THE CONFEDERATE VETERANS’ HOME.
In connection with my personal history I will take the liberty of
referring to my connection with the organization and work in behalf of
the United Confederate Veterans’ Association.
I realized that only by a combined effort of the old soldiers could we
perpetuate our true history and especially take care of the indigent and
needy old comrades, when sick and in distress. While associated with the
Keating house, the Confederate Home at Austin was started by John B.
Hood Camp of Austin and maintained by soliciting public contributions,
as the State was prohibited by the Constitution to contribute anything
towards its maintenance. Realizing the necessity of everybody interested
doing all they were able to do and my own ability at the time being very
limited, I conceived the plan of requesting donations by factories,
whose machinery we were handling, of certain machines they were
manufacturing as parts of a complete cotton gin outfit. In line with
this I wrote a letter to each one of our factories, setting forth the
condition of our Confederate Home and asking contributions of such parts
as they manufactured, for a complete 3-60 saw gin outfit. These
factories were all located in the North and East, but their response was
prompt and cheerful. I had a sixty-horse power boiler, contributed by
the Erie City Iron Works; a 3-60 saw gins and elevator by the Eagle
Cotton Gin Company of Bridgewater, Mass.; a Thomas steam cylinder press
by the Thomas Manufacturing Company of Little Rock, Ark., and Mr.
Keating gave me a fifty-horse power Erie City Iron Works engine; a
four-ton Chicago scale, by the Chicago Scale Company and a magnificent
Schuttler wagon by the Peter Schuttler Wagon Company of Chicago, the
whole worth about thirty-five hundred dollars.
I immediately notified Governor Ross of this handsome donation by
Northern factories, giving him a full list of the donors, and he wrote a
personal letter of thanks to each of the parties.
Cotton gin machinery, at this time, was rarely bought for cash, always
sold on long time credit, which of course did not meet the urgent needs
of the Confederate Home. In conferring with General Cabell and other
prominent members of the Camp, we decided on a plan of having a drawing
for this machinery, selling tickets at one dollar, believing we could
raise a large amount of money in this way, as outside of a chance of
drawing the machinery was the further inducement that the dollar paid
for the ticket would afford relief to our needy Confederate Home. I then
went to work actively, after first conferring with some of the best
legal talent of the city, as to whether such a drawing was permissable
by law. As it was by them held entirely within the law, taking the
position that a drawing for charity was not a lottery, but a drawing for
profit is a lottery, I had no hesitancy in permitting my name used in
connection with it.
About this time we had an exciting contest for the Governorship of the
State between Attorney General Hogg and Judge George Clark of Waco. On
the policies of each, our comrades of the Camp were divided. While our
Confederate Constitution prohibits the discussion of politics in the
meetings of our Camp, still the members were not prohibited from
expressing their views outside. The Clark element of the Camp insisted
before we proceeded in this drawing to write Attorney General Hogg,
asking his opinion on the legal status of such proceedings, hoping that
he would rule adversely, thereby making himself very unpopular in the
State. Knowing Hogg’s disposition on such ruling and believing he would
express a radical view on the same, I did my best to keep the matter
from reaching his ears, but all to no purpose.
I forgot to mention I had gone on with the work of getting up tickets
and an attractive circular with large cuts of each machine, and sent
them broadcast all over the State. I sent a hundred tickets each to the
sheriff and county clerk of each county, requesting them to act as sales
agents for us, when we had numerous letters from different ones, saying
that they could sell every ticket they had and to send more, thus we had
a fair prospect of raising at least fifty thousand dollars.
The continued agitation by members of the Camp on the subject, asking
Attorney General Hogg for his opinion, resulted in my being appointed a
committee of one to write to him for his opinion in the matter, when he
answered promptly in response that such proceedings would be illegal and
he hoped that it would not be attempted. When I read his letter to the
Camp the Clark men said they had always been satisfied that his ruling
would be such and insisted on dropping the matter. Having cherished the
hope that I would be instrumental in perhaps securing the magnificent
sum of fifty thousand dollars for the benefit of the Confederate Home,
which in connection with the opinion of several of the ablest lawyers in
the State—such men as the Hon. Seth Sheppard and others, whose names I
don’t remember and whose opinions I regarded more highly than I did
Hogg’s, as their construction of the law in the matter, as before
stated, seemed to me most reasonable and fair—I told the members of the
Camp, “The drawing goes on. My name is on the ticket and if Attorney
General Hogg wants to proceed in the matter, he is at liberty to proceed
against me.”
The Sunday following I wrote a personal letter to my old-time friend,
Attorney General Hogg, setting forth the urgency of our action and
finally told him, by my advice the Camp had decided to go on with the
drawing and the object of my writing him was simply to say that we
valued his opinion most highly and appreciated his good intentions
towards the Confederate Home and his rulings were fully in accord with
his duties, as he conceived them to be, and finally wound up the letter
by saying, “the end justified the means,” which expression proved fatal
and got him stirred up about the matter to the extent, as I suspected,
of notifying all sheriffs and county clerks that it would be dangerous
for them to undertake the sale of the tickets and as a result, I regret
to have to record that all the tickets were returned to me, except
perhaps about a hundred.
In answer to my letter the Attorney General stated that if we persisted
in having the drawing that he would use all the power of the State at
his command to put it down and punish us.
The Clark men of the Camp soon circulated the result of our
correspondence and proclaimed to the State that Attorney General Hogg
was unfriendly to the Confederate Home and also to our Confederate
organization, which of course he denied in several of his speeches.
Every Governor up until now, preceding his elevation to the office, had
been an ex-Confederate soldier, but had never done anything to assist in
the maintenance of the Confederate Home through any appropriation of the
State’s money.
As is well known, Governor Hogg was elected and soon after his
installation into the office, he caused the appropriation of money
collected from rental of a building that had been temporarily used as
the Capitol, while the new Capitol Building was under construction and
immediately after the assembling of the Legislature, urged the passage
of a resolution, submitting a Constitutional Amendment to enable the
State to take charge of the Confederate Home and also to give pensions
to needy Confederates, not in the Home.
It is needless to say when this amendment was voted on by the people of
the State it was carried by a large majority, thus enabling legislative
appropriations for its maintenance in a suitable manner.