San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-03-13
STRAIGHT TALK IN THE SENATE

Senator Writ of Seguin distinguished
himself second time since he became
member of the Texas Legislature when
he stood upon the floor of the upper
chamber, in the presence of Governor
Neff, and charged that the states chief
executive had employed coercive means
of getting one of his pet measures en-
acted Thus did the Guadalupe county
man display kind of courage which
has not been any too conspicuous among
the Lawmakers OF this state during the
last few years. 1t was a more enviable
distinction than Senator Writ gained
earlier in the session, when he attracted
attention by his almost invariably mega
tive vote on proposed new laws.
He explained to newspaper correspon-
dents that in his campaign he had prom
ised his constituents that he would in
troduce no bills and would vote mo"
on most of those to be introduced by
other members OF the Legislature. THE
LIGHT expressed the opinion, at the
time, that Senator Writ could turn his
power to better use than that of mere
ly saying NO." although his passively
negative attitude would almost certain
ly average up" in the peoples interest.
Perhaps he demonstrated to himself
the value of active, dynamic statesman
ship when he inveighed against attempts
to interfere with the free expression of
the Senate's own will. Governor Neff
may have been innocent in this case.
| One might easily think so if all that
he did to "coerce" the lawmakers was
to stride into the Senate chamber and
take a seat among them. Kings used
to ''pull'' that sort of "stuff" in olden
days; the royal presence was supposed
to, and sometimes did, have an intimi-
dating effect upon men who were on the
point of acting contrary to his majesty's
wishes
But if Governor Neff can coerce the
Senate merely by attending its proceed
ings, the members of that body would
have to submit to the suspicion that
they lack the courage OF their convic-
tons in an uncommonly high degree.
Perhaps Senator Writ had something
else in mind when he accused the gov
ernor of attempting coercion.
However, the speech might we'll have
been aimed at phase of Governor
Neff's official disposition which he has
displayed publicly more>than once. He
tried to compel the Legislature of his
first administration. to do his bidding,
after it had shown by an overwhelm-
ing vote that it did not agree with him
in certain matters. a week or so ago
it was reported that the governor had
strongly lntimated that he would use
"the whip" on the legislators if they
should fail to enact revenue measures
TO suit him.
So, regardless of whether Senator
Wirtz's accusation had any reasonable
basis OF truth with respect to the par
ticular occasion upon which it was made
: it may have served the good PURPOSE
of delivering to Governor Neff meas
ure of what was coming to him OF
account of his general relations with thu
r lawmakers.
The quo warranto bill was within itsel
t measure of coercion, irrespective o
any attempt that may have been made t
t force its passage. In that measure Gov
t error Neff undertook to achieve an en-
: concerning which he got into troubl
i with the Legislature during his frs
v term. BY its vote against Ms propose
c that the governor be empowered to re
r move local officers for failure to dis