USA > Texas > Governors who have been, and other public men of Texas > Part 13
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When the self-constituted guardian of the "peepul's" rights had delivered himself, the Governor said: "I have just received a letter from a friend of mine in Houston who has no connection with the railroads in any way, and he gives me many appar- ently good reasons why I should approve the bill, but of course you are familiar with the situation and can help me reach a conclusion. If you will take this pencil and paper and map out the several lines, showing where they compete, and how con- solidation will be harmful, you will do me a favor."
The North Texas statesman (?) knew no more about the coun- try through which the lines ran or about the length of the roads, nor what towns they touched than he did about the interior of Zululand, and of course, could not draw any kind of a map, as he was bound to confess. Governor Lanham could discover no peril to the public interests in the bill, and in due time ap- proved it, and the consolidated roads still operate under it.
Texas is to be congratulated that the day has passed when petty politicians can ride into office on a wave of prejudice against corporations.
That man who thought he could frighten Sam Lanham into vetoing a wise and wholesome piece of legislation because it was enacted for the benefit of a railroad system, was a fair repre- sentative of a class which has done Texas well nigh irreparable injury.
Its number, heaven be praised, has been reduced to a harmless and scattered few, who the procession of progress has left be- hind as derelicts by the wayside.
Governor Lanham's health was much impaired by four years of confinement and the burden of great responsibility, and he did not long survive the end of his term.
A gallant soldier, faithful public servant and Christian gentle- man, he went to his grave consoled by the consciousness that he
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had the confidence and respect of the people he had so long lived among and faithfully served. His brilliant and capable son, Fritz W. Lanham, worthily fills the seat in Congress which his father honored for many years.
Governor Lanham's associate in office as Lieutenant Governor was Hon. George D. Neal of Grimes County. He was a Senator froni a large district for several years, and his ability and in- tegrity made friends for him in the Senate as they did elsewhere. I knew him well, and esteemed him highly. He practiced before me in the 12th District and was a dependable, honorable man, who deservedly had the respect of all who knew him.
His sudden death a few years ago carried sincere grief to many hearts.
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CHAPTER XXI.
THOMAS M. CAMPBELL and OSCAR B. COLQUITT.
The successor to Governor Lanham was Thomas Mitchell Camp- bell of Anderson County. He was, as I recall, the second native son to be elected Governor, Governor Hogg being the first. Chero- kee County has the distinction of having furnished Texas two of its native sons to be Governor. That red land county is capa- ble of producing anything in the world. It is persistently pro- lific in peaches, peas, persimmons, peanuts, pumpkins, preachers, "possums" and politicians, with the accent on politicians; yet, strange to say, Governor Campbell was not a politician, in the sense that he had ever held or sought office. As I recall, he had never even been a candidate for office, but his East Texas en- vironment certainly enabled him to absorb a lot of political wis- dom-for he conducted a systematically planned campaign and won over strong opposition. He had been master in chancery in the matter of the receivership of the I. & G. N. R. R. during the administration of Governor Hogg and was, I believe, afterwards made receiver, and when the usual process of wiping out the stockholders and creditors had been accomplished, he became general manager of the system and demonstrated marked ability in that position.
While holding it, he evidently became impressed with the evils of the "free pass" and was responsible for the abolition of all free passes, except with very limited exceptions.
I was never in very deep sympathy with him in that matter, because I believed the roads ought to have been required to issue free passes to certain prescribed State officials, and the judges, and not have left the matter as one of grace or power. That would have neutralized all the objections usually made to giving passes by making it a legal duty, the performance of which no man could have justly complained of.
He was a business man of ability and his administration was creditable to the highest degree to him, and helpful to the inter- ests of the State.
I have known him for many years, and value him as a friend. His son and namesake went overseas at his country's call and did his duty as became a man and a native Texan. Governor Camp- bell is not only a successful business man, but a thoroughly effi- cient lawyer, a rather rare combination.
