Tri-Weekly State Times. (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 1, No. 32, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 26, 1854 Page: 1 of 4
four pages : ill. ; page 19 x 14 in. Digitized from 35 mm. microfilm.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
TRI-WEEKLY STATE
VOL. 1.
AUSTIN, TEXAS, THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 1854.
NO 32
FIFTH LKGISLATl'RE.
DEBATES IN THE SENATE.
J. T. FLIST, Reporter.
• Tuesday, Dec. 6th.
The bill to be entitled An"act, to pro-
vide for the construction of the Missis-
sippi and Pacific railroad being before
the Senate upon its second reading,
Mr. POTTER moved to amend by
striking out all of the 8th section after
the word "property" in the 4th line, and
inserting the following:
"And the Governor, immediately af-
ter said contract shall have been entered
into, shall advertise by publishing thirty
days in some newspaper published in the
city of Austin; that books for the sub-
scription of stock in said company shall
be opened in said city of Austin at the
office of the Comptroller, on the first
Monday succeeding the expiration of
ing our citizens with respect to give them
an opportunity.
The amendment was rejected by a vote
of 15—15.
said thirty days; and on said first Mon-
day, the Governor shall cause books of
subscription for the stock of said com- they had been adopted, would have ena-
Thursday. Dec. 8th.
The bill to provide for the construc-
tion of the Mississippi and Pacific rail-
road being upon its final passage,
Mr. POTTER said—Mr. President:
The bill has now arrived at the stage
that I am well aware it will pass by a
large majority. Senators have indicated
its course so plainly that one could not
be mistaken and I should say nothing
more;, but I wish my position to be so de-
fined that gentlemen cannot mistake my
views.
I say now that I shall vote against the
bill as it now stands, but hope before the
legislature adjourns to vote for a Pacific
railroad bill, believing that we can so
frame one us to be less objectionable in
its features than the present one. When
this bill was upon its second reading, I
offered some amendments to it which if
pany to be opened at the office
Comptroller in said city, for the purpose
of receiving subscriptions of stock from
the citizens of Texas only and such books
shall be kept open for said purpose, for
the space of thirty days, and it shall be
the duty of the Governor to cause a
transcript of such subscription of stock
to be made and deposited in the archeives
of the State Department, and the re-
mainder of the stock not so taken by the
citizens of Texas, within the said thirty
days, may be subscribed for in such man-
ner and at such times and places as may
be prescribed in the by-laws of said
company; and all of the stock of the
company shall be issued and transferred
in such manner as may be prescribed in
the by-laws, and in the enactment of by-
laws, and the transactions of the busi-
ness * of the company, each share be
entitled to one vote, and stockholders
may vote by proxy."
Mr. POTTER—Mr. President: I
know not but that this amendment may
be looked upon with the same jealous
eve as was the amendment which I pro-
of the Í Wed us to develope the resources of the
State—would have enabled us to con-
truct the main branch roads which are
yet to connect the Gulf with the Pacific
road; but gentlemen professed to be af-
fraid of them. I cannot support a bill
which refuses a proposition so reasonable
as the one contained in those amendments,
when taken in connection with the policy
adopted for the construction of the Pa-
cific road.
Those amendments could not effect the
bill so as to defeat or even retard opera-
tions under it, if any company should
choose to undertake the construction of
the Pacific road. Their only object was
to carry out more fully the policy of this
bill, without which - it is partial and il-
liberal in its operation.
