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GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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CAPITOL AT AUSTIN
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HISTORY OF TEXAS
FORT WORTH
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TEXAS NORTHWEST EDITION
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EDITED BY CAPT. B. B. PADDOCK
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VOLUME II
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY CHICAGO AND NEW YORK
1922
COPYRIGHT, 1922 THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
(Sent) 5828-
Fort Worth and The Texas Northwest
CHAPTER XXXIV 1157722 AFTER WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION
The injurious influence of radical rule did not end with the termi- nation of the Davis administration, nor was it limited to the laws that were placed by them on the statute books. It had prepared the ways for a reaction which placed in the ascendancy the most conservative element of the Democratic party at a time when moderation and prudence should have prevailed. The latter went to extremes in its efforts to re-establish its ascendancy and by attempting to return to the elementary govern- ment, the small public expenditures and the laissez faire policy that pre- vailed before the war.
In his inaugural address Governor Coke said :
"Today for the first time since she emerged from the ruin and disaster of the great Civil war, Texas sees the inauguration in her Capital of a government chosen by the free and untrammeled suffrage of her people, having their confidence and looking to them for sup- port and accountability. Let the heart of the patriot throb with joy, for the old landmarks of constitutional representative government, so long lost, are this day restored, and the ancient liberties of the people of Texas reestablished. The virtue and intelligence of the country, no longer ostracised, now wield their legitimate influence and the government of Texas henceforth is to be administered in the interest and for the benefit of the people, and to reflect their will."
These words were spoken while the authority of the governor was still contested by his predecessor. Before this program could be carried out, it was necessary for the democrats to obtain control of the govern- ment in all its departments. The legislature was already in their hands. The various radical state officers, like the governor, maintained their positions as long as possible, and when ousted left everything in the utmost confusion, requiring much time and labor on the part of their successors to obtain a correct knowledge of affairs. The local and mu- nicipal officers throughout the state, acting in sympathy with and tak- ing courage from the boldness of the leaders at the Capitol, refused for a time to deliver over to their lawfully elected successors the offices in their possession. Thus a universal conflict of jurisdiction and author- ity, extending through all the departments of the government, embrac- ing in its sweep all the territory and inhabitants of the state, and every question upon which legitimate government is called to act, was imminent and impending. (Message of Governor Coke, January 12, 1875.)
Reform in the judiciary was made possible in part by an amendment which had been adopted at the recent election, increasing the number of supreme court judges from three to five. Its effect was to bring to a close the terms of the judges, composing "the semi-colon court." An
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entirely new branch was appointed, with O. M. Roberts as chief justice. The displacement of certain district judges was affected in a different manner.
"The members of the legislature had hardly got settled in their seats before an extraordinary movement was made which was per- haps never before exhibited in any legislative body of Texas. Reso- lution after resolution was offered day after day, for the purpose of removing district judges from office, by an 'address,' which remedy had been provided in the constitution. Very soon there were as many as seven such resolutions, and there were more afterwards. The judges sought to be removed were located in districts in different parts of the state. The complaints made against them were different against different judges. Some of them were for physical disability, others for legal incapacity, and some for malfeasance of various kinds amounting to arbitrary dereliction of duty, others for legal op- pression, and others for the exercise of partiality on political grounds. * * * Some of them were removed and a few were not." (Roberts, in Comprehensive History of Texas," II, 211.)
NEW CONSTITUTION
The prospects of an early change of constitutions exercised a restrain- ing influence on the legislatures of 1874 and 1875; they confined their attention mainly to matters that did not permit of delay. Besides mak- ing the reforms in the judiciary already described, acts were passed to improve the credit of the state, for suppressing lawlessness and for pro- tecting the frontier. More attention to these acts will be given further on.
Efforts were made during the session of the Legislature in 1874 to call a constitutional convention, but wiser counsel prevailed and the call was postponed. The state was not in condition financially to add the expense of a convention, but the chief reasons were far weightier and were summarized as follows in a message of Governor Coke, March 16, 1874 :
"Constitution-making is a work greatly different from what it formerly was in Texas. Our social and our labor systems and, in some degree, our political system have changed fundamentally. We hardly yet appreciate the extent and import of the changes our- selves. These changes are going on and will continue. New popula- tion, with new ideas, are filling the country ; new industries are springing up. Enterprise and rapid movement is the order of the day. Associated capital in the hands of corporations, so imperatively necessary to our development on the one hand and so dangerous on the other, finds an extensive field for operation in Texas. We have 40,000 unenlightened black voters, natural followers, in their simplicity and ignorance, of the unscrupulous trickster and dem- agogue, in some portions of Texas largely outnumbering the whites, and have equal privileges with them at the ballot box and in the jury box. From these and other facts which might be stated, that exist among us now, with which our people are scarcely yet familiar. questions must present themselves to be dealt with by the framers of
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our organic law which should be gravely and most maturely con- sidered. The new constitution should be adapted to our changed social, political and industrial condition, and to the growing and changing condition of our society and the different elements and interests which constitute it. To make such a constitution, we should have a clear conception of Texas as she is, and as she will be. If the people of Texas will take time, and give mature deliberations to the problems of government, now for the first time confronting them, which must be solved in the formation of a new constitution, I have no fear of the wisdom of their conclusion. But I do confess to fears of the result of hasty and precipitate action."
