The Rebel (Hallettsville, Tex.), Vol. [4], No. 194, Ed. 1 Saturday, April 10, 1915 Page: 1 of 4
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TJLHICJKKY, Editor and Owner
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BALLETT8VJLLE, TEXAS,
SATURDAY.
ilWi
H ft] I ftlj ,! E«@
, called As
m your
E. 0. mum.
What it your
1 became *n eduoator of the *^r- Jolna who took charge individually. Now then, we might argue there wu
•up people, and thai i* the worst The renter* had lived there for a number son* valuable service furnished for net-
kind of a job I ever struek. I became in- °t y®41* n**der another man, and were ve* ling that bale of eotton for thia man; but
in a newspaper, aud finally furn- ry well satisfied; had a nice sehoolhouse 1 know this from personal experience: A
the means to acquis itj and then and ehureh and looked upon the plaee as cotton buyer in Hallettaville, one Mr. 8.
along txying to pay the debt home. %. G. Tarkington, was buying for years for
Then without notice there came a the lnman (Company and he received a
Land Hearina
■ • mm
Well it i« various. 1 I havp paid inter#*! on that debt to
ntt.. ft* «## n..^W AM IHdvlw tllWft...
witnesses
m luwouwr t ritast
ft newspaper, j (MMr
surveying, and ran *
Walsh: Where do you Itee
: At HaHsttoville,
Walsh: I wish, a the
done, you would
activities,
i 1 w«jborn on a farm,
pay it off twice ovary
times — 1 haven't
and am still in
grown up and
naming ft.
meat felled,
accident
•We of the
better
M an
learned the
and after practicing
ten ydfcrs, I received
an unruly horse,
- —-A A .U
contrary to vxf
forced to wot up. Not being
rest up, I lad to find
I studied and qualified
In these days it was
took me fifteen rain-
I was examined by ft
on it exAetly,
But my boys are
help me, and tbey
Populist move-
County Judge
up on the blind
ip a local fight re-
looally.
rel1, now, you were
outline, I believe, Judge, and
iiyou can, to make
the-matter snb-
e, and eliminate if
(hat you deem wore
and that had already,
testified to, on account of the short-'
of the time. •
three change. They found there was an inten- dollar a bale for every bale that he bought,
tion, it seems, that Mr. Johns was going So instead of paying anything to anyone
to rent the farm on the halves, and not on for the sale, why, he got paid for it for
a third ana fourth as had been done. The! buying it.
renters went to him, so tlds man says, to:
statement <
• . I ■
ndge Meitzen: I feel that a good deal thc fie,d> tbst destroyed,
our valuable time has been taken up
by irrelevant discussion, and irrevent disV
cussioa almost; hut'at least I have here
u ezatmuen uy * ®%T W**1* ^ * brought along add have ,
not carp whether I taifeht or more that I didn't bring. I trample^ it under foot and forced these
Hchool or not, or whether I knew eBythln« to turn ,h<™ <"er «° 0"" Commi*
sion «nd let you go through them. I have
or not. Then is when my schooling began.
I had a race keeping ahead of the boys
who were right behind me. Now, had I
not been able to take care of myself in this
mauner I .think I should have been a
pauper, because i never would have got-
ten well otherwise. I am glad of that, I am
not pwrad of it. I am only sorry for others
that have not the mental capacity to strug-
gle along in spite of adversity.
lifttor oil, through the school teaching
profession, I became interested in various
lines of thought that I had never thought
about before. Later on I bought a farm
and commenced to improve it. By the way.
I had sold out mv blacksmith shop and had
some little money ahead. I had made 3ome
money blacksmithing. I never made any
since. I opened my farm and I had a won-
derful experience in farming on my own
hook for tlrree years.
Chairman Walsh : Where was that?
Mr. Meitzen: At Cistern, Fayette Coun-
ty, Texas. I was, bom in Payette County,
from German parents, who fled from the
reaction of the 1848 Revolution. I think
that I inherited some of my revolutionary
qualifications. I am not responsible for
them.
I farmed, and decided that farming was
not profitable, because I had to invest a
good deal of money in the farm, and I
found that I could teach school an,] get a
living out of it without any investment
except the mental investment that I had.