He had the courage to be a prohibitionist when that faith and policy was not popular, but he lived to see his opinions vindi- cated, and his desires accomplished.
He defeated Hon. Oscar Branch Colquitt for the nomination in 1906, but four years later Mr. Colquitt won.
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Governor Colquitt's service in the Senate, and on the Railroad Commission was very helpful to him in administering the office of Governor, which he did most creditably.
He and I clashed to a small extent while he was Railroad Com- missioner and I was Judge of the 61st District Court. I really do not exactly recall how the difference arose, but it was in some way brought about by a suit brought by the Express Company against the Commission. As I now remember, it had the effect to bring about strained relations between us, but I have never cherished any unkind feeling about it. and am glad to have been advised that Governor Colquitt has achieved. at least, a reason- able measure of success in the oil field.
When the school buildings at Canyon City were burned, the insurance money, amounting to something over a hundred thou- sand dollars, passed under his control. When called upon for it, he not only promptly produced it, but like the faithful holder of the talent in Scripture, handed it over with interest, which ac- tion caused me much satisfaction. It was in striking and gratify- ing contrast with the action of another Governor later.
He had the same courage on one side of the prohibition ques- tion that Governor Campbell had on the other, and it was to his credit that he never recanted, or trimmed his political sails to catch the prohibition breeze.
I am not probably prepared to write temperately and impar- tially about the campaign of 1914, for while I cherish no personal ill will against the successful candidate in that campaign, I am the ardent friend of the one who was unsuccessful.
The result of that campaign is known of all inen. It was in some respects a most remarkable one. The successful candidate when he announced, was scarcely known beyond the limits of his own county. A well known citizen and able lawyer, who has held in Houston official station requiring a high order of legal ability, told me that when Hon. Jas. E. Ferguson told him he in- tended to be a candidate for Governor he would, had not a sense of courtesy restrained him, have laughed in his face, but he did announce, and did so wholly on his own initiative and respon- sibility, and boldly defied all other men whose names were sug- gested, and their friends. He is a man of forceful character and pleasing address, and while possessing only a limited education, he was calculated to, and did attract followers and adherents rapidly.
It is but to state that which all men know that he attracted to the support of his candidacy all the enemies of prohibition, and all the active and passive enemies of organized Democracy in Texas.
The anti-prohibitionists were ready to follow any man who was opposed to prohibition, and the Republicans were desirous
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of dividing and weakening the Democratic party if possible, and all the dissatisfied and discordant elements flocked to Mr. Ferguson's standard. All men, regardless of politics, have an instinctive admiration for boldness and courage, and the way in which Mr. Ferguson projected himself into the campaign had much of those elements in it.
He had no organization behind him, and was the product of no convention; had taken counsel with none but himself, and such action appealed strongly to many who had never seen or heard of him.
His novel, visionary, and impractical (and recently adjudged unconstitutional), land law or rent law, appealed to the unfor- tunately large tenant class, and the combination of voters which he attracted, secured him the nomination. It is unequestionably true that during his first term he was popular with both the legislators and the people. He was unpretentious and democratic in demeanor, "a good mixer," and stood by his friends at all hazards, and held undeniably a high place in the esteem of many people. Why and for what reasons and by what process he was deposed from the office of Governor is a matter of history, and his deposition was, in all its elements, a tragedy for him and for the State.
It would be uncharitable and unkind to perpetuate the memory of the facts in these pages, and it is unnecessary to argue whether the result was right or wrong.
It was reached by constitutional and legal proceedings con- ducted according to long established precedents, and presumably at least it was right; and it is generally conceded to have so been.
While this is true, it was a result deeply to be regretted, or rather it is to be regretted, that the cause which made such pro- ceedings and result necessary, should have existed. I cannot believe that any man is so indifferent to the good name of Texas, or to the misfortunes or errors of any fellow man, as to be glad that such a drama was ever staged, or that the curtain fell upon such a tragedy in the life of a man who had held the high office of Governor of a sovereign state.
