The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1896-03-19
COMMISSIONER ROSE ISSUES THE
PROOFS OF HIS ANNUAL
REPORT.
A VERY INTERESTING DOCUMENT
lie Suggests Some Needed Legislation
Looking to a Bcttcrmcnt of the
Agricultural Feature of the
State Government

L ne IOllOWlnR unIa IL bccHTeu from lHc
advance sheets of Commissioner Rose IS
forthcoming annual report on the condi-
ton of agricultural affairs in Texas:
10 His Excellency, Charles A. Culbcrson,
Governor of Texas:
Sir-Solciting for it the serious thought
of it's every reader, ! herewith hand you
for consideration the eighth annual report
of the agricultural bureau of the depart
ment of agriculture statistics and his
tory. | have endcayored to make it as
full and minute ms the circumstances at
tending its preparation would permit.
Calling attention to the incllicicncics
of existing laws, which were
designed with view to assisting the
general interests of the people and in II
special manner primarily directed to sub
serving their agricultural cndcavors
through this, the authorized medium Of
the States own creation, ] would give
prominence to suggestions strengthening
the arm of the agricultural feature of the
States government for the work imposed
10y the law.
To give to the public II statement, as
agricultural conditions and prospects is
| think, just requirement which, under
II sense of duty, can neither be cvadcd nor
sighted. 1t represents II direct dealing
with that branch of industry on which is
based the hope of every other, and to
which all others in the end inevitably
look for their own maintenance and pros
perity. Without agriculture lusing the
term in its generic sense, rs embracing all
that engages the farmer life itself could
not be sustained. OF il every other in
dustry is born. 1t is the parent of them
ALL and yet, like Lear, it is all the time
feeling the wound of that scrpents
tooth, thanklcss child" Whether a
community is progressive, or retrogrcs-
sive, involves facts and conclusions whose
reliability can only be ascertained and
made known by direct consultation with
the people themselves and the collection
of data from them individually, for aggrc-
gate tabulation and subsequent publica-
ton. IL is thus only that the material
condition of the people can be reasonably
Appropriated, and from the material may
be safely reckoned their moral, intellec-
tual and social worth; for when people
are above the solctudes of adverse cir
cumstanccs, then it will invariably be
found that the other elements of human
excellence and human happiness are the
logical rs well as natural consequences.
In fact, the material is the unfailing guar
anty of every other commendable pros
perity, and observation shows that where
there is material stagnation, there also in
tellectual, moral and social delinquencics
abound.
AS far rs this department has been
able to obtain detailed replies to the
many inquiries it has addressed to the
tax assessors and other officers and pri-
vate individuals of the State, the agr-
cultural interests of Texas are in u more
prosperous and promising condition than
they were one year ago. Here the acct
dents of SOIL seasons, climate, industry
and its skllful application are ever ready
TO greet the farmer with rich reward for
his honest efforts. That there are ever
present perls not peculiar to Texas, but
shared by her in common with all other
agricultural States, does not diminish the
imminence and serious effects of the in
jury they imply. The excessive produc-
ton over and above what is required to
supply the demand is largely responsible
for low prices and Improbable results,
and for this the farmer himself is to
blame: but the chief cause, and one that
dwarfs all others in comparison, is the
baneful curse that settles and rests like
the blight of Il whitening mildew upon all
agricultural pursuits under the malign
influences and selfish, sordid schemes of
INSCRIPTIONS spectators, who prevent
and impair the legitimate objects and pur-
poses of the market by the iniquitous and
utterly ineXcusable system of trade and
traffic, in advance, on the anticipated ac-
foundations and products of the farmers
labor, known everywhere as dealing in
futures" which is a nineteenth century
application of the plan of the robber
barons of the feudal age, Let him take
who has the power, and let him keep
who cam" but the modern method, while
equally reprehensible, is the more con
temptiblc, because the more cowardly.
Yet there are those who, with tireless
energy, ply this nefarious trade of dealing
in cotton and grain futures to the preiu-
dice, and sometimes almost to the de-
struction of really healthful agricultural
enterprises. These thoroughly well
planned and hcartless assaults upon the
mother of life are entirely without moral
or equitable justification, and, disguise 1t
as they may, il is on the part of those
who assail, nothing more nor less than
II feeding and fattening on their own
corruption. But they say it is lcgiti-
mate, and they say this correctly, too,
for it is legitimate. in the same sense that
the preparation of any great wrong is
legitimate, simply because it is not en-
bargoed by an express prohibitory stat
ute that is strong enough to compel the
enforcement of its own mandates. This
dealing in futures is an evil which does
not carry within itself the seeds of its
own death. 1t is n living, growing,
vigorous and always hungry parasite that
expands and strengthens as the years go
by and opportunities multiply. For this
wrong there should be adequate redress;
and redress, to be effective can only
I've reached through the constitutionally
constituted channel of legislative cogni-
zance. Permitted silence. or tolerated
weakness of already existing and au-
thoritatiycly announced statutory proyis-
ions. when the right to protection is
strong in the conscience of its claim.
is never otherwise than superlativcly
vicious. In this instance it not only
allows. but in n measure seems actually
to energize organized trcspass upon an
industry on which every other com
mendable avocation must rely for its
own security. In Texas the failure of
effort 10 destroy it, appears to have ar
gued to operators i'll futures, the inca
pacity of the State to protect and up-
hold the privileges and rights of her az
ricutural interests; for in defiance of
the restraining act of the Twentieth leg
islaturc. the speculatOr in futures has
become holder in his actions and more
clamorous in his cries for the farmers
substance. SO long has this opprcS-
sion been endured, in defiance of con-
slant protest. that he infection of wrong
by the preparation of fraud upon the