Viewing this system of legislation in
that light I cannot support it. When
was it ever heard of a State laying down
a policy for internal improvement that is
to effect the commercial interests of the
world, and at the same time declaring it
to be dangerous to engraft upon the law
that is to carry out that policy, a provis-
ion which will but make the policy more
* * ft. - , * , • 4 I lull xliCll Villi Ulil liidKt4 Hit- IJUIJC v llIOl C
viously offered, but be that as it may, as ftct ¡n devel ¡ thc a„ri^,lt¿.al and
rommovíMíil rpsonrnps of tlir* if
a representative of the people of " Texas,
r 1 -i commercial resources oí me oiuie. n
I conceive it my duty to offer such amend-,,^ . jg , fm ,be Pac¡fic roa(,
ments as I deem it important should be , ' n,v . .. Staf .
khy not for other poi
Why is it dangerous to perfect that poli-
cy ? I am willing to put the proposi-
tion contained in those amendments upon
engrafted upon the bill, and then it is
for Senators to say by their votes what
their fate shall be. The general opinion non contame<1 in ttlosc amcnuments upon
is that the profits upon the Pacific road the records.-I wish them to speak for
when constructed and in operation wilILu i,._ ,„i i it • i
, , . . x v. , themselves, and had 1 any political aspi-
be very large, and that this connected .• T J > i i -ir * i *■
VL V , n ' , . i , i rations 1 should be willing to go before
with the large donation of lands pronos- .i i i W
, . , s , 1 ! I the people upon such a proposition as
ed to. be made by the State, will render ¡ ^ , * •' nA i ,f 1 t ,
' 1 they contain, and ask them to judge
whether or not. I liad been influenced hv
the stock extremely valuable; now if
such is to be the result, it seems
to me that the people of Texas should
have the privilege of participating in
these benefits. I wish to legislate so
not to place the Antirp rtnntrnl nf thp
sectional motives in making it.
Again you are about to adopt a policy
, which is to construct a great road through
•w ! . .
, ! your State; you are granting extraordi-
¡ nary privileges for that- purpose—¡>
is, that policy which denies thc people of
Texas the right to invest even their small
pitance of capital, if they wish to ven-
ture it in this work,
When I proposed to put the sections
from Galveston and Matagorda or La-
vacca Bays, upon the same footing as the
great Pacific rout—it will be recollected
that I never took the position that I was
in favor of the extraordinary bonus that
was to be given, but that the State should
pursue the same policy in regard to those
sections of road, that she had deter-
mine upon in regard to the main section
of the Pacific road.
And unless we place the local roads
upon as favorable ¿footing as the Pa-
cific road, so far as the bonus is concern-
ed, we shall find that we have adopted a
most suicidal policy for the interest of
the State. I am free to say that I do
not believe the extraordinary bonus giv-
en by this bill necessary in order to in-
duce the construction of the road. The
argument made by thc Senator from
Travis (Mr. Sublett) in regard to this
extraordinary bonus is not satisfactory
to my mind. It is begging the question.
He makes the supposition that we have a
diamond hurried deep in the earth with-
out the possibility of getting it, without
giving three-fourth of its value for dig-
ging it out; then asks if it would not be
better for us to give the three-fourths,
than to let the diamond remain unrecov-
ered—after which he applies the argu-
ment to the policy which that bill compre-
hends of giving large donations to the
Pacific road.
Let us suppose that the diamond
could be recovered for one hundreth part
of its value; then would it be good poli-
cy to give the three-fourths of its value
instead of the one-hundreth part to se-
cure it? The gentleman to apply his ar-
gument at all, must first take it for gran-
ted that nothing short of twenty sections
per mile will induce the capitalist to un-
dertake the work, a conclusion to which
gentleman may honestly differ as to its
soundness—a conclusion which has ma-
ny circumstances militating against it—
principle one of which is the practica-
bility of the route above all others, next
to that, is the value that the lands which
we dónate will eventually be to the com-
pany, for in making their calculations of
the value of the donations which you
make they will ask themselves what will
be the value of those lands upon the
construction of the road, and not what
thpv now worth ? As to the practi-
value of her reserved lands. But a few
days since the gentleman from Anderson,
(Mr. Jowers) in making a report to this
body declared "that it was bad policy for
the State to hold her lands at a high
price over the heads of her citizens/"
His views must have changed somewhat
or how could he expect the State to be
so much the gainer by the increased val-
ue of her lands ? There is a bill already
before this body which provides that
those land shall be sold at one dollar per
acre. It is an indication of what the ac-
tion of the State will be in regard to them.
