Tri-Weekly State Times. (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 1, No. 6, Ed. 1 Friday, November 25, 1853 Page: 1 of 4
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TRI-WEEKLY STATE TIMES.
YOL. 1.
CITY OF AUSTIN, TEXAS, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1853.
NO. 6.
FIFTH LEGISLATURE.
DEBATES IN THE SENATE.
J. T. FLDIT, Reporter.
Morning Session. Nov. 19,1853.
Under the orders of the day, the bill
entitled an«ct to reduce into one act
and to amend the several acts granting
to settlers on vacant public domain,
pre-emption privilege.-, with rrport of
committee and amendment recommen-
ded, came op. The amendment offer-
ed by the committee was adopted.
Mr. Durst offered an amendment to
the 4th section of the bill.
The question was then upon its ad-
option.
MR. LOTT—
Mr. President: I understand by that
amendment that the actual settler on
the public domain, is to receive 320
acres by merely paying fees of office,
instead of the 160 named in the bill by
paying fees of office, and 160 more if
the settler chooses, by paying 25 cents
per acre for it.
ME. McANELLY—
Mr. President: That bill is of no lit-
tle importance, and therefore I would
like to have an opportunity to examine
it a little more than I have had, before
I vote upon it. We have one bill after
another for land, all crying give ! give!!
give!!! and we are continually giving.
For my part, I wish to know the rea-
son why we are giving so much ? and
I must know, before I can vote for the
bill. We once bad a vast public do-
main Ms true, but by successively giv-
ing and giving, we have nearly given
it all away—and what is the conse-
quence ?
Why, .we once had 900,000.000 of
acres of public domain ; we now have
but 1M2,000,000, and that is becoming
less and less everv day.
ME. JOWERS—
Mr. President: If the gentleman
from Harris will make any motion by
which we can discuss the merits of the
bill, and examine the provisions which
are obnoxious to him, we can perhaps
dispose of it, or order it to be engros-
sed to-day.
ME. McANELLY—
Mr. President: 1 move to refer to
the committee on public lands.
ME. HOLLAND—
Mr. President: It has been referred
to that committee once, and their report
is now before you. I do not see that
any good will be accomplished bj re-
committing the bill.
¿JIB. LÓTT-
<l0Mr. President: My opinion accords
Jth the gentleman from Panola. I
eeanot see the object of referring the
t iff back to the committee again; that
ourse will not facilitate business.
Gentlemen complain of not understand-
ing the object of the bill fully. Why
should they not understand it ? It has
been before the Senate for two weeks,
ánd every one could have had an op-
portunity to examine it in that time ;
every member of this Senate could
■lave been now prepared to vote under-
Standingly. The gentleman from Har-
ris has said that it has been give, and
$Ve, on the part of the State for the
fifteen years. Admit it; and still
can be demonstrated that those who
ave received lands, have not been the
Jgrty ones who have profited by it. Tex
¿s has given lands, and in thus giving
•be has received mnch benefit. She
may well continue to give to the actual
settler. Her giving, so far from impo v-
erisbing the State, has been a source
of revenoe; has invited the industrious
and enterprising man to come within
her limits; though poor, his industry
has reclaimed a portion of ifcs vacant
and wild domain, making many happy
homes; has added to the taxable pro-
perty of the State. Many, very many
have come into the State, and are now
enjoying the benefit* of former pre-
emption laws. And have they not ad-
ded to the wealth and prosperity of the
State T If it be doubted whether the
pre-emption law has had much effect
«pon the settle ment of the State, go to
the General Land Office, and there you
will find that thousands of pre-emption
elaims have been returned to it, and
we know by actual settlers, as the set-
tler is obliged to live three years on
the land to secure his claim to it. It
seems to me that the bill is so framed
a. to Drooerh guard the intermits of the
State ; and the fact that the settles has
to reside upon the land for three years
before getting a patent, would seem to
secure a permanent improvement up-
on it. This bill will be the means of
settling up a portion of our State ; of
helping to reclaim the vacant domain ;
of settling up portions of land not of
the first quality, now among the old
settlements, and which has been refus-
ed by the man of means, but which
many á poor and industrious man
would gladly settle upon and make a
home there. Would we add to the
prosperity of the State, let us encour-
age settlements by every means in our
power. What we want to develop
our resources, is the industrious and
thrifty farmer, and the capitalist. This
bill is not for the capitalist, who is
willing to pay for a convenient loca-
tion as well as rich lands among the
settlements, but for that meritorious
class of settlers, who are willing to go
upon the frontier, and make their liv-
ing by the sweat of their brow. Much
of the land among the old settlements
which has heretofore bepn considered
worth nothing, will be taken up; and
small tracts of good land, which could
not have been located without taking
too much poor land with them, will he
settled upon by the pre-emptioner, and
thus he as well as the State will be
mutually benefitted. The bill now'be-
fore us is such an one as ought to satis-
fy this Senate, and the people through-
out the State. I am satisfied that it
will receive the approbation of the peo-
ple. I trust the bill will not be re-
ferred.
