New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 1, Part 3

Author: Davis, Ellis A.
Publication date: 1926
Publisher: Dallas, Tex. : Texas development bureau, [1926?]
Number of Pages: 1416

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Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

The large majority of ex-students in public or private positions stand for "clean" politics, in the commonly accepted sense of the term. Their worthy and effective devotion to the interests of the state has been felt in more than one political struggle.

Is the University of Texas faithful to its trust in regard to upholding and maintaining the institutions of the state? Are its students distinguished for their increased attachment to these institutions ? In answer to these questions let us first consider that functioning of the University which has to do with the educational system of the state. Standing as it does, at the head of education in the state, the University has been the means of encouraging and promoting scholarship in the public schools. In order that their students may be capable of enter- ing the University, the big schools of the state must maintain a certain standard of instruction. This standard, set by the Uni- versity of Texas is said to have had more influ- ence than any other factor in the devel- opment and growth of the schools of Texas.

Another im- portant ser- vice rendered by the Uni- versity is the supply of University of Texas. Upper : Main Building teachers Lower: Women's Dormitory

which comes annually from its class rooms. In large measure has it been through them that the demands of the public schools have been filled and the prescribed standard kept up.

Nor is school teaching the only profession which has a bulwark of strength in the University of Texas. An educated bar is rapidly becoming a thing of certainty, thanks largely to the Law Department of the University. The practice of Medicine is, as a whole, on a much higher level on account of the Medical Department, and the graduates who go out from it every year. Engineers and scientists of all descriptions are prepared in the State University so that they may go out and give their service to the people of the state.

It is hardly appreciated by the average citizen taxpayer in the State of Texas, what the University of Texas stands for as an institution to promote the education and progress of the state. What in reality does the University consist of? It is not merely a teaching mill, it is an assemblage of a body of men of science and learning provided with the facilities for the work of education and research, with which they share with the students who are to become the first citizens of communities throughout the state. Such an institution depends upon the co- operation and confidence of the taxpayers through- out Texas, for which it is created to serve.

The church, while not an institution of the state in the true sense of the word, is another of the in- stitutions within the state which possesses a staunch

ally in the University of Texas. Sectarian teachings being forbidden in the school, a broadness of vision is fostered which encourages the student to know his faith and why and whence it came. That the University is not lacking in its spiritual charac- ter is testified by the numbers of young men and women who have gone out from it in religious and social service work at Engineering Building home and in foreign countries.

The founders of the University of Texas further desired that it should be a means whereby the liber- ties of the people should be increased. Whatever may have been their ideal when they wrote these words, the University has not failed in this respect. Exemplifying and standardizing democracy on its own campus, it honors the millionaire and the self- supporting student. Opportunity for an education lies in it for all. And its teaching opens other doors to greater liberty that comes with a well informed and understanding mind.

"That the liberties of the people might be in- creased." The men who wrote these words builded greater than they knew. It was not possible for them to conceive of the service which their Univer- sity should give toward increasing the liberties of the people of Texas and the world.

The significance of the University is a part of the educational system in this state, to be more fully understood by mention of its varied activities: First, there is the Academic Department offering to students the foundation subjects, Classic Literature, History, Ancient and Modern Languages and Sciences. The departments of Jurisprudence and Medicine where the embryos of our future physi- cians, lawyers and judges are prepared for their professional careers. The University works hand in hand with the elementary schools to which they supply the teachers and where from the high schools throughout the state, its own classes are recruited.

It would be trite to rename those many things that the University did and made possible during the recent World War. One story cannot describe the University of Texas as it was in 1917-20. There were the various military schools, the enormous sums of money spent for their maintenance, the special classes in the University proper that made the men and women better fitted for the responsibili- ties thrust up on them. There were the inspir- ing examples - among the per- sonnel of the Uni- versity of those who gave greatly for the sake of others. And there was, and is, University Library the gigantic service flag with its thousands of stars, hundreds of which are gold ones.

The University can progress only to the extent that the public encourage and support by instructing their representatives to provide financially for its support and send their children there to be educated.