So I went back to teaching school and
taught school, and 1 finally obtained a
grade of the first, degree under a most ri-
gid examination.
a* But having been connected with the
farm, I became connected with Farmers'
Alliance that was at that time pretty pre-
valent.
f had, before that time, joined the
had a few copied, and I shall. I promise
you, just. explain in short the main points
of gome of them.
Chairman Walsh: Very good.
Judge Meitzen: 1 have one, for instance
from what is known as the Day Ranch.
The Day ranch is located at —
Chairman Walsh: May I ask the ques-
tion. there has been a little discussion
about the matter Iv're, — what i« the ju-
risdiction of the County Court in this
State 1
Judge Meitzen:
find out about it, but never could get any-
thing definite. ■
They made a good crop that year, al-
most one bale of cotton to the acre; but
jnst before Ghristmaa there came a bunch
of convicts under guard and put up tents
on the place and on the flrn day of Jan-
uary these eonricta, under the supervision
of the guard, went out into the field and otltet is made, ;
ItlllvtrA/l avi4 fKrt oAHnn unnialrait f 11 / mt. — '%
knocked out the cotton yet unpicked.
Klein says that his mother — his father
had died — with the children that were
at home had yet five bales unpicked in
t (The note 'here famished sad of-
^ fere<i in eVideiuw by the witness, awl
afeout which he has particularly testi-
On« renter, he says, had sixteen seres
untouched, white as it eould be, and the
convicts just tore everything out and
threw the eotton on the ground and
Well then, if that be true in this esse,
Ferguson got a dollar fsr selling it and a
dollar for buying it and ten per cent in-
terest besides, which is soase usury, I
think, over and above the usury statute.
Yet witnesses here hare said that only
a '' few instances" of usury had oesuarrsd.
J turn over to your Commission one of
these notes as a guide and a copy of the
ffed, was roceivedjn evidence, marked
"D^las, Texas, March ',19th, 1915,
Document
people, without notice, to go into their
wagon8 and move. n -3? - , ,
They did not know where to go to, M|
no time to get places and no time to g?f
contracts, because it was too late, because
of the contracts being made in the spring
and summer. They had to move hefter—
skfclter in every direetwl* !eaving> their
loved ones buried in the churchyard they
had established on the plaee, and went
; where they had no schools, no friends,
J nothing! It was a tragedy!
| Thijj is only a copy of the letter; hut 1
j have the original here that I want to turn
he jurisdiction of the! nv<kr Commission.
Witness E. 0. Meitzen.
Serial No. 828.
(Information To Be Furnished.)
Mr. Meitzen • Now, 1 have here these
letters which 1 will of course not attempt
to read, but I hope the Commission will
cfo some good with them. These are in
response to questions 1 have submitted. I
have listed fifty different divisions of
complaints and I have fifty letters, inc
jug these notes and rental contracts
other documents, that I want to file
1
in what particular do
County Court is
you mean?
Chairman Walsh: Are they like in some
states what might be termed a Board of
County Commissioners? ^
Judge Meitzen; Yes.
Chairman Walsh: County Commisnion-
ers? .. i
Juilge Meitzen: The County Judge is
the head of the Commissioners, and there
are four Commissioners in a county. They
manage the affairs of the county.
Chairman Walsh: The fiseal affairs of
the county?
Judge Meitzen: The fiscal affairs of the
county, the roads* purchases, etc. The
County CAurt presides over the Probate
matters occurring inside the couuty, and
it has jurisdiction up to a certain amount
of the money valuation of $500.
Chairman Walsh: In civil cases?
Judge Meitzen: In civil cases. In crim-
inal cases it does not cover felonies, co/
er8 misdemeanors, those that are not mm-
ishabV"bv penitentiary sentence.
Chairman Walsh: You have jury trials
in your court, do you ?
Judge Meitzen: Jur^. trials, yes, hut we
only have six jurymen instead of twelve.