MR. NEWMAN—Mr. President: It
is not my wish to consume the time of
the Senate in an argument upon this
bill. H is true that I introduced it, be-
lieving, as 1 do, that its effects would
be salutary, in helping the poor and in-
dustrious settler to a home. I thought
that by this time it must be understood
by every gentleman upon this floor. 1
cannot look upon the course which gen-
tlemen are pursuing in regard to the
bill in any other light but that of their
opposition to it, therefore I feel it my
duty to say somehing' in its defence —
We believe that it is the policy of the
State to give land to actual settlers who
will improve it,—that by doing so she
adds to her prosperity, multiplies her
resources, and increases her taxable
property. The supplement to the old
law gives a patent to 320 acres to the
actual settler, after residing three years
upon the land and paying patent office
and surveyors fees, and also $20 into
the General Land Office. This bill
provides in one clause that the actual
settler shall receive, after residing three
years upon the land, a patent from the
State for 160 acres, upon paying noth-
ing more than office and patent fees;
another clause compels the pre-emp-
tioner to take all the vacant land around
him hounded by other surveys, provid-
ed it do not exceed 320 acres; in anoth-
er clause the pre-emptioner is compel-
led to pay 25 cents per acre for all of
his pre-emption lands exceedi ng 160
acres granted him by the payment of
office and patent fees, and not exceed-
ing in all 320 acres, thus giving an ac-
tual settler 160 acres upon payment of
office and patent fees, aud also 160 acres
more by paying 25 cents per acre for it
at the Land Office. I am not willing
for one to give away the public lands
to this scheme, and that scheme, until
they are all given away, without doing
something for the poor and industrious
man who would gladly improve a home,
but at the same time has not the means
to buy one. The amendment proposed
by the gentleman I believfc would give
320 acres to the actual settler after three
years residence, upon his paying office
and patent fees. I think 160 acres is
enough, and if a man wants more let
him pay for it. as provided in the bill.
My aim is to assist the extremely poor
man in 5 hmrip Thpro ic nntv \-unc* n 1
another, nor can he sell and givea good
title without the consent of his wife.
MR. JOWERS—Mr. President: I
arise merely to explain the provisions
of the bill, for the benefit of those who
we:e not upon the Committee on Pub-
lic Lands, and who do not fully under-
stand it. . In the first, place, the bill re-
peals all other and former acts upon the
subject of pre-emptions ; and in their
stead, as the Senator who has just tak-
en his seat has remarked, it proposes
to give a patent to the actual settler for
160 acres of land after three years resi-
dence upon ir, upon his paying office
and patent fees; if an individual wants
more than 160 acres oí land, it provides
that he may take another 160 acres at
25 cents per acre, by paying the money
to the Commissioner of the General
Land Office with patent fee, which
will bring $40 into the Treasury; by
another provision of that b 11 the pre-
emptioner is obliged to take all the
lands around him bounded by other sur-
veys, provided it does not exceed 320
acre*. It' is well known that in the
eastern portion of the Stite there are
lands .which, if a man has money in his
pocket, he does not think worth 1(J
cents per acre, but w hich would be rea-
dily taken up by the poor man with a
family, and who had no money to pay
for land, if the State would give it to
him upon his paying fees ot office and
patent fees. A man of capital does not
hesitate to pay $10 or $12 per acre for
rich lands, and a good and convenient
location to a town or market, where he
can enjoy the advantages of schools
and churches. The man with limited
means cannot compete with him for
choice locations and the advantages
above named, he must go upon the fron-
tier and take a pre-emption if the law
gives him one; if he does not do that, he
takes up land in the old settlements
which have been refused for the last ten
or fifteen years; and who would hesi-
tate to give them to him, \f with his in-
dustry he can make a home and sup-
port for his family upon them. It is
said that we are last giving away the
lands of the State, and that in the fu-
ture we ought to husband them for
works of internal improvement. Very
well; but is there any Senator upon this
floor who will vote against the bill be-
fore us, because it puts it in the power
of the poor man to secure a small tract
of land, from which he can by hard in-
dustry derive support lor his family and
means to educate his children ; because
it puts him in a position tc acquire a
competency, and which he could not
get otherwise. I recolhct that a few
months before the passage of the pre-
emption* law of 1845,1 was travelling
through Alabama, Georgia, North and
South Carolina. I saw many poor but
industrious people who had no lands of
their own. After I got home. I sent a
copy of the act to seme friends there,
with the request that they would pub-
lish it. They did so, and some of those
poor men whicn I saw in those old
States are good citizens in this now,
enjoying the benefits of the pre emption
law. Has the State of Texas lost by it?