While I am under no obligation to the chief actor in the la- mentable drama, and claim no more than a passing acquain- tance with him and have no reason to be and am not his admirer, yet I wish him no ill fortune, and personally I regret that a career which presented promise of honorable achievement should have been so tragically cut off. It marred a record made by Govern- ors of Texas for nearly three quarters of a century, and carried to many hearts sincere sorrow that her escutcheon, radiant as it was with the light of honorable service, should have been ulti- mately darkened.
As I have said, I am the ardent friend of the man who was the
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unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination for Gov- ernor in 1914.
I have known him since he was born. I went to school to his mother in a log school house when I was so young I can hardly remember the time.
I knew his father, who was a Methodist minister, when I was a mere lad. I knew the son when, as a penniless boy, he toiled at manual labor for a livelihood, I knew him as a successful mer- chant, and as the efficient mayor of his native town.
As Judge, I signed his law license in 1890, and six weeks later he tried before me, against as able opposing counsel as there were in Texas, a case involving in a most novel way the doctrine of estoppel, in which case I, by my charge, stretched the doctrine to a limit it had never before been carried in Texas.
He won his case before the jury, and the Supreme Court af- firmed the judgment.
I knew him when he was a most efficient Congressman, and for these reasons, knew he was intellectually and morally quali- fied for the office of Governor.
I knew that the charges brought against him, while they did not, and could not, impeach his integrity, were calculated to prejudice him in the eyes of many people, and were made in vio- lation of the primary obligations of social good faith which are binding upon all gentlemen.
I do not mean to be understood as intending to reflect upon the good character, or good citizenship of any man who supported the successful candidate, but it is but to state that which is true, to say that the overwhelming majority of those who did so were the enemies of the policy of prohibition, while the unsuccessful candidate espoused that cause, of which he had been the consist- ent advocate for many years, and he represented the hopes, wishes and heartfelt desires of nine out of ten of the women of Texas; and my belief has always unwaveringly been, that the side of any public question of a social or moral nature, in which a majority of women are found is always the right side. As inimitable "Gus" Cook used to say, "Man reasons, but God whis- pers to a woman and tells her what is right." Thomas H. Ball and all the men and women who followed his banner were against liquor and the liquor traffic, and against the open saloon, and therefore, were on the right side economically, socially and morally, and the majority of the people of the whole nation has vindicated their position since.
There were those whom I esteem who voted against Tom Ball, but no man who is at once candid and honest will deny that he was leading the forces which did battle to suppress and abolish an agency and influence which wrought ever-increasing injury
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to the best interests of society, and which was always a menace to decent, honest government.
I heard him long before he became a candidate, predict before an immense audience, that the day was coming when this would be a "saloonless nation." Many mocked at the prediction, but it has been fulfilled.
He never compromised on the question of prohibition, or evaded that issue when he was a candidate for Congress, and Harris County, with 500 saloons, was in his district, yet was never defeated. I know he did not seek at the Fort Worth con- vention the position of leadership which was conferred upon him, but he accepted the call, and though he was defeated, he had rather have failed as leader of the forces of social virtue and civic righteousness than to have won as leader of the oppos- ing conibination.
Subsequent events brought home to the people of Texas in humiliation and regret the realization that the majority had grievously erred.
Tom Ball battled for justice to this generation, and to genera- tions yet unborn by seeking to abolish a traffic which was the fruitful mother of social and moral "woes unnumbered," and justice never forgets.
The epigrammatic utterance of that great lawyer, Jeremiah S. Black, before the Electoral Commission of 1877, "Justice moves with a leaden heel, but strikes with an iron hand," found speedy confirmation in events and proceedings already referred to.
Texas, and not Tom Ball, was the victim of popular error. Had he been made Governor of Texas, no tribunal would ever have had occasion to sit in adverse judgment on any act of his.
