The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1896-05-07

dence that they do not proceed from dis
interested patriotism, but are the off
spring of unsuccessful candidates and
would-be candidates for county Offices.
They do not express any public opinion,
but seek to manufacture sentiment by
which their authors hope to profit.
The burden of complaint against the
county Democratic candidates is not that
they have not made, and will not make,
good officers, for each of them has been
tried and proven himself an efficient pub
lie servant; but the complaint is, first,
that several of them are remotely con-
nectcd my marriage, and, secondly, that
they support each others candidacy,
just like the opposing candidates usually
do, and for doing this they are called
court house ring. The first objection
presents a subject which is of no i'm
portance to the public. OF what pos
sble interest is it to the -Office-seeking
public, who only desire efficient officers,
whether some of them are remotely con-
nected by marriage or otherwise, or not!
But, if kinship among few of the county
officers were an objection, the remote
ness of the kinship, even if it can be
called n kinship at all, is so great, and
the effort to locate remote connections
by marriage is manfestly so strained by
the DIRECTORS, that the objection becomes
absurd. 1t would not require much more
stretching of the word kin than is here
made to prove all the other county officers
in Texas kin to the Travis county officials;
for somewhere back through the past
generations, between the present time
and the days of Adam and Eve, there
was a connection between the remote
ancestors of us all.
The second objection plays long and
loud on the court house ring" and "city
ring" Now what is ''ring" Simply
the mutual support by present officers
of each other for denomination and cleo
ton. Is there any harm in that? If so
the DIRECTORS propose to be guilty of the
same wrong; for they invite the forming
of II ticket, "a ring of candidates who
will act together and support each other
for Office. Hence, if they are elected, it
would be simply swapping enc ring for
another, and when the latter shall get
in Office, if ever, they will at once become
the court house ring"
Now, the only thing the people are inter-
ested in is the filling of the Offices with
able and faithful public servants. Rings
are only Objectionable when, by the in
fluence of mutual support between can
strong ones succeed in carrying
into Office some unfit man or men. 1t is
not charged that the support by the
Democratic candidates of each other drifts
in that direction, for all the candidates
on that ticket are true and tried faithful
public servants, and the county Democ-
racy will not attempt to carry any one of
doubtful usefulness, whether this results
from blunders or willful wrong. But
what guarantee have the people that the
ring" of the outs, which they propose
to form, will not attempt to carry through
incompetent or unworthy men? They
must at least propose untried men for
HloSt VI iHe ollCcS, anu IL Is llol SOou
business sense for the people to swap off
those who have been tried and proved
faithful for untried and doubtful men.
The charge in the anonymous circular
that the county Democracy did not rec
ognize our German fellow citizens in
filling the county Offices must have been
made with knowledge that it was false,
as, no doubt, are many of the other
otherwise the authors would
not screen themselves behind an anony
nous circular. The authors of that cir
cular knew that ii. NJ Metz, our faith
full county assessor of taxes and nominee
for reelection, is a German, and it is also
well known that several prominent
under county officers are
held by Germans, so that they have Il
on the Democratic ticket
of not less than the proportion which the
German vote bears to the whole county
vote.