No, sir; she has gained,—she has made
by it acquisitions both in population
and wealth. 1 saw in South Carolina
old men who had never been allowed
to vote for a Senator, because they had
not been able to own fifty acres of land,
a property qualification being necessa-
ry to entitle one to the right of suffrage.
I met some from that State, and some
from Alabama and Georgia on their
way to this; they were hard working
citizens; they were hewers of wood and
drawers of water, and their children
will be so, for they are brought up to
work. To such men 1 would give the
right of pre-emption; such men I wouid
enable to get homes for their families
and a competence in old age. Texas
has now one hundred and two millions
of acres of public domain. Wiil she
not crant 160 acres to the poor and in-
*-• MVI 10 IIV W livuo * j «1VTV ^ I uill. • V" «V* ~ v ~
land in my section that I am not willing j dustrious man who is willing to settle
to work, but which if improved would j down upon it? Some will say. for I
make very comfortable homes; and the; have heard it asserted, that we are brinir-
poor man who i<* ivillinw tn «it dnwn in*7 a clhss of Dopulation within
upon them with his six or eight child-
Mrt- ffor vou know that it thp. ooor
...0 r.r our
State that we do not want—that it is
the caoitalist which we should seek to
1 \ AIIUW tlicit It 13 l&IC (JUUI , ll*e td|ill01IOt nuiuis — — .w
man's luck to have children,) to assist | induce to come here. Let us provide
him, might make a comfortable sup-: a home for the poor man coming to the
port and do something towards educa-1 State, for the rich man will provide one
ting them. This law has another good for himself. I care not how poor the
By it a man can take but one man is. erive him 160 acres of land if he
pre-emption, so if he sells his right to
one taken, he cannot move to another
portion of the public domain and take
•-7 ©• * v ~ — —
will settle upon and improve it. This
bill before us is just such a bill as T
shall be pleased to see pass.
MR. POTTER—
Mr. President: 1 have not had, like
Senator McAnelly, an opportunity to
examine the bill before us. I did not
not know when it was first introduced,
that it repealed all former pre-emption
acts. I do not say that I am opposed
to the bill, but I am disposed at pres-
ent to think that I cannot be in favor of
selling the residue 160 acres, after giv-
ingf 160 of the pre emption of 320, at
25 cents per acre, for that would be
fixing a kind of standard price upon
our public lands, which I do not like
and could not concur in. If it is simi-
lar to other bills now in force upon the
subject of pre-emption, I do not say
that I shall opppse it, but I do wish to
understand it fully before voting.
Mr. Potter then moved to lay the bill
on the table until monday, at 11 o'clock,
making it the special order of the day.
After some remarks by Messrs. Mc-
Anelly and Paschal, Mr. Potter with-
drew his motion, whereupon Mr. Pas-
chal moved that the bill be laid upon
the table, and made the special order oí
the day for Wednesday at 11 o'clock,
and that 200 copies of the bill be order-
ed to be printed in the mean time.
The motion was carried.
An act to prevent vice and immoral-
ity on the Sabbath, with report from
Judiciary Committee, being before the
Senate,
Mr. Sublett moved that the bill be
indefinitely postponed, but afterwards
withdrew it at the request of Mr. Hoi-
land.
A motion was then made to refer it
to a Select Committee.
MR. McANELLY—
Mr. President: I am in hopes that it
will not be referred. I do not think it
worth while to take up the time of the
Senate with such a bill as this. If we
had the Blue Laws of Connecticut here,
we might about as well enact them.
If it is in order, I will move to post-
pone indefinitely.
Motirn made to adjourn—and lost.
MR. GUINN—
Mr. President: In reply to the gen-
tleman from Harris, I would say that
if there is any honor or dishonor con-
ferred upon any one by introducing that
bill, it is to be attached to myself. I
introduced it, believing that it might
have a salutary effect in many portions
of our State. All I ask is to have the
bill fairly examined, and disposed of
by this Senate ; and then, if this body
decide that it shall not becoms a law.
I will,have discharged my duty to my
constituents and done justice to my
own feelings. A bill of similar nature
to this is loudly called for by my con-
stituents, and upon the stump I pledged
myself that if no other member of the
legislature would introduce such a law,
I would ; and having introduced it, I
feel it my duty to exercise all the abili-
ty which 1 have in its support. If that
bill encroaches upon the rights and lib-
erties of the people, condemn it; for I
am not in favor of any bill that will
encroach upon their rights and liber-
ties ; but if it does not. and will in some
| slight degree throw a check upon the
i flood of immorality now in our State,
then let it pass. Í do hope that gen-
tlemen will give the bill a fair and im-
partial chance for its passage.