-Now, the Day ranch. I have quite ft
Grange which was then struggling to get | number of these letters here and I am sor-
better conditions for the farmers in 1S86, j rv I cannot go through them all. but the
when I joined the Grange. In 1887 I help-j other people took the wind out of my sails,
ed organize the Fayette County Farmers'
AlKance, and became its secretary. 111
1888. In the fall of 1887 I moved to Lava-
ca County, at Witting, ten miles from
whore I now live, and there taught school
and later became secretary of the Lavaca
County Farmers' Alliance, When the
Farmers' Alliance failed in its operations
to bring relief, we organized the Populist
Party, and t became active in the Populist
Party, having been twice nominated for
state office, v-
It was about that time T became inter-
aiif] so I will have to confine myself to this
thing here. •
This ijj a letter by a man of the name of
Klein, being a typical instance of the
insecurity of tenure and the arrogance of
landlordism. It refers to the ranch owned
by C. R. Johns, and Postmaster General,
A. S. Burleson. The latter married Ralph
Steiner's daughters, and he refers here to
quite a number of people who will testify
to this: He recites that there were some
thirty families living on the ranch some
years ago. T forget just the date., but in
tfstcd in educating the people. T had been j short it is this that without notice to them
an educator of the children before that, j they found there was a move on foot by
Now then, there is another point The
question of usury has been frequently dis-
cussed j!iid it has been contended — well,
it has been shown that a good deal of us-
ury is being practiced. But there is one
form of usury that I want to eall atten-
tion to, that has not been called to your
attention.
It will show the futility of the law un-
der present conditions. It is to show that
the homestead law is largely a failure —
one man thinks there ought to be 110 home-
stead law at all, because of his particular
plans, But the others admit it is a failure
and can be evaded by sale — so-called
sale and then a re-sale. ^ have seen that
often.
But here is a question of usury that
enters into this thing. I have two notes
here — they are paid out, however — the
man was in good hick. Both of these notes
are given at Belton to the Belton Loan &
Trust Company, one for ten dollars and
the other for one hundred and fifty dol-
lars, and the conditions of the notes am
here, as follows:
For every ten dollars that he received
from the bank, he agreed to pay, that is,
he agreed to turn over to J. K. Ferguson,'
I
who was a partner of the hanking concern,
you so as to give you a little W
al conditions. These documents
reply to the question asked in your out-
line as to whether there is any oause for
complaint among the renters. I have many
more of these at hone.
(The letters and papers here furn-
ished by the witness and offered in
evidence were received in cvidenee
and marked respectively, "Dallas,
Texas, March 19th, 1915, Witness B.
0. Meitzen," and numbered serially
from Document Serial No. 829 to Do-
cument. Serial No. 878, inclusive.)
Mr. Meitzen: I have forgotten in my
statement, gentlemen, to say that I was
selected aN nat ional s« cretary and treas-
urer of the Renters' Union when it was
first organized, in Texas, and held that
position for two years until it changed its
name to the Land League. Mr. W. S. Noble
is now in the position that I heirf for two
years. The purposes of that organization
he explained and it is explained in the
constitution that was turned over to you.
Now, here are some rental contracts:
One of them is private and is to be re-
turned, but here is one feature 1 want to
point out in this rental contract. It also
hails from the county (Bell) these notes
hail from. I don't know who got it up, but
it is certainly a complaint. The provision
in this rental contract that T want to point
out is one that has not l>een set forth dur-
ing this hearing and that is where it
says:
'"In case the party of the second part"
1 who is the, renter) "shall from any cause
orl(,; fail or refuse at any time to cultivate or
gather the crops or any part thereof
(all printed here on the same sheet
bale of coUon.
For this bale of cotton he has to pay j planted on the land hereby leased Ui hira
said J. F. Ferguson one dollar for selling; good and farmerlike manner, the par-
it for him anf] the further condition is' *.v °f the f'rst part" (who is the owner)
that if he does not furnish that hale of "°r ,tis agent shall have the right to have
cotton for any cause whatever he is to pay
that dollar anyhow for every ten dollars.
Now this $10 note is made for foijr
months — made 011 May the 20th, 1905,
and was to be paid as the date here shows,
on October 1st, 1905. But it was paid l>e-
fore that time and it is marked on the
margin that he (Ferguson) got eleven
♦ lie same cultivated or gathered at the ex-
pense of said second party. It being here-
by agreed that Raid first party or his agent
shall 1*' the sole judge of the manner of
preparation and cultivation should dis-
agreement arise."