He would have taken up, and have laid down, that exalted trust with clean hands and a clear conscience, as he has in the past taken up and laid down every trust, personal or official, ever committed to his keeping.
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CHAPTER XXII. WILLIAM P. HOBBY.
As an original proposition I doubt whether William P. Hobby would ever have offered for the nomination for Governor, but having succeeded automatically the deposed Governor-and the world war being on-it was natural that he should desire to serve a term by election.
He manifested energy, ability and a thorough conception of the requirements of his position as soon as he assumed the office of Governor by succession, and it was certainly the part of wisdom not to disturb and distract the people by a contest over office when they were absorbed in the great war.
I had not seen or spoken to Governor Hobby ten times in ten years when the question of the next election was beginning to be discussed. I knew his distinguished father, and esteemed him highly-but I had never seen the son in the office of Governor --- nor was I under any obligation to him, but I wrote a communi- cation to the Houston Post setting forth my reasons for believ- ing he should be retained in the position, and why there should be no struggle over the office in time of war.
I would have taken the same position had any other decent man been in Governor Hobby's place. It was in my judgment manifestly what the situation imperatively demanded, and all fair-minded men will concede that William P. Hobby has "borne himself so meekly in his great office" as to have de- served the plaudits bestowed upon him by the great tribunal of the party-the State Convention.
I think it altogether likely that if conditions had been normal and Governor Hobby's immediate predecessor had served out his time, that B. F. Looney would have been made Governor. I am sure I was predisposed in his favor, though I would not have known him had I seen him, and would not now know him, but I regard him highly, both as a lawyer and a public servant, be- cause of his efficient service as attorney general, and the esteem entertained for him by friends of mine in whose judgment I have confidence.
As I have said before, Texas has been most fortunate in the matter of Governors. All of them may not have been men in- tellectually pre-eminent, but none has ever been the tool of any ring, or been subservient to sinister influences, and every one, save one, took and laid down his high trust with clean hands, a record of which any Texan should be proud.
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HON. PAT M. NEFF.
Since I began writing these sketches Hon. Pat M. Neff has been inaugurated Governor of Texas.
I have never enjoyed the privilege of an intimate friendship with him. Our respective homes were some two hundred miles apart, and in consequence we met only as two men in public life ordinarily meet.
He served with marked efficiency as Speaker of the House in the Legislature, and was later for a number of years County At- torney of McLennan County, and in that capacity performed with ability the duties of District Attorney, besides conducting a large and successful law practice.
The strongest of his opponents for Governor was Hon. R. E. Thomason of El Paso, Speaker of the House of the 36th Legisla- ture, and a most admirable gentleman. My son was a member of that body, and was the ardent admirer and political and per- sonal friend of Mr. Thomason, and on his account I supported that gentleman in the first primary, but in the second primary supported Mr. Neff.
There was in the way in which he prosecuted his campaign for Governor that which challenged my admiration, as I am sure it did that of many others. It was marked by no fanfare, nor backed by any elaborate organization, or managed by any ma- chine.
He took his Ford and was his own chauffeur, and went directly to the people, frankly and unreservedly declaring himself on every public question.
Like his chief competitor, he had the enthusiastic support of his home people, than which there is no safer test of the merits and moral worth of any man.
He has taken hold of the helm of the ship of State with a ready and firm hand, and has taken a commendably bold stand on every present day public question. It is very gratifying to every Texan to know that he gives promise of maintaining that high standard of gubernatorial honor and efficiency set by J. Pink- ney Henderson three-quarters of a century ago, and which has, save with one regrettable exception, been consistently main- tained by all who have followed the first great Governor in the exalted station of Chief Executive of Texas.
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EARLY TEXANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS
CHAPTER XXIII.
STEPHEN W. BLOUNT.
Stephen W. Blount was an East Texas man. He was one of the signers of the Declaration of Texas Independence, and lived to a ripe old age, dying within comparatively recent past.