MIL WREN—
Mr. President: I am very sorry to
see the Senator from Harris so hostile
to this bill. 1 think that it is a bill de-
serving a candid exarpina'ion—a bill at
least possessing some degree of merit.
11 think that the time has arrived when
. a bill of this kind has become neces-
i sary to arrest the immorality which
! is flooding our lovely State. If the gen-
| tleman's motion prevails, and the bill
j is finally lost, a similar bill to this one
cannot be entertained again during this
session ; therefore I ask gentlemen to
give the bill a fair chance to pass off
on its merits. Has not 'he time arriv-
ed in Texas when vice and immorality
! should be suppressed by the enaction
ot wholesome prohibitory laVl-s, if it
can be done by no other means? It
seems to me that it has; and it is a
pleasure to me to know that I am not
j alone in that opinion; that I have the
! honor of representing a large and res
! pectable constituency whose opinions
are the same with mine. It has been
urged heretofore that the time had not
arrived for the enacting of a measure
of this kind ; that the legi>lature is a
creature of the people, and before they
can enact a measure of doubtful poli-
cy, there must first be an expression of
the people through tiie ballot-box or
otherwise, in favor of it. Admit all
that. Bu^ the time has arrived when
the people are asking for the passage
of a law similar in its features to tho
one before*us. In my section of th*
country it is loudly called for. The
gentleman from Harris has spoken of
the Blue Laws of Connecticut, and
would endeavor to draw an invidious
comparison between them and the bill
which is now before ycu; but let me
say that if it even took the Blue Laws
of Connecticut to suppress the vice
and immorality which is sadly preval-
ent in our4and, I would say enact them,
or even the bluest laws in the world ;
for we are not striking a blow at a
man's rights, but at his vices and im-
morality. What is the moral charac-
ter cf Texas? Better at least than
most of the new States; her legisla-
ture has the name of being the most
moral assembly of any of the new
States ; her legislation going on with
the most decorum ; yet notwithstand-
ing all that, we see that a portion of
the people are continually encroaching
upon the rights of thfe moral part of
the citizens. I am not particularly in
favor of this bill alone, but would ad-
vocate any one similar in its provisions;
still I hope gentlemen will give it a fair
chance, and if it is objectionable in
some of its features, let it be amended.
MR. HART—
Mr. President: 1 do not know that
I shall vote for the bill, but I am dis-
posed not to treat it so uncerimonious-
ly as the gentleman from Harris. I
would give the friends of it a fair chanca
to pass it.
MR. McANELLY—
Mr. President: I had no thought of
drawing out a discussion on the bill
when I made that motion, therefore
I will withdraw it.
Upon motion of Mr. Holland, the
bill and report were referred to a select
committee.
DEBATES IN THE HOUSE.
W. F. WEEKS, Reporter.
Monday, Nov. 21,1853.
MR. HORD moved a re considera-
tion of the vote which had been taken
upon the con tested election in the coun-
ty of Walker.
He said he had undergone no change
of opinion himself in relation tq the
matter, and believed the conclusion ar-
rived at by the committee, and ex-
pressed in their report, to be entirely
correct. But he made the motion be-
cause the resolution had not been dis*
cussed at the time, and he had under-
stood that the friends of Judge Crabb,
the contesting party, desired to be heard
upon the subject.
MR. BOURLAND moved tolaythe
motion on the table fojr the present.—
The motion was lost, and the ayes and
noes were called for on the reconside-
ration.
MR. CRAWFORD of Washington,
when bis name was called, said: As
one of the Committee on Privileges and
Elections, to whom this subject was re-
ferred, 1 feel unwilling that the House
should be troubled with it any longer.
It was thoroughly discussed before that
committee, and their opinion was al-
most unanimous. All the points relied
upon by Judge Crabb and his attorneys
are embodied in the report submitted
to the House. The only question in-
volved was the constitutional one.
MR. DARDEN: Could I be satisfied
that any subject matter would come be-
fore the House by this means that was
not fully considered by the committee,
1 would cheerfully accede to the wishes
of the friends of the contesting party.—
But as 1 see no reason to think so, I
shall vote no.
MR. FIELDS: Though I considered
myself for many reasons compelled to
vote for the adoption of the report, lam
willing to vote for the reconsideration,
in ordfer to give Judge Crabb an op-
portunity to bring the matter more ful-
ly before the House. I vote aye.
MR. MARSHALL: If any reasona-
ble expectation could be entertained of
thus arriving at any different result, I
should be not only willing but anxious
to give Judge Crabb this opportunity.
But as it appears to be pretty well set.
tied that it would work no change in
the opinion of the House, I shall vote
no.
MR- PALMER: It Will he afhnn««•
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Ford, John S. Tri-Weekly State Times. (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 1, No. 6, Ed. 1 Friday, November 25, 1853, newspaper, November 25, 1853; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth181710/m1/1/: accessed May 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.