The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 44, July 1940 - April, 1941 Page: 496
546 p. : ill., maps ; 24 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
As already stated in this article, I took advantage of a tech-
nicality in the law, and by refusing to resell forfeited land,
saved to the public domain between four and five million acres.
When the Legislature instructed me to have surveyed one million
acres for the University and a like amount for the common
schools, I had the land ready to fill the order.
So ends my story. It would be affectation on my part to
say I am not proud of it. The people of Texas have been sig-
nally kind to me, and from a boy on the frontier to a soldier
of the Confederacy, in positions of trust and honor in civil life
I have ever done my best.
acre possessing an intrinsic value. If, then, we figure up so many millions
of acres at so much per acre, we easily reach the maximum, unchangeable
amount of our permanent fund, to the interest of which we must look for
the available fund of the future. But, who can figure up for us the in-
crease of our scholastic population? And how long will the interests of
this stationary fund yield an appreciable per capita for the children of our
growing State? It requires but a hasty glance at our educational sta-
tistics to discover that the greatly increased sales of these lands, in the
past two years, have added little or nothing to the amount per head of
our scholastic population . . . and in the interest of free education, I see
but one course left, and that is to
LEASE ALL PASTURE, TIMBER, AND MINERAL LANDS
for a term of years, and sell, if at all, only to actual settlers. ...
Human intellect has, so far, devised no laws which human ingenuity and
human interest have failed to circumvent, and once converted into money,
it becomes only a question of time, when our permanent endowment will
be captured by speculation.
THE FUTURE DEVELOPMENT OF OUR STATE
as affected by present legislation on this subject, presents a further mat-
ter for serious consideration. If the State parts with the title to those
lands, she not only loses her power to prevent large landed monopolies,
but actually encourages their erection, and says in substance to toiling
masses who are to follow us: "If you want homes, you must purchase
from the capitalists to whom I have sold." While it may be urged that
we are dealing with the living present, and that posterity must take care
of itself, we must remember that the fund we have was bequeathed to
us in trust, not only for today, but for coming generations. If these lands
become the property of landed corporations, we may reasonably expect
that they will only part with them when the purchaser offers such a price
that the interest on the purchase money will exceed the profits to be
realized by the raising of stock. ....
Why, then, should not the State, in the interest of the schools and of
the home-seekers of the future, retain the ownership of these lands? If
every acre were sold today for cash, at five dollars per acre, we would
have our treasury bursting with an idle, unavailable fund, not only draw-
ing no appreciable interest, but, by its withdrawal from circulation, para-
lyzing progress. Let us, then, lease the lands, and in addition to the an-
nual rentals, secure to the permanent fund their advance in value, and
retain the power to say to the settler: "Here is a home on long time and
easy terms." It is certainly better for the State to have five hundred
families, representing one thousand dollars each, than to have one man
or syndicate, representing one million.-Report of the Commissioner,
September 1, 1882.496
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 44, July 1940 - April, 1941, periodical, 1941; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth146052/m1/547/: accessed May 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.