So far as I know, he never strove to acquire any official posi- tion, but devoted himself to business.
He made his home in San Augustine County, and conducted a general merchandise business in the town for many years, and accumulated a comfortable fortune.
His son, Stephen W. Blount, has practiced law in the courts of Nacogdoches County, and in the adjoining districts for many years with marked and deserved success. He represented his dis- trict in the House a number of years ago for one term, but has never since sought any political position, so far as I know.
His brother, Edward A. Blount, died only a few years ago, leaving a handsome estate. His charming family still lives in Nacogdoches, and has a lovely summer home a few miles out of town. He was a gentleman of high character, and a public-spir- ited, hospitable citizen.
Stephen W. Blount related to me a few years ago an incident which, had it occurred in these days, would have shocked all the certified accountants, and auditors, and bookkeeping experts. He said his father had employed a new bookkeeper and one day saw him making entries on the blotter after one of the family, or a servant, had come into the store and procured a quantity of family supplies. The old gentleman asked the bookkeeper what he was doing. He replied: "I am charging up those articles that have just gone over to the house. The old gentleman said: "Never mind about that. Don't you bother the books with anything any of my family get. This is my store, and when it is not able to furnish my family all they need I'll close it up."
Everybody knows that such a family as the Blounts lived lib- erally and generously, yet not even the slightest memorandum of anything taken by it from the store, no matter how much, was ever made unless it was actual cash, and that was set down only to keep the cash balance straight. That incident aptly illustrates the Southern idea of providing for comfortable living. The house into which the goods went was open to everybody, rich or poor,
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and the humble and exalted alike were welcome participants in a generous but unostentatious hospitality.
If any merchant in this day and time were to do the same thing, a thousand "certified accountants" would proceed to prove that he was headed for hopeless bankruptcy, yet that old Texas pioneer and patriot, living much of the time a hundred miles from a railroad, in a village amid the primeval forests of East Texas, built up and transmitted to his worthy posterity a hand- some estate.
C. B. STEWART.
Dr. C. B. Stewart of Montgomery County, was another signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. He lived for many years in Montgomery County, and died there.
I am under the impression that he left quite a large landed es- tate. I have seen him often. He was very deaf, and always car- ried an ear trumpet, almost as large as a trombone. He was a man of high character, and commanded universal confidence and respect.
I have no doubt that if it were possible to take the names of the fifty-three signers of the Declaration of Independence, and study their characters and trace their careers, there would be revealed, as to most of them, if not all of them, that they were efficient, honorable men, and worthy citizens.
There is a substantial basis for such belief. In the first place, none but courageous, virile, self-reliant men ever go out as pio- neers into a vast unknown and untenanted domain, for the pur- pose of subduing it to the purposes of civilization and establish- ing free and stable government.
It is only that character of men who are ready and willing to dare the dangers, and endure the hardships involved in such an undertaking, and success is dependent upon mutual fidelity and honor upon the part of all who unite for such a purpose.
It requires, too, practical men to achieve success in such an undertaking. They must needs be men with vision, of course, but possessed also of the ability, judgment, and foresight to translate their visions into realities. The man who is devoid of physical or moral courage, or who is a seer of visions and a dreamer of dreams, but is without practical ability, has no place in such a body of men.
Those fifty-three men on the banks of the Brazos on March 2, 1836, representing at the outside only about 30,000 people, threw down the gauntlet of defiance to a nation of 7,000,000, and de- clared that they were and had the right to be free and inde- pendent; and they made that declaration good seven weeks later. Such men had the courage and judgment and efficiency neces- sary to success in any field of activity, and it is not surprising
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that they not only achieved success in the sphere of business en- terprise, and left a posterity worthy of such an ancestry, but left to that posterity legacies of great material value, but of less value, and less to be esteemed, than is their example of patriotism, cour- age and fidelity to duty.
THE FISHERS, BRYANS, AUSTIN, BEE AND CROCKETT.
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