofty patriot S
n viii induce such men TO accept the Office '
commissioner, if rendered. They will
rely never seek it, and those who do not V
tx are rarely nominated in political con- S
ntion. !;
4 commission with power to fix freight II
ies, with millions resting on its discre- o
n, is an anomaly in cur system of gov o
lment, and springs only from our neces- r
les. There IS some present check on n
cry other public official. The comptroller Ia
! check on your treasurer, the judiciary a
YOUR legislature and reactinr checks | u