PROGRESSIVE LEGISLATION IN TEXAS

By W. P. HOBBY Ex-Governor

W ITHIN the last few months the popula- tion of Texas has greatly increased, our indus- tries have grown and our commerce has expanded. Along with this development there has been a great change for the better in some of our ideas along economic, in- dustrial and educational lines. New conditions have created new demands, and public opinion has become crystal- lized into statutes to make possible the achievement of things now essential.

Among the list of laws enacted since 1912, we find a number that indicate the new conditions on the one hand, and the important changes in public opinion on the other. The largest group of these progressive measures is that affecting labor. Among the most important of these is the Workmen's Com- pensation Law. A commission was appointed in 1911 to study and investigate the subject of work- men's compensation. Legislation followed in 1913 However, the act was practically re-written in 1917 to provide, among other things, (1) increased com- pensation for specific injuries with a greater num- ber of injuries coming under this class; (2) in- creased powers of the Board in enforcing its de- cisions and administering the law; (3) the re- quiring of insurance companies to enter suit after an award has been made where they refuse to pay the compensation as awarded and the employee is forced to bring suit; (4) the overlapping system of the Board, which increases the term of office t) six years. (Gen. Laws, Reg. Sess. 35th Leg., 1917, Ch. 103.)

It may be doubted whether any other subject of labor legislation has gained such general accept- ance in the United States for its principles in so brief a time as workmen's compensation, and Texas was one of the earlier states to recognize the ne- cessity of guarding against and compensating for industrial accidents.

Women and Children in industry have received es- pecial attention at the hands of the legislature with a view to preventing the exploitation of the present generation at the expense of the future manhood and womanhood of Texas. Women have assumed a new status in our industrial life; and in recognition of this new status and of the new dangers to herself and to society thereby entailed, it has been provided that she shall not work more than fifty-four hours a week (Gen. Laws, Reg. Sess., 34th .. Leg., 1915, Ch. 56) and that she shall receive minimum wage. (Gen. Laws, Reg. Sess., 36th Leg., 1919 Ch. 160). The Legislature furthermore has created a special woman's division in the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the sole purpose of guarding the interests of women and children as wage-earners. (Gen. Laws, Reg. Sess., 35th Legislature, 1917 Ch. 106). Pro- vision has also been made for mothers' pensions (Gen. Laws, Reg. Sess., 35th Leg., 1917, Ch. 120).

Closely allied to the movement to protect children in industry is the enactment of the compulsory ed- ucation law. (Gen. Laws, Reg. Sess., 34th Leg., 1915 Ch. 49.) This legislation, as well as that prohibiting the employment of children of tender years in cer- tain employments, (Gen. Laws, Reg. Sess., 32nd Leg., 1911, Ch. 46), looks to a more highly educated and more efficient democracy.

As supplementing the foregoing laws in the in- terest of child welfare is the Free Text Book law. The State constitution was so amended in 1919 as to make it possible for the State to provide school books free within prescribed limitations, and the Text Book Law, making operative the amendment, was passed in 1919. (Gen. Laws, Reg. Sess., 36th Leg., Ch. 29.) During the past six years, Texas has ap- propriated eight million dollars to be spent in imi- proving her rural schools with a view to giving chil- dren in the rural districts the educational advantages enjoyed in the urban centers.

As looking further to the conservation of young manhood and womanhood, the legislature in 1919 provided for the establishment and maintenance of a Home for Dependent and Neglected White Chil- dren. (Gen. Laws, Reg. Sess., 36th Leg., 1919, Ch. 159).

