The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1893-04-05

the faintest practical or even theoreti,,
cal knowledge of road making, ana
use no discretion in the appointment
ofoverseers. 1t is quite common
sight to see the most incapable man
in large community experimenting
the time killing operations OF the road
gang. If the commissioners are IN
different to road improvement or lg-
norant of what qualifications are in
dispensable in a good overseer, the
law of chance cannot be relied on to
make good their deficiencies, and the
odds are largely in favor OF
their appointing incompetent men.
If they would take the trouble to seek
out and appoint the best man in every
road district and compel him to get
the most out of the gang" that
highly honored official would have an
unpopular task to perform, but II
backed up by the central authority
would "get there" and the good re:
suit of honest labor wisely applied
would soon be so apparent that all but
incurable NAL contents would accept
the situation, and in time become I'M
proved road missionaries.
Another failure in duty on the pars
of county commissioners is their not
employing convict labor. This was
brought fOrciby to my notice few
notice few days ago when l. maze
an inspection of our county jail ana
saw great number OF able bodled
rascals imprisoned for various
breaches of the law.
There they ere, deprived OF lib
erty, it is true, but apparently happy,
as evidenced by their rude jokes,
boisterous laughter and interest in va
rious gambling devices they are al
lowed to indulge in. They are we'll
fed and their health is better cared for
than when at large preying on the
public. The question very naturally
arose, why should these prisoners, for
the most part unmitigated rascals
be allowed to eat the bread OF idle.
ness, bought with the hard earned
cash of the honest, law abiding lax
payer? Ech answers, "why?'
There can be no valid reason, 80
long as our roads need labor for their
betterment. The plea so often urged
against the employment of convicts,
viz: That their use will interfere
with honest labor, will not hold in
this case. With all respect, COM
mend the consideration of the employ
ment of convicts on our county roads
to our commissioners, and hope they
may soon be able to arrange for their
employment.
~
The breeders and handlers of special
breeds of horses and cattle never at
tempt to conceal their contempt for
those who speak of ian all purpose
horse" or combination cow,"i i. g.,
an animal adapted for the dairy or
the butchers block. But there are
plenty willing to risk the contempt of
these specialists, invest their cash in
so.called nondescripts and think they
have got their moneys worth.
The "all purpose horse" or one that
answers the purpose of its owner is
not 80 difficult to find as the beef and
butter or rather milch cow. 1t is sell
dom that a large flow of
rich milk is found in COWS
neotion with beef carcas, but if the
Brown Swiss COW "Brien2" illustrated
in the Breeders Gazette is fair rep
resentation of that family then in the
Brown SWISS we WOulu seeu w have
the combination COW. She is built on
beef lines from the tip of her nose to
her hind feet, but with milk reser-
voir that equals that of any purely
milk strain. At the fat stock show
in Chicago in 1891 she was entered in
the pub butter test and won the prize
with yield Of 245 pounds of milk in
three hays, which contained 9.42
pounds of butter fat. This is the
highest yield ever reported in a pub
lie test and is equal to II pounds of
commercial butter in three days.
Nv
Senator ingalls, is perhaps better
known as politician than a poet but
has more claim to the latter title than
many halting rhymers who vainly
flatter their weak souls that they
have divine inspiration. His crib
ute to grassn bids fair to be as i'm.