In 1895 the Confederate veterans' home which had been conducted by the John B. Hood camp of Confederate veterans and maintained by private aid was taken over by the state, and in 1911 the Confederate woman's home which had been previously privately maintained was taken over.2 These homes care for the indigent Confederate veterans and their widows. After the repeal in 1879 of the cash pension act of 1876, cash pensions to veterans of the Texas Revolution continued to be paid under old special acts, but the payments aggregated only a very small amount. The land pension act of 1879 granted 640 acres to indigent veterans or their widows, but in 1881 a new land pension act was passed which granted 1,280 acres and abolished the condition that the recipient should be indigent.3 In 1883 and annual cash pension of $150 was granted to indigent veterans of the Texas Revolution, signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence, or their widows.4 In 1899 cash pensions to indigent and disabled Confederate veterans or their widows were granted.5 The law contemplated a pension of $8 per month payable quarterly, though it was provided that if the sum appropriated should be insufficient to pay a pension of this amount the appropriation should be pro-rated among the pensioners. The practice prevailed of pro-rating the amount, and the appropriation increased from $100,000 in 1889 to $500,000 in 1911.

1 Laws of 1915, First Called Sess., p. 36. Laws of 1915, Reg. Sess., p. 143.

2 Laws of 1895, Reg. Sess., p. 42. Laws of 1911, Reg. Sess., p. 50. The transfer of the Confederate Home was first provided for in 1891, but the constitutionality of the act was regarded as doubtful, and an amendment to the constitution was consequently adopted in 1894 which authorized the transfer. This amendment fixed the maximum appropriation for the home at $100,000 year. Another amendment adopted in 1910, making constitutional the establishment of a home for the wives and widows of Confederate veterans, limited the total appropriation for the two homes to $150,000 a year. Constitution, art. 3, sec. 51.

3 Laws of 1881, p. 35.

4 Laws of 1883, p. 36.

5 Laws of 1899, p. 182. Laws of 1903, Reg. Sess., p. 108. The constitutional amendment authorizing pensions which was adopted in 1898 made the maximum appropriable for pensions $250,000 a year. The amendment adopted in 1904 raised the maximum to $500,000. Constitution, art. 3, sec. 51.

An amendment to section 51 of article 3 of the constitution was adopted in November, 1912, which authorized the levying of an ad valorem tax not to exceed five cents on the one hundred dollars valuation of property for the purpose of creating a special fund for the payment of pensions to those who served in the Confederate army and navy or in frontier organizations or state militia during the Civil War or to their widows. This amendment was carried into effect by the law of April 7, 1913, and a tax of five cents was levied.1 The amount received by the pension fund in 1915 was $1,277,669.46, and the amount disbursed was $1,442,413.85.2

By the acts of February 20 and April 18, 1879, 3,050,000 acres of public lands were set aside to secure a state capitol. A contract was entered into on January 18, 1882, whereby in return for 3,000,000 acres of land situated in the counties of Dallam, Hartley, Oldham, Deaf Smith, Palmer, Castro, Bailey, Lamb and Hockley, valued generally at the time at fifty cents an acre, Matthias Schnell, of Rock Island, Illinois, agreed to construct a capitol.3 The present magnificent granite structure was brought to completion in 1888, and the chief money expense to the state in connection with it was its furnishings and the repair of the grounds, for which $171,500 was appropriated in 1888 and 1889. In 1882 the old capitol was destroyed by fire, and the state was put to the expense of a special session of the legislature and of the construction of a temporary capitol, for which latter purpose $50,000 was appropriated. Monuments have been erected on the capitol grounds and elsewhere to commemorate the memory of those whose names are illustrious in Texas history; the battlefield of San Jacinto has been purchased and made into a state park; and the Alamo has been purchased to be converted into a memorial worthy of its heroic associations. In connection with public buildings and grounds may be mentioned the creation in 1911 of the office of state inspector of masonry, public buildings and works.1

1 Laws of 1913, Reg. Sess., pp. 282, 95. Laws of 1911, p. 288.

2 Report of the Comptroller, 1914, p. 15. The year 1914 was the first one under the new pension law. To each pensioner on the total disability list the annual pension was $100; to each pensioner not on the total disability list the annual pension was $67.50. The pensions were paid quarterly. Since the new law the number of pensioners has nearly doubled. When the new law was passed it was expected that each pensioner would receive a pension of $100 yearly; Austin American, August 23, 1915. In January, 1915, there were 18,000 pensioners as compared with 11,000 in 1911. Of the 18,000, there were 1,280 who were totally disabled and who received $8 per month; the remainder received $7.33 per month; House Journal, 34th Leg. Reg. Sess., p. 53.

3 Contract for building the New State Capitol; Reports of Departments, 1881-1882.

The expenditures on account of the state militia and state rangers decreased from $92,076 in 1881 to $57,815 in 1910 and then increased to $123,143 in 1915. A movable state police force, known as the Texas rangers, dates from 1876. Following the break-up of the Confederacy and lasting until the eighties there was an outbreak of lawlessness in the state, and life and property, especially in the west and southwest parts of the state, were imperiled and subject to depredation. The state police of the Davis administration was organized partly to meet this condition of affairs, but not only was it not a movable force, but it was composed in no small measure of ruffians, was a political machine, and caused strife and disorder instead of suppressing it.2 By 1879 protection from Indians and marauding Mexicans was entrusted to the United States Government and to Mexico, but thieves and desperadoes confined to infest the frontier, and the inefficiency of the county sheriff system to protect life and property was apparent.3 A state ranger force of twenty-seven men was again organized in 1879, and an annual appropriation of $100,000 was made for each of the years 1880 and 1881 for the purpose of suppressing lawlessness and crime. After 1880 expenditures for this purpose decreased; though in 1884, on account of the outbreak of fence cutting and disorder in the western counties, a special appropriation of $50,000 was made, but only $16,500 was expended. The disturbed conditions on the Mexican border since 1910 have brought the rangers again into prominence, and appropriations for the force have been increased. The force may consist of not more than four companies of mounted men, each company to consist of not more than one captain, one first sergeant and twenty privates. The actual number is much less, however. In January, 1915, the force consisted of three captains and thirteen enlisted men.1

1 Laws of 1911, p. 207. Laws of 1915, p. 253.

2 Galveston News, October 13, 1882. The force organized in 1876 was composed of 53 men, and $150,000 was appropriated for it in 1877 and 1878.

3 Galveston News, January 30, 1879.