Texas has not only given legal recognition to woman in industry, but is making rapid strides to-

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ward extending to her full rights and privileges un- der the law. The married woman's property- rights act gives married women the same property rights as those possessed by a femme sole, (Gen. Laws, Reg. Sess., 33rd Leg., Ch. 32), marks one of the first steps toward equal rights for women. To elevate further the legal status of married women, the legislature, in 1919, passed a law permitting them to become stockholders in corporations. (Gen. Laws, Reg. Sess., 36th Leg., 1919, Ch. 132). Equal suffrage in primary elections and conventions was

NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

recently conferred upon women by an Act of the 4th called session of the 35th Leg., (Ch. 34), and the Act was sustained by the Supreme Court in a ma- jority opinion handed down January 28, 1920, in the case of Rot vs. Schneider, not yet reported. Following close upon this reform was the ratifica- tion of the federal suffrage amendment at the last special session of the legislature.

The legislation outlined pertaining to women rep- resents hard-won victories in the state, making for her political emancipation.

Another sharply contested battle extending over many years culminated in 1918 in the adoption of a prohibition amendment to the state constitution (Gen. and Sp. Laws, both called Sess., 35th Leg., 1918. H. J. R. 1, p. 200) closely allied reform measure is the law abolishing pool halls passed by the legisla- ture in 1919. (Gen. Laws. Reg. Sess., 36th Leg., 1919 Ch. 14).

Probably the most far-reaching administrative leg- islation in Texas in recent years is the Board of Control law enacted at the last regular session of the legislature. (Gen. Laws, Reg. Sess., 36th Leg., 1919, Ch. 323.) Aside from its extensive consoli- dation features, it discharges in a measure the func- tions of a budget commission, and those of an audit- ing department. It looks generally to a co-ordinated and economic administration of the affairs of the

eleemosynary and other institutions. The passage of the Bill marks the beginning of a new era in the financial policy of Texas.

As important in the state's financial policy two other measures have been recently passed; the first, the Act providing for the investment of surplus funds in the treasury in short-time U. S. Certificates, passed in March, 1918; the second, the Depository Law of 1919. The former, which was passed as a co-operative war measure, has yielded the State a return of $289,936.79; the latter brings in a reve- nue of $30,000 per month, representing an interest item for the use of State funds.

Other laws indicating progressive legislative ten- dencies are the Uniform Negotiable Instruments Act and the Uniform Warehouse Receipts Act, both passed in 1919. There seems to have been an effort to make this legislation uniform in character with that of various states in the Union.

Our absentee voting law, although limited in scope is probably a precursor of future legislation in line with the absentee voting laws in force in some of the other states.

The war measures are not included in this article. It is sufficient to say they were vigorous, thoroughly American in spirit, and framed with a view to full co-operation with the National Government in the prosecution of the war.

THE TEXAS JUDICIARY THE RELATION OF THE LAWYERS TO THE COURT By THOMAS B. GREENWOOD Associate Justice Supreme Court of Texas

A REVIEW is sought in the Supreme Court each year of from five hundred to six hundred of the decisions of the nine courts of civil appeals. The oldest application awaiting the court's disposi- tion in October 1920 was filed in June 1919. Three months work will be required to again get the docket to where the applications will relate to de- cisions rendered within the previous ninety days.

Hearing so much of the Supreme Court's delay, I am not certain that the people generally realize that about three out of every four appeals, which are contested to the utmost, are finally disposed of by the Supreme Court, not after years and years of distressing and vexatious waiting for action, but. after a maximum delay of some fifteen months. It is nevertheless true that writs of error are granted on only about twenty per cent of the applications, consequently, of all the causes, in which the de- cisions of the courts of civil appeals are not ac- cepted by the parties as final, some three fourths are made final by the action of the Supreme Court within the rather brief periods already indicated.

Many lawyers think that the Supreme Court should make greater use of the Act of March 15, 1917, empowering justices of the courts of civil ap- peals to act on applications for writs of error. In its actual operation the Act develops almost as much work on the judges of the Supreme Court, in passing on applications, as is involved in their un- aided determination. The reason lies mainly in the law's requirement that the Supreme Court alone shall act in every cause where there has been a dissent, or where there is a conflict between the holding complained of and a holding of another court of civil appeals or of the Supreme Court, or where a statute is held void.