It should be remembered, too, that when these words were spoken the Federal Government was still supporting through the presence of United States troops the carpet bag governments of Louisiana and Florida. A year later the governor reverted to the subject of a constitutional con- vention in the following words, taken from his general message :
"In its incongruous, repugnant and heterogeneous provisions, it (the constitution of 1869) faithfully reflected the extraordinary character of the assembly, and the disordered times which produced it. Necessity forced it on the people of Texas. * * * Prudence
and policy prompted submission to it. * * * No reason exists now for longer submitting to it. The causes, which one year ago rendered it imprudent to call together a constitutional convention, have ceased to exist. * We no longer fear Federal inter- ference; we are not hampered with financial embarrassment; the popular mind is free from passion or excitement, and views the great questions to be solved through no discolored medium; and last, but not least, for twelve months past the thinking men of the State have been studying and investigating the subjects to be dealt with in framing a constitution, and are now ready to act."
He suggested that the convention be composed of ninety delegates. This number was embodied in the joint resolution approved March 13, 1875, and the first Monday in August was fixed as the date for the election. The people were to vote for or against holding the convention and at the same time choose delegates. Some disliked the optional feature of holding the convention, fearing that the opposition might rally sufficient strength to defeat it. The vote for holding the convention numbered 69,583 to 30,549 against holding it. The convention assembled at Austin. September 6th, and adjourned November 24, 1875.
The constitution of 1876 contains some striking changes from that of 1869. To insure a reduction in the expenditures of the state govern- ment and to limit the powers of the various state officers, so that even should the radicals again come into power they would be effectually held in check, appear to have been of such concern to the members of the convention that they neglected other matters of great importance.
"Under a mistaken impression as to the causes of high taxation, attention has heretofore been given to curtailing the expenses of state administration, and the real cause, which is to be found in local ad- ministration, has been overlooked." (Coke's Message, April 19, 1876.) Cities of 10,000 population were allowed a maximum rate of taxation
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for the support of municipal government 212 per cent. The fee system was retained to pay for the services of local officials. In many other particulars the Constitution was unsatisfactory. Although the work of a democratic body, the party withheld its endorsement at the state conven- tion, and Governor Coke pointed out its numerous defects in his message of April 19, 1876.
The limit on the number of representatives in the Legislature was raised to 150, while that of the Senate was retained at thirty-one. The sessions were changed from annual to biennial. Where there had been no limit on the length of the session heretofore, the length of regular sessions with full pay was now limited to sixty days, and of adjourned and special sessions to thirty days. The maximum salary of members of the Legislature was fixed at five dollars per day. Of the nineteen Legislatures that have assembled since the adoption of this constitution only two held sessions which did not exceed sixty days-the thirty-first and the thirty-second, and they were re-convened in extra session. In fact, there have been only four Legislatures (the fifteenth, nineteenth, twenty-first and twenty-third) which have not been called in extra session. The bill of rights was deemed inadequate as a protection of individual rights against legislation ; consequently there were appended to the legislative department additional requirements and limitations, in sixteen sections, "some of which had a number of distinct clauses, and all of which were intended to be specific restrictions, either upon legislation itself or upon the manner of it, and applied to a large number of subjects previously open to general legislation."
The governor's term of office was reduced to two years, and his salary from $5,000 to $4,000 per annum. The governor's appointive power was greatly restricted by making nearly all officers elective, and by requiring the consent of the Senate to all other appointments. A further limitation was placed upon his power by dividing the execu- tive powers among the officers composing the executive department, namely, the governor, lieutenant-governor, secretary of state, comptroller, treasurer, commissioner of the general land office and attorney general. Each of these is the governor's equal in matters confided to him, and since all except the secretary of state are elective, it may easily happen that the different executive heads hold widely divergent views on matters of public policy. Authoritative unity in the executive department of our state government has not been provided for. Finally, "the constitution enjoins upon the governor that 'he cause the laws to be faithfully ex- ecuted,' but withholds from him the power to comply with the mandate. The executive agents of the government (the prosecuting attorneys and sheriffs) are independent of him; he cannot command them directly or indirectly." (Coke's Message, April 19, 1876.) However, the governor was given the power to veto; in the case of appropriation bills this power may be applied to special items ; and he alone can designate the subjects to be acted upon by the Legislature in called session.
