"To comply with this demand of the people of Texas, therefore, who had the right to make it, a law now becomes necessary by your honorable bodies, and the following suggestions therein are respectfully made :

"I. Declare that land corporations are contrary to the genius of a free government, and shall hereafter exercise no rights in Texas except such as may be expressly authorized by law.

"2. That no such corporations shall hereafter be chartered or be permitted to do business in the State after a limited period named. "3. That further acquisition of title or interest in land for speculative, agricultural, or grazing purposes shall be prohibited.

"4. That those now holding title to or interest in lands for agricultural or grazing purposes, or that may, under the provisions of the law authorizing them to purchase real estate in collection of debt, hereafter acquire interest in or title to such land, shall within a specified time, consistent with vested rights, alienate them to natural persons, wind up their corporate affairs, and leave the State on prescribed penalties and forfeitures.”

CHAPTER X.

THE PERVERSIONS IN BUSINESS.

BUSINESS is an honorable term.

It does in

valuable service in commerce and exchanges. Freighted with blessings, it is the servant of the rich and the poor. Its purview embodies method, exactness, and punctuality. In a moral sense, it stands for equitable transactions.

From these functions, in numerous individual instances, it has been deflected. It has often done degrading service. Its fair visage is besmirched. To discriminate legitimate business from disreputable transactions is not always an easy task. Extortion is business; fraud is business; peculation and speculation have appropriated the title; the taking advantage of ignorance and necessity has employed the term; corners in trade, dealing in "futures," and gambling in "stocks" have been so styled. Confiscation prices are fair in business. The cheat's transactions come under the term. According to this perverted usage, legitimate and illegimate, reputable and disreputable dealings are styled business. Crime is not the violation of law, but business. Oppression is business. Thus it happens, that moral distinctions between right and wrong are defaced in trade.

The science of exchange occupies a prominent place in political economy. The appliances necessary to effect the end, require vast capital. Steamship lines and railways have not only destroyed the isolation of distant communities, removed the barriers to progress, but have made the exchange of productions possible, and have brought them to the doors of the rich and the poor alike.

The merchants constitute a large class of those concerned in exchange. Their position in society and the service rendered are quite as important as that of the producer. Without them the factory would be of no use, and the cotton and grain fields might as well be abandoned. They are a highly useful and intelligent class in society, honored for their integrity and business sagacity. Their service is indispensable to progress.

The tillers of the soil, or the farming class, in these United States differ widely from a similar class in the Old World. We have no peasantry here in the European sense. Caste has taken no root on American soil. Of twenty-one Presidents of the United States, fifteen came from farms; they were either farmers, or the sons of farmers, and four of the number spent their young manhood tilling the soil on small farms. Thousands of merchants, senators and members of Congress, eminent lawyers. and preachers, and men in the various professions and vocations in life had early acquaintance with plough handles. Farm life is simple. Industry is regular. Temptations to evil are few. The circumstances furnish strong supports to virtue. Morality is

robust. The unanimous verdict is, the best men and women, not by nature, but environments, are found in the rural districts-on American farms. They are hospitable, unsuspecting, honest, true and faithful to their obligations.

We shall not be suspected of any intention to do injustice to either one of the great classes portrayed. As classes their record is unsullied. Bad and faithless men are found in all the conditions of life. Among the twelve apostles, there was a Judas. Among gentlemen, there are those who belie the title. In every club, lodge, association and convention, are faithless men-false to avowed principles. Farmers and merchants are no exception to the weakness or the wrong that pertains to humanity.

With this understanding we may study the perversions in business relations. There is wrong done. No doubt about it. We do not believe that the guilt belongs altogether to the individuals of one class. Business has not all been fair. Crookedness has cut a large swath. There is guilty splendor on the one hand, and honest poverty on the other. What causes brought about these conditions? Were they normal?

Without discussing these questions, attention is directed to the fact that the Southern situation since 1865 was an invitation and a temptation to a great deal of crooked business. The situation deserves consideration. The people were poor. The credit system was the mode of doing business. Tens of thousands of white farmers were incapable of doing

business in this way, without ruin. They did not understand what they were doing, even when the merchants were thoroughly honest dealers. They could not afford to pay long-time credit prices. If this is not true, how shall we explain the impoverished condition of Southern farmers in general? If the dealer was dishonest, swift ruin was inevitable. The negroes were all ignorant. Their custom was sought. They bought without rhyme or reason, as long as the prospect to pay was good. The lien law, intended as a blessing to them, proved a curse, as it practically alienated them, by their own choice, from their old masters. Those who fell into the hands of unscrupulous dealers, became bondsmen a second time. These peculiar circumstances were favorable to rascality. The successful cheat, if a dealer, soon became rich; if a farmer, white or black, he made a little which the high prices paid by the honest farmer covered.

Some of the underlying principles that gave rise to rascality are well worth consideration. Disowned they may be, but their existence is real, and, as active governing motives, the results show them. potential. Men love power. It is inherent in the constitution of man. There is no real "Wamba " or "Gurth" in all the Southland to-day. A condition exists but little removed from that of an age gone forever. Many an Anglo-Saxon has a collar around his neck quite as galling as the iron ring worn by Wamba. Upon its gorget may be read the significant inscription: "Harry Yellowly, the son of Hardfate, is the lienserf of Isaac Shellwell,"