They will be disposed of at a small price
per acre, just so sure as they are set a
part and their disposal left to future leg-
islation. Those lands will be settled
upon, and the settlers will have their rep-
resentatives upon this floor, and the ar-
gument will be that "it is not good poli-
cy in thc State to hold her lands at a
high price over the heads of her citizens,"
that thc wealth of the citizen is the
wealth of the State—that the State
could never rent those lands to realize
anything, and therefore they will be sure
to go at a small price, without creating
the fund for the state which gentlemen
have made so many calculations upon.
DEBATES IN THE HOUSE.
W. F. WEEKS, Reporter.
. i 1 ,, „ - ... . , nary privileges io
toad, as well as all interest in it beyond th l, that tbe ,vork wben C(miplete(1
the reach of the people of Texas; and as ; w¡11 be inmlcnseI,^profitable to the corn-
representatives ol the people, I believe ; that can.it4 it out t bv voul.
it our duty so to do. It makes no dif- ¡ reje^i()I1 of another illnell,lment whichS
terence whether tUey choose to exercise : ,-ou deny t0 tbe peop]e of
that privilege or not, the principle is the ; St.ltc al| ri ht t¿ control or t0 have
.-ame so far as justice and policy arc con-1 infor„,ti in ;t. Nn mattul. b))W .irofitaW;
that
tiilro
the stock in that road may be, you have
excluded your citizens from taking any
of it. That is another proposition
which Iain willing to put upon the re-
r nril«. It is there, and 1 ¡un willing that
cerned, and I have no doubt but
many of our citizens would wish to
stock in this great enterprise.
It is stated in most of the public prints
of the day, and by many confidently be-
lieved, that some of the companies which J it should remain.
have been forming for the ostensible pur- I believe the grounds which L have
pose of building a railroad to the Pacific taken are matters of great State policy,
are founded upon no real capital—that [Firstly. You have referred a proposi-
their object is to carry out a grand scheme ; tion to carry out and perfect the very
of speculation. We do not, know but i nolicy which you have adopted for the
are ^ —
cability of this route there is no ques-
tion: in regard to the cost of construc-
ting a road upon it, if. we take Mr. Mc-
Alpin's estimate, it will be $39,000,000,
—Mr. Marcy makes in §-31,000.000,
while the estimated cost of a road upon
the northern route is §125,000,000. If
the bonus required to be given must be so
great to induce the capitalist to choose
the route through Texas where the road
will cost but §31,000,000 or at the high-
est estimate §39,000,000; how are
northern men to induce capitalist to
choose their route at an estimated cost of
§125,000,000? Would the capitalist
put down three dollars there where he
could make the same profit by investing
one here? I have never heard of a cap-
italist acting so regardless of his inter-
ests. In view of these facts I cannot
believe that the large bonus of lands to
be given by this bill is necessary to in-
duce the capitalist to undertake the con-
struction of the road on this route.
Gentlemen ask much of the State of
! Texas, acknowledging as they do the
i work to be a great national enterprise,
! as well as one of much interest to the
. r| nmw.;vu.m.v -««- State. But I wish it to be understood
2 hat this is true. At all events we should j construction of the Pacific road. Sec- j that the bonus proposed tobe given is
be jealous of our own interests. It j ondly. You have denied the people of ¡ not the reason for mv votin>r tlw
seems to me that we are nursuii:<r a verv ! 'IVysw tho riírht til i'ontrol that road or ; litll
Tuesday, Dec. 13, {continued.)
Mr. STAPP—I do not rise, Mr..Speak-
er, for the purpose of giving the House
such a talk as that with which we have
just been favored by the gentleman from
Harris. But I wish to say a very few
words in reply to some of the remarks in
which he has indulged on this occasion.