The judicial system of the state was vested in a supreme court, a court of appeals, district, county and other courts.
"The judicial system framed by this article as a whole and in all its parts is, in my judgment, the most faulty, inefficient and expensive
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one that has ever been suggested. * * It is fatally vitiated * by the following prominent faults: It provides for two high courts of last resort, giving supremacy to neither. * * * It establishes county courts, conferring on them extensive general and statutory jurisdiction, and prescribes no qualification for the judges. * * * It abolishes the office of district attorney, heretofore filled by men of learning, ability and experience, and substitutes that of county * attorney. * It extends the jurisdiction of justices of the peace over matters and rights more important than should be sub- mitted to the judgment of men usually unlearned in the law.
* * It provides salaries for district judges which are insufficient to sup- port them in many districts. It surrenders the people, in a considerable section of the state, through the justice and county courts and sometimes the district court, in three-fourths of their litigation, to the domination of uneducated and ignorant suffrage." (Coke's Message, April 19, 1876.)
Governor Coke recommended a return to the judicial system of the constitution of 1869, which he said, the concurrent opinion and almost unbroken voice of the bench and bar and non-professional intelligence of the state adjudged superior in efficiency.
The provisions in the bill of rights of the constitution of 1869, that declared secession a heresy and that the constitution and laws of the United States are the supreme law of the land, were stricken out. In the article respecting the right of suffrage, no mention was made of "race, color or former condition." The registration of voters was abol- ished. Separate schools for white and negro children were ordered. The appropriation of money to encourage immigration was prohibited. Neither the Legislature nor any county or town was permitted to vote public funds or incur debt by way of subsidy to any private corpo- ration, whether railroad or other association for private profit. Limita- tions were placed upon the extent of taxation by municipal corpora- tions. The objects for which taxes may be imposed by the Legislature were defined, the maximum tax rate on the $100 valuation was fixed at 50 cents, and the debt created to supply deficiencies was limited to $200,000.
Notwithstanding its many defects, the constitution possesses points of merit that have secured its retention until this date. It provides greater facility for amendment than did former constitutions. It en- sures the supremacy of the people, and makes the lawmakers and public officials their servants. It guards against the creation of public debt. and dedicated the public lands to the public welfare. It curbed the rail- roads, and prohibited oppressive monopolies.
The fifteenth Legislature assembled April 18, 1876. It was confronted by an extraordinary amount of important legislation. The adjustment of the statute laws to the new constitution, the remodeling of the crim- inal system, the revision and change or amendment of the penitentiary system, the reorganization of the civil jurisdiction and methods of pro- cedure, the reconstruction of the revenue system, and last, but not least, a revision of the new constitution with the view of proposing and sub-
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mitting such amendments as may be found necessary were some of the subjects called to its attention by Governor Coke.
STATE FINANCE
The finances of the state demanded attention as soon as the Demo- crats came into power. Investigation of the records of the comptrol- ler's and treasurer's office showed that the treasury was empty and that there were obligations outstanding amounting to $2,098,928. This amount was later doubled by the audit of claims originating prior to 1874. Treasury warrants were selling at from sixty-five to eighty cents on the dollar. Bonds amounting to $900,000 remained in New York unsold, because there was no market for Texas securities. Upon a por- tion of these bonds the sum of $327,074 had been advanced, and the creditors were now suing to recover payment. Bonds in the sum of $404,000 would mature between September, 1876, and January 1, 1877. Governor Coke deemed it inexpedient to levy a tax for the payment of the public debt. The general tax rate, although fixed at the maximum allowed by the constitution, did not produce revenue sufficient to cover the expenses of the government. Further loans would become necessary. Under these circumstances the governor directed his efforts first of all to improve the credit of the state. Payment of the floating debt was suspended, and the holders of treasury warrants were given an option of exchanging them for interest-bearing bonds. All receipts of the treasury were used to pay current expenses. The expenses of the gov- ernment were cut down wherever possible. A compromise with the Inter- national Railroad Company was effected whereby the treasury was re- lieved of a large issue of bonds. The claims of the New York creditors were promptly settled, although to do so required the sale of bonds at a heavy sacrifice. However, the governor's policy was effective ; the credit of the state improved and subsequent bond sales were made at better prices.
