The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1896-03-26
MAJOR WALTON'S SPEECH AT
GONZALES

In ADVANCE Oh any coiHihcntS tnht W.
make on the political speech. made by
Major Buck Walton at Gonzales on
Saturday last and published in full in
The Statesman Sunday morning, we
desire TO say that for Major Walton
personally we have very high regard
and for him as an able and profound
lawyer we entertain great admiration,
but for his political tergiversations and
his wild Popuist theories we have no
patience and we acknowledge that we
are totally unable to reconcile his ability
to the political fallacies that seem to
have captured his intellect and holds it
in thrall to course inconsistent with
that ability and all the well founded po-
litical opinions of n life time.
A physicians first duty is to diagnose
the case he intends to treat before he
prescribes u remedy. Major Walton
gives the following diagnosis of the case.
He says:
The body polite is sick-industries
linger-business is Observation-Disclosures
is more ative-wages low-pro-
ducts without n market-money scarce
the people in debt, with but little hope of
being freed from it, and all this when
the soil is rich, the seasons propitious and
the people working and more economical
as never before.
We suppose since the world began to
take form from its chaotic primeval con-
dition, at least we know that since we
have been acquainted with the current
affairs of this country, there have always
been croakers and calamity howlers that
have given the same diagnosis of the
condition of this country in every polit-
ical campaign. There are men always
to be found whose pessmistic wisdom
delights to dwell on the evils that envi-
ron the people, brought ON by one polite
al party or another. 1t is the old, old
story of partisan zeal to induce credu-
lous voters to come over to the "outs"
to remedy the evils created by the "ins."
Mr.. Clay, when the Mexican war had been
inaugurated, Joined the croakers and
painted the political sky as dark and
gloomy" but out of that cloud in the
Southwest sprung nearly continent,
bringing the riches of its mines and the
bounteous products of its fields and pour
ing them with more than Oriental gener-
osity into the lap of this Nation.
But let us follow Major Walton. He
next pays his compliments to the Dem
Ocratic party. He says it was once the
party of the people the upholder of
their rights, the embodiment of good
government; but, alas, it has, in Major
Walton's opinion, changed and stolen
the livery of the Republican party; but
that is nothing to Major Walton, as both
of these old parties are in the throes
of dissolution. Major Walton says:
''The Democratic party is in dissolution
The Republican party is on the eve of
it." This information is not more
startling than the announcement that
"the Dutch have taken Holland" Who
ever heard Democrat make polit-
ical speech that he did not declare with
manner that left the impression of
great political prophetic ken that. the
Republican party was in the course of
dissolution, or others desiring to be more
emphatic declared that il was dead,
dead, dead" and vice versa. 1t is then
quite naturally in line with all prec-
edents that Il Popuist should predict
the death of both of these old parties.
No Democrat or Republican has ever vet
lost any sleep under such sentences of
death. Is that good reason that life
long Democrat should desert the party
and go over to its enemies? If the Demo
cratic party is dying of corruption it
ought to call to the front all the best en-.
ergies of the party to aid in restoring to
it the virtues that Major Walton boosted
it once was possessed of and in which it
gloried. The crew of gallant ship that
has weathered out many n storm are mu-
tinous and rebellious. Will its officers
hail any old ramshackle Populist ship.
any tramp in the oceans highway, and,
deserving their own ship, trust their safe,
ty to a concern bottomed by political
planks that never before entered into con-
struction of u political vessel? Oh, no;