I am the last map to oppose the great
cause which that gentleman has advocat-
ed with so much fervor, and in relation
to which he has displayed a knowledge of
statistics to which I can lay no claim. I
profess to be, sir, and I think I am a friend
of education, although, and perhaps to
some extent, because I have been raised
upon the frontier, and have never enjoy-
ed the benefits even of a common school
education.
I offered that amendment, Mr. Speak-
er, without any such intention as that im-
puted to me. The gentleman from Har-
ris says that I endeavored to forestall
the action of the House. Now, sir, this
recalls to my mind the occasion of the in-
troduction of the substitute, and the hur-
ried manner in which its reference was
forced to the committee. I had an amend-
ment written out, and tried to get it be-
fore the House, that it might go to the
committee with the substitute; but on
that occasion the gentleman forestalled
Tt is not. my intention at, this time
~ ^ r "r> ' J Wiiv i N *
dangerous policy if we do not legislate have any voice or hand in it for all fu-
so as to let the people of Texas have ¡ ture time.
something to say in this matter. Let a ¡ Mr. KYLE asked if he (Mr. Potter,)
foreign company have the entire control had not the right to take stock and with
of this project through Texas, and what others, form accompany to build the road
will they say to one of our citizens who as^well as those who live out of the State
may wish to get an interest in it. V It | under the provisions of the bill.
will be go your way, we want nothing of ¡ Mr. POTTER continued.-Yes sir; but
you! We have got entire control of the i it is well known that no company could
road and intend to keep it! Yes that | be raised with sufficient capital in this
lhat will be the answer we shall receive, j State to carry out a work of that mag-
It may be that there is not a man in Tex- j nitude; and it is for that reason that you
as who will wish to take stock in that are offering large donations to invite
road: but I think it would be but treat- capital from abroad. What I condemn
A
rain I
til of
v although I cannot
vote for this bill, still I hope to have an
opportunity to vote for a Pacific railroad
bill before this legislature adjourns: one
which will be more liberal in its policv,
and beneficial in its results.
A word now in reply to Senators
Paschal, Jowers and others, who have
told you that as a matter of pecuniary
advantage % the State we had bet-
ter give forty or even eighty sections
of land to the mile of road, than not
to get it, because they say the State will
be amplv remunerated in the increased
me.
to imitate the gentleman's example by
forestalling the action of this House.
He said that amendment was on a lit-
tle piece of paper, not as large as his
thumb. It seems to me that the size of
the piece of paper must have a great deal
to do with the matter, so long as it con-
tains the substance of the amendment.—
Perhaps I had no more at the time. I
have seen a good many vouchers filled,
for the purpose of getting claims audited,
and have filed a good many myself. I
had one discharge to present, which was
givey on'a little piece of paper, not larger
than his thumb, with the other side writ-
ten on, for it was a piece of a letter, the
only paper to be had in the army at the
time it was given; and when I showed it
to the Auditor, he said it was the best
voucher ever filed in the office. Now, sir.
■ in my opinion, the amendment 1 handed
up was, perhaps, fully as good as the sub-
j stitute introduced by the gentleman from
t Harris, although there may have been
no great display of paper.
He says that he wishes me to meet
this question fairly. I am willing to say
to him, that if he wishes to set aside two
1 millions of dollars for any other purpose
' than that of paying the public debt of
I Texas, 1 will vote against it—if for liqui-
; dating our just liabilities, I will vote for
it. And I am willing that every con-
; stituent of mine and every citizen of
¡ Texas should know that fact. Never will
I vote to set apart one single cent now in
our public treasury for any other purpose,
until the public debt is paid.
["Here Mr. PALMER inquired if th
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Ford, John S. Tri-Weekly State Times. (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 1, No. 32, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 26, 1854, newspaper, January 26, 1854; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth181734/m1/1/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.