Where does the renter come in? God
if he do*H not keep quiet Jf he Me me to
agitate in some way detrimental to t)M|
interests 0f the l&udlsrd* the latter ean
«ay: "You are not ctiHivaiftag your erop
light" and he has no right to appeal to
anybody else as to whether he has cultiv-
ate,! it right or uot. It rays "the land-
owner or his agent shall be the aoi* judga
in the matter. '' That is jwtf in confirm*
tion of what has baa* asidt
Judge Meitzen (aonUuaJag): Now,then,
1 want to devote myself to tikis Matter si
relief. It is always asked, and I t^ir *
will b<> asked at me, and it1 not r want to
answer it anyway. The pofiiV of relief!
Now yhile f ana not Afexan** | am n
little Hki him in the wasting u <«t the-
Uordian knot! 71
To settle a matter like thia jansnmt get
to the bottom of it. As one man said this
**>«&*, "A man eould not b« toe radie-
al in going to As root of a thing." Hon
the root of the thing is that there tea fMn
aibiKty of able bodied Tim and women M
ing without work. If tito f«mna|. amflil-'
system is so arranged thttt any )HMp mt
live without working or !tt£f rnm'W' ""
society, then someone dim, who Ami tM|'
and is useful to society has to saMlK thai
other person who does nsc a*eom2hfc. anr.
thing naoft* That it tU totatt, rf jhp
quextion and tyt it th M«y ffey *rt 41
afraid to touch) ,
If you try to harmonize the Interests of '
exploiter and exploited; hat sttt paMt
anyone to receive interest, rent and profit
— all graft — or permit ahte bodisdi sun
to live without worh, it means that you aro
iQttig to harmonize ->ikm interests of a
hawk and a dore.
Not that 1 claim that those who live oft
others are hawks in the sense that they
will tear us to pieces, but sometimes f
think that we would be better off if we
were torn to pieces at once, and not by de-
grees, of forty or fifty years; have our
lives worn out and not be able to enjoy
our lives.
Consequently, the only solution is to
stop any man from living from the toil of
another, and you can do that only by tak-
ing the power from landlordism and plac-
ing it in the people, where it justly be*
longs. For instance, a man said this mom>
ing; "The'lamf is mine, said the Lordf".
Tin; lord ill this country should be tho
:*eople, according to the Constitution.
f)f course there Hre soine that have
"stolen lands" and are uccuStome^ to Hy-
ing off them, ami it would fte pretty hard
to make them go to work, because they do
not know how. Ifowever 1 am perfectly
willing to appropriate out of tie
enough to keep them alive, not as paupers^
but because they ought to be treated right.
I believe that nine-tenths of those who
live from the toil of others are good and
kind and try to do what is right, but they
are trying to harmonize two things that
cannot be harmonized, ami therefore I
would advocate the following:
First, tax lands not used or occupied
and hence held for speculative purposes;
that is, such a tax as will make it unpro-
fitable to hold it.
You have been told that we have a great
domain in Texas, untouched by the plow,
and in fact, Texas is so immense a coun-
try, is so much Jand h«re, thatKt
simply staggers the imagination. We ean
take all of Germany with 70 million in-
habitants and dump that into Texas and
when we have dumped all of that territ-
ory into Texas, we have thirty-six millions
acres left, and if we take twenty-seven mil-
lionn off that which is in cultivation, we
have about ten million over, f think it is
that in round numbers.
So if all of Germany we.re put into the
state of Texas, it, would not nearly cover
the uncultivated area. In other words, we
knows! He can't even appeal to the courts
dollars and twenty-five cents. That is at under this contract. The landlord has got
least forty per cent, interest on the money all the power to make him do as he wishes,' have over one hundred million aereo Of
alone, and that is somewhat over the us and if he does not like him he can put ex- arable land in Texas which has never felt
ury law! pense on him. He can worry him to death, the touch of a plow. If the speculator j^H
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Hickey, T. A. The Rebel (Hallettsville, Tex.), Vol. [4], No. 194, Ed. 1 Saturday, April 10, 1915, newspaper, April 10, 1915; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth394856/m1/1/: accessed June 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UT San Antonio Libraries Special Collections.