San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-04-25
A VETO.
Governor Culberson Sends the Anti
Agricultural Department Bill
Back Again.

ASIlNullilltIdl department BIZ
Back Again.
Special Wire to Sunday Light
Austin, Texas, April 24.-Governor
| Culberson came very near boosting
| himself into the United States sena-
| tors job at one boost this morning and
he got that boost by climbing up on
top of the Legislature. lie is certainly
one of the smOothest politicians in the
state as was evidenced Yesterday nv
his awaiting himself of a splendid op-
portunity and making a ten strike bv
Vetoing a bill aimed at the abolition of
the Agricultural department of the
state government. Said bill seeks To
prevent the gathering of statistics by
the department which would nracti-
cally abolish it by the hypothesis that
there was nothing for the department
TO DO and there was no use maintain
| ing it, This bill was ably argued bv
the patriots in the House who howl
ed about the farmer wanting the meas
| ure passed. etc. and so on
Governor CulbersOn came back at the
| House this morning with his veto mes
sage and told them that in his opin-
ion inasmuch as this was the only de-
partment of the state government that
represented the great mass of the
farming element that instead of irving
| to hamper its efficiency the members
of the Legislature ought to try and
foster and bolster it up. lie urged that
the farmers needed the same atten-
ton and intimated that their rights
should be carefully looked after so
| long as he held the lever to the situa-
ton. In short the message told the
| Legislature that while they might try
and do the farmer that the governor
was here as his friend and proposed
to stay by him.
The veto, like several others that
have been shot into this session, came
| like a thunderbolt from a clear sky.
The members looked at one another
| few minutes and then smiled siCkly
while they muttered that they had
played in their usual luck and let the
governor make political capital at their
own political expense.
The veto is as follows:
Executive Office, April "a. 1897
To the House of Representatives:
House bill No. 2S1 is herewith re-
turned without approval 1t is an act
which seeks to repeal article 1923 of
the Revised Statutes providing that
the commissioners of Agriculture shall
plan and arrange for collecting and
publishing agricultural and farm stat
istics and for those purposes shall on or
before January LIST of each year furnish
the assessors with the necessary blanks
for procuring data relating to agricul-
ture and stock raising. The depart
ment of Agriculture is the only one
in the state government specially de-
signed to benefit the farmers, who con-
stitute a large majority of our pOpu-
latiOn, and the statute sought to be re-
pealed is necessary to its successful
operation. UnquestiOna Ily such a de-
partment, clothed with adequate pow
ers. provided with necessary means
and intelligently and vigorously adj
ministered, would be of great benefit to
those engaged in agriculture as we'll
as furnish to people of other states
seeking homes extensive information
of the products and possibilities of the
state. 1t is not a justification of the
repeal of the statute that in times
past, because of inadequate legislation,
statistics have been tardlly procured
and published. The farmers are en-
titled to a fair test of the system and
instead of repeating the most impor-
tant provision of the law and seriously
Gripping the department. in my judy
ment the laws relating thereto should
be amended and perfected so that the
data may be speedily obtained and
published. c. A. CULBERSON.