Nor is this the only impediment to the success- ful operation of the Act. The really numerous ap- plications alleging errors of importance to the juris- prudence of the State cause another impediment, for the legislature has further provided that before writs should be granted to correct errors of im- portance to the jurisprudence of the State the errors must be of such importance as "in the opinion of the Supreme Court to require correction." Thus action is again required from the Supreme Court judges, and on the whole, the difference in time required for the Supreme Court judges to perform their duties under this Act and to determine the applications, without assistance, has not been thought of late to justify the hampering of the courts of civil appeals by the withdrawal from their work of three of their members.

There is one thing entirely within the control o' the lawyers, which is a real aid to the Supreme Court, and that is the reply to the application, au- thorized by Supreme Court Rule 5. The Statutes and rule, in effect, invite counsel for the defendant in error to furnish the court a plain, clear and con- cise refutation of the grounds of jurisdiction or the grounds of error, or both, as set forth in the appli- cation.

Why do counsel commonly fail to reply to an ap- plication for writ of error ?

Perhaps the omission is due in part to the idea that the briefs in the courts of civil appeals may suffice. But that idea overlooks the essential pur- pose for the reply, which is to point out why the action of the court of civil appeals be held final or should be sustained. There is so much to be gained from a carefully prepared reply to an ap- plication that I do not think counsel would so often

NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

forego its filing were it not that the time allowed, viz: ten days, is so short. The Statute ought, it seems to me, to be amended so as to allow the same time for the filing the reply as is allowed for the preparation of the application, that is, thirty days.

Under subdivision 6, of article 1521 of the Re- vised statutes, as amended in 1917, the Supreme Court will grant a writ of error, upon an assignment that the Court of Civil Appeals erred in its conclu- sion that there was or was not any evidence to call for the determination of an issue by the court or jury, only in the event that the Court of Civil Appeals can be fairly regarded as so flagrantly wrong as to amount to a virtual denial and abrogation of the established rules of law which in the one instance, enjoin upon the trial court the exercise of its essen- tial function, and in the other preserve the right of jury trial. Notwithstanding the fact that rarely will such errors occur, the duty is nevertheless im- posed upon the court to examine all assignments raising questions of that kind, and at least their supporting statements, to see if they entitle the applicant to the writ. So errors of this kind are assigned in amazing numbers, and covering endless pages. It seems logical that where the return for such an amount of work is so slight that the Court ought to be relieved by the Legislature of this really considerable burden.

The total number of causes on the Court's trial docket, on the last Saturday in June 1920, wherein judgment had not been entered was 274. Of this number submitted to the Supreme Court, 89 had been referred to the Commission of Appeals, and 173 remained on the trial docket, neither referred nor submitted. At the end of the Summer term the court determined 90 cases, without referring them to the Commission. The Court determined 138 cases, which had been referred to the two sections of the Commission; the aggregate of causes on the trial docket thus being 228.

Many people, including lawyers, seem to have the habit of estimating the delay on the Supreme Court's trial docket by figuring the time which has elapsed since the docketing of the oldest undisposed of cause. By this method of calculation, one can prove that the Court is at least five and a half years behind on its trial docket. It happens, however that there is only one unsubmitted and undisposed of cause, which was entered on the trial docket in the year 1914, and none whatever in the year 1915. Of causes entered on the trial docket in the year 1916. only five remain undisposed of and not transferred to the Commission, and only two of the 1916 causes which were transferred to the Commission remained undisposed of. This makes only 8 cases, referred and unreferred, to be submitted, which reached the trial docket before the year 1917.

There are 96 unreferred and unsubmitted cases in the Supreme Court preceding the last case re- ferred to the Commission, in which the writ of error was granted on March 19, 1919. If its work were confined to the oldest cases, the Supreme Court, in one term, could more than dispose of these 96 causes, if it acted on no more Commission cases during the term than the 89 already referred. It seems demonstrable, therefore, that it is neither ac- curate nor true that the Court's trial docket is five and a half years in arrears.