In addressing the fifteenth Legislature, Governor Coke said:
"One of the most important subjects claiming your attention is that of the assessment and collection of taxes. A law which shall promptly subject all the property in the state to its just proportion of the burden of maintaining the government is of the first and high- est importance. Our present revenue laws are wholly inefficient. Taxes now due and unpaid and returned as delinquent amount to several millions of dollars. But a still greater evil is the failure to assess a considerable proportion of the taxable property of the state, and the undervaluation of that which is assessed. * * Quoting from my last annual message on this subject: 'Taxation should be just and uniform, but under this law it is believed that two-thirds of the property of Texas pays all the expenses of govern- ment. * * * A large proportion of the personal property money, bonds, bills, notes, merchandise, stock and other valuables in the state, and of the assets of banks, banking concerns, trust, insurance and other companies and corporations, not visible to the assessor. is never assessed, and pays nothing.' * * * These things are as true now as when represented to the fourteenth Legislature."
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After the lapse of thirty-five years a number of these problems still remained unsolved.
Governor Hubbard enjoyed a season of legislative rest such as no other governor of Texas before or since has enjoyed; during his term of over two years there was no session of the Legislature except the one which inaugurated his successor. In his message in 1879 he was able to report that a portion of the public debt had been paid, that the bonds of the state were selling at a premium, and that in consequence bonds bearing a high rate of interest had been refunded in bonds bearing a lower rate of interest. But he was obliged to report a deficiency in the state's revenue and a consequent inability to pay current expenses.
"Unfortunately, there is now recalled to mind no fiscal year of Texas, from 1845 down to the present date, but has witnessed the
same mistake repeated by Legislatures. * In early times these annual deficiencies were met by borrowing from the several millions in gold received from the United States Government for our sale of the Santa Fe territory, and at others by the issuing and sale of bonds of the state. To-day the credit of Texas bonds is higher than that of any other state in the entire Union. While this fact is and should be a just source of pride to every citizen of Texas, I respectfully and earnestly urge upon your consideration that other fact-not so much a source of pride as of extreme regret
0* -that the debts we owe to our own fellow citizens at home * * have too often become the subject of speculation. * * because there is no adequate provision to meet these claims in cash when presented at the state treasury. Neither in law nor in morals ought an invidious distinction be made by the state between the domestic creditors and the foreign bond holders."
While the increase in the wealth of the state has caused a gradual . reduction in tax rate the contingency of a recurrence of deficiencies in the revenue has not been provided against effectually up to the present.
With such plain statements before them, the Republican and Green- back parties severely criticised in their platforms of 1878 the financial policy of the Democrats. The former denounced the occupation taxes and the increase of the state debts through the issuance of bonds. The Greenbackers demanded "abrogation of the odious and unjust occupa- tion and smoke-house tax laws," retrenchment in the public expenditures. and a reduction of tax-rate to 3712 cents on the $100. While there was little prospect that either of these parties would gain control of the government, the Democratic platform pledged the party not to borrow money or to issue bonds to meet current expenses or to increase the tax rate, and to keep expenses within current receipts.
Governor Hubbard in his message reviewed the estimates of receipts and expenditures for the year 1879, and pointed out that the former were inadequate to meet the latter.
"The estimates for the present fiscal year make no allowance for much needed improvements in our institutions of public charity, for the early organization of the recently completed penitentiary at Rusk, for state colleges, or any extraordinary appropriation. * * * The conclusion is therefore inevitable that unless the ex- penses of the government be lessened the estimated revenue will
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fall far short of meeting the actual expenditures of the state. It is well to look this danger squarely in the face, for we have reached that point *
* in our financial history when the cry of 're- trenchment and reform' becomes no longer * *
* the cheap watchwords of the demagogue, but rather a palpable and imperious necessity to the legislation of Texas from this day henceforth. Can the machinery of the state government be kept in motion, on the present basis of taxation, without abandoning old and cherished public policies, the protection of the frontier, and the maintenance of the public free schools? Can it be done without reducing the compensation of the judiciary or otherwise impairing the vigor and efficiency of the various departments of the state government?"
It remained for Governor Roberts to answer these questions. He declared that :
"The true policy of the state under the present junc- ture of affairs, is to retrench expenses from top to bottom, wherever it can be done consistently with the efficiency of the public service, and inaugurate the policy of now disposing of the public lands at a fair value as soon as practicable to any purchaser that will buy them in any quantity.' '
One cause of the existing financial difficulties of the state he ex- plained thus :
"Gradually, and much more in the last ten years, the state has been assuming other and extraneous burdens beyond the capacity of the productive wealth of the country to sustain. * Refer- * ence is here made to the protection of the frontier and our police force ; to the penitentiary and its enlargement ; to our free common school system; to our schools for the blind and the deaf; to the establishment of an agricultural and mechanical college; to our pen- sions to the Texas veterans and to our immigration bureau."
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