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About The gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925 | View Entire Issue (April 24, 1919)
THE GAZETTE-TIMES, HErPXER, OREGON', TUTRSD VY, APRIL 24, 1910. r.lGE SIX, HR. BURLESON 15 II BUSINESS I Harvt y Weekly. The Weekly has often criticised Mr. Murk-sou u r errors he has com mitted in the execution of the heavy responsibilities which the President has thrust u; n him. But the criticism has invariably been specific and constructive never general. Of late a part of ti e press has shown a marked tendency t- criticise Mr. Burleson in the most general man ner. All sorts if charges, as irrele vant as they were destructive, have been made. Some writers have stated bluntly that Mr. Burleson was al together without, business experience and that the errors charged against him are the result of the lack of such training rather than of political mania or personal idiosyncrasies. Nothing better could be expected of one whose lite has been spent upon public affairs, t- the exclusion Of bus iness, they inform us. All of this if to be deprecated. It is untrue and unfair. Politics has -been an avocation a side line in llr. Burle3on"g career. Business has really been his principal interest in Ufe. He has prospered. He is rich. His success as a business man has been far greater than as a politlcan. Compare, for example, the creation of a persona! fortune variously estimated at a million and upwards out of Texas farm lr.nds as a sample of his business acumen, with, let us say, the results of the last Congress ional campaign, which he helped to direct. As an evidence of his thoroughly developed business ability his capa city for getting a dollar's worth for every dollar paid Consider the man ner in which Mr. Burleson developed 2,000 acres of indifferent land into the most profitable plantations in Hill and Bosque Counties, Texas. Take, for example, the contract made "by and between the Texas State Penitentiaries" and Mr. Bui'le json and his brother-in-law. This con tract is an extremely long document and cannot bi- reproduced in full, but. a few of the more importont tedious will fcuttsfy any fair-minded persjn that it represents the handiwork of no business novice. It is provided that the State would furnish Mr. Burleson and his brother-in-law with 125 convicts, "whites and Mexkans," who would work the plantations cn the "share system," wheioby the State would receive sixty per cfiit of the profits and the brothers-in-law the remaining forty per cent. In specifying the detailed financial arraiiRi'iuents, the contract provided that any momys the lirothers-in-law advanced for running expenses would be reui'.iil to tho "parties o the smii-d p:irt willi imerost at the rate, of eight per cent," nnd that "they shall pay 70 cents per day" for each man who miKht b employed solely by the brothers-in-law, on work in which the State had no share. These arrangements indicate an uncommon degree of business acu nicn. Which of Mr. Burleson's critics can show contract that compares with the document in question? But tills was not all. Anyone might sisn up f"r a bargain, but it is the wise business man who takes precautions to insuro its consumma tion. Mr. Burleson and his brother-in-law saw to it that the men they hired would do their work honestly and faithfullythere was to be no chance for shirkers. Section 10 of the agreement guarantees that "the guards in charge require each Bind every convict, when physically able, to do and perform good and sufficient work and In such manner aa shall bo required by the party of the second part." There Is no labor union nonsense here. Each convict did a day's work and the hours wore set by the sun; in the summer, twelve to fourteen; in the winter, ten. Any fair-minded man huuid be convinced by even hese few sections of the contract that Mr. Burleson knows how to en gineer successfully business deals of onsiJerable size. But objection may be maflo that while he Is capable of planning major operations, he is in capable of handling details. To offset any such contention, ref erence need only be made to Section 14: "The parties of the second part shall pay to the parties of the first part the sum of twenty-five dollars per month for the slops." Frankly, there is no way at this distance from Bosque and Hill Counties to estimate whether or not Mr. Burleson got $25 a month out of this bargain, and it is presented merely to show tiat his mind covers the most minute details when he is concerned with business. There is no reason to believe that the profits from the pigs and the stys was dis proportionate with that from the land and the convicts. While it is impossible to render a detailed ac counting of Mr. Burleson's profits, there is available the statement of "Captain" J. L. Brooks, who was in charge of the convicts, and this should satisfy any unbiased mind that the State lived up to Us bargain. Hero are a few sentences taken at random: "I think a man is entitled to good, wholesome food and plenty of it to give him strength to carry on farm work. "We never have religious services. "There is no kind of school on the farm for the convicts. "There is no eff ort made to teach them at all. ' "I have been working convicts sixteen years. I know when a man is working or not. "When it is necessary I believe in corporal punishment. I whipped Luce and Oliver on the fourth of this : month. My record shows B. F. Luce ; eighteen licks, offense laziness; Joe . Oliver seventeen licks, offense laziness. I whipped them on the rump. In whipping them I don't throw them on the floor and strap them. I didn't have to. Their bodies were exposed and they were red and bruised up a little." So much for discipline, education, land religion. Concerning hours of I labor, t'i.e Captain said: I "I take tho men out to work; about daylight. It is light enough to see a nan well. We work until noon. Wi ry to take an hour off at noon. Then .ve go to it and stay until dark." ?rom all of which it would appear :hat Mr. Burleson got seventy cents worth of work out of the convicts for each day they were employed, and tolerated no nonsence from preachers or teachers. If this chapter of Mr. Burleson's life, partial and incomplete as H is, does not present ample proof of his business capacity and his ability to carry, through Iarg9 and profitable affairs, with due attention to details, then we give up. HKAIXS INNEC'KSSARY. Being dismissed from various em ployments on account of some mental deficiency, Pat recently consulted a brain specialist, who, having exam ined the contents of his cranium, said: "These brains want to be wash ed and cleaned, and if you leave them with me for a day or two I'll make a job of them." "All right, sir," agreed our hero. "I'll come back for them at the end of the week." 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