And yet, with 274 cases remaining undecided on the trial docket of the Supreme Court, including cases referred to the Commission of Appeals, and with 450 pending applications for writs of error and with the increased volume of litigation attendant on the marvelous development of the State's match- less resources, no lawyer ought to be heedless of the obligation to do all within his power to relieve the burden on the Court.

I have not the least doubt that the people will ultimately enlarge the Court and make it possible for a large part of its business to be determined by sections.

TEXAS LIBRARIES By ELIZABETH H. WEST Former State Librarian

A CCORDING to the latest figures available, there are in Texas forty-two libraries wholly or partially supported by the state; fifty free public libraries, forty-eight supported wholly or partly by municipalities, two by endowments; thirty-six subscription public libraries, and twenty- four libraries in colleges or universities not sup- ported by the state.

State Supported Libraries: The state supported group comprises twelve governmental libraries, seventeen educational, eight in homes and hospitals, and four penal or correctional. The twelve govern- mental libraries are the State Library, the Supreme Court Library, and the libraries of the Court of Criminal Appeals. The seventeen educational li- braries are those of the University, main, depart- mental and extension; the Agricultural and Me- chanical College, John Tarleton College and Grubbs Vocational College; the eight normal colleges; the College of Industrial Arts; and the three schools for the Blind and Deaf. The libraries in homes and hospitals and those of the two Confederate Homes, the Orphan's Home, the Tuberculosis Hospital, and

the three hospitals for the Insane. The libraries for the state prisons at Huntsville and Rusk and of the two state training schools, constitute the penal and correctional group.

The State Library has approximately 40,000 vol- umes, 30,000 pamphlets, 100,000 manuscripts and transcripts. Its appropriation for the current bi- ennium is $20,112 for the first year, $22,298 for the second. It is housed in the State Capitol in quarters which it is rapidly outgrowing, having in 1909 been assigned not quite half of the space occupied pre- viously by the Supreme Court Library alone; its public documents are shelved in the basement, for want of available space elsewhere.

It has, since 1909, been a separate state depart- ment under its own governing board, the Texas Library and Historical Commission. In the previous years of its existence it had for the most part been only a division of some other state department, 1839-66, insurance, statistics and history-later agriculture, insurance, statistics and history-1876- 1909.

Under the provisions of the law of 1909, creating

NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

the Texas Library and Historical Commission, as amended in 1913-1919, the library performs the usual functions of a state library in serving the executive departments and the legislature especially through its legislative reference division; it also has a cus- tody and care of historical material already ac- quired, official material to be transferred from other departments, and other future acquisitions. It is authorized to print its collections, and sell such printed copies. It is also authorized to serve as the distributing agency for state documents.

Among the most important sections of the law are those which provide for the qualification of the State Librarian Staff. The State Librarian must have had at least one year's library school training and three years' experience as head of a free public or institutional library, or as an assistant of high rank in such library; all assistants above the rank of clerks and laborers are required to have technical library school training, heads of departments being required to have in addition at least one year of ex- perience in library work prior to appointment. The commission consists of five members, to be ap- pointed by the governor for six-year overlapping terms. It is empowered to act as a governing board for the State Library and to "give advice to such persons as contemplate the establishment of public libraries, selection of books, catalogueing and library management, conduct library institutions, and en- courage associations." The State Librarian must in connection "ascertain the condition of all public libraries in the state, and report the results to the commission."

The State Library, therefore, has the legal author- ity to help materially in the development of the free public library system of Texas. It has heretofore been able to do little in the way of library extension, because of insufficient funds. It has published an excellent quarterly bulletin, "Texas Libraries," when it has had the money to do so; and it has instituted a traveling library service, which has proved ex- ceedingly useful so far as it has been able to func- tion at all under its financial limitations. It has also in the present biennium inaugurated a state- wide service for the blind.

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New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 1, Part 3

Author: Davis, Ellis A. Publication date: 1926 Publisher: Dallas, Tex. : Texas development bureau, [1926?] Number of Pages: 1416

Author: Davis, Ellis A.
Publication date: 1926
Publisher: Dallas, Tex. : Texas development bureau, [1926?]
Number of Pages: 1416