The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1892-06-02
THE LAND OFFICE.
MR.. JOHN W. MADDOX ON MR.. W. L,
MeAUGHEY, COMMISSIONER.
The Commissioners Speech at dublin Taken
\ Up and Mercilessly Reviewed in Connec-
tion With Other Matters Of His
Official Conduct.

To the Statesman.
Gaughey
Land Commissioner McGaughey is
reported at Dublin to have said:
''They charge me with digging up
the ammunition for those sidings and
switches cases, and do not deny that
did. II is my duty to protect the
people,"
The writer approves many of the
official acts of Governor Hogg, but is
at loss to understand his acquies-
ence in this statement by the land
commissioner. The governor could
not have heard the statement, for he
knows that McGaughey had nothing
whatever to do with raising the sid
ings and switches issue.
1t is we'll known to all who read the
newspapers in 1890 that the sidings
and switches issue was the basis for
heated and extended newspaper con
troversy between Attorney General
Hogg and Land Commissioner Hall
long prior to the time that McGaughey
himself was "dug up" and snugly en-
sconced in the land office by the popu-
larity Of Governor Hogg.
HONOR TO WHOM HONOR is DUE.
1t is we'll known here that a resi-
dent attorney, l.. d. Books, "dug up''
the sidings and switches issue. Fear
full that this incompetent official may
not "deny" that he has "dug up''
other Ammunition, the writer
deems it proper to state that this same
dilligent and plodding attorney, l.. d.
Brooks, raised the issue on which At
torney General Hogg based his first
Val Verde suit, and that from the
same source has originated many, not
to say all other issues on which suits
have been instituted by our law of.
ficers to recover lands for the state.
This unpretentious attorney draws
compensation from the treasury for
his services, and he is known as the
attorney general smelling commit
tee.n
LIT is MY, DUTY TO PROTECT THE
PEOPLE,"
says McGaughey, and he might have
added, the constitution requires, and
Ihave sworn that will faithfully and
impartially perform the duties in
cumbent upon me as land commits
sioner of Texas.
HOW DOES HE PROTECT THE PEOPLE?
In the first instance, by ruthlessly
turning out of the land Office such
men as Pressler, Schuetze, Blau,
Hutchings and others, who have
grown gray as servants of the people,
men who have served the state twenty,
thirty and forty years; whose minds
are so stored with information as to the
office, and so skilled in the perform
ance of their duties, that no land
commissioner since the Davis admins
tration has been so unmindful of the
public interest as to dispense
with the services of these
worthy non-partisan men. Even
Keuchler under radical rule did not
manifest that utter disregard of the
public good that McGaughey has
done. Keuchler unwillingly turned
out some of these men at the command
of his master, the Republican party.
McGaughey did so at his own volition
that he might keep pledges
made before his election and
filled these places with men
Incompetent and inexperienced
ALMOST as he himself Keuchler afraid
of his master, knowing Pressler's SER
vices to be indispensable hid him
away in room below for consultation.
McGaughey having strangely found
out within few months that the SER
vices of Pressler, SchutZe, Blau and
Hutchings could not be dispensed
with, employed them again in sub
ordinate positions to perform the
duties for which incompetent and in
experienced men draw the salaries.
TO THE VICTOR BELONGS THE sPoILs.
Me and my family and the Hood
county contingent are provided for,
and "it is my duty to protect the peo-
ple."
The payroll of the land office show
salaries paid as follows:
Me. W. I. McGaughey. ................... s., 500
NV son. John d. McGaughey .............. 1000
NV son Lee McC,aughey '............... 1000
NV cousin Felix McGaughey ............ l,400
Nv niece's husband ,..................... 1900
and EXPENSES. 1SOO
Nv brother Johns son, estimated. ......... 600