Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1866-10-13
ADVANTAGES OF TEXAS.

When the war closed, many people IN
the South fearing loss of property AND
persecution, went to Mexico, Brazil and
other countries. Only few months
elapsed before they came away disap
pointed in hope and ruined in fortune
And so the Brazilian and Cordova fevers
are subsidized. But another fever, purely
national, has occurred. Texas, once an
independent republic, after that a State
of the Union, and now conquered
province, has become the new Canaan.
1t does not, like the old, flow with milk
and honey. 1t flows with cattle-not
cattle upon thousand hills-upon a
thousand prairies. People in Tennessee,
Kentucky, and other States and Prov
inces are down with this Texas
fever 1t results from an accumu-
lation of cattle on the brain. 1t
is serious disease, and though
it may kill few persons, it will work mis-
chief to many. 1t will depopulate to
some extent the old States of the South,
and transfer vast amount of energy to
localities where it will have no, incentive
to action. Among the herds Of the vast
prairies of Texas, many man of enter
prise will lapse into Incidence. But we
have departed from our main purpose
We meant simply to make an extract
from the New Orleans Times, upon the
cattle capacity of Texas. That journal
says:
Our neighbor, Texas, is rapidly fulfill
ing the predictions of those acquainted
with its capabilities for grazing and cattle
raising. We observed few days ago
that over three hundred thousand head
of cattle had been driven during the last
eight months into Missouri, and through
Missouri into Illinois, whence they were
dispatched eastward, and in every direc-
ton, to the large markets. A curious
fact, illustrative of the enormous cattle
resources and the cheaper raising of cat
tie in Texas, was communicated 10 us by
one of our most intelligent butchers.
From him we learn that twelve thousand
head of cattle, brought to this city from
Texas, have been purchased for the
st. Louis market, and shipped by steam
boat to that port, realizing to the
purchasers good profits. These facts
indicate an entire revolution in the
course of an important traffic. A few
years ago nearly all our fresh meat came
from the gfeat West. Cattle and sheep
made up large share of the cargoes of
our great Western steamboats,. The price
of meat was consequently regulated by
the Northern rates, and with the increase
of consumption at the North, steadily
advanced. The demand in that section
has evidently outstripped the supply.
The grazing resources of the West have
diminished with the cultivation of land
and the direction of capital into other
pursuits, and now the immense resources,
the vast and perennial rich prairies Of
Texas, assert their great advantage in the
cheaper and more prolific production of
cattle. The single advantage possessed
by Texas of her capacity to support cat
tie all the year round on the spontaneous
growth of her soil and of her benignant
cline, must always render competition
with her by the icebound regions of the
North impracticable. For a good part
of the year the cattle raisers in the North
and West must supply their cattle with
grain and hay or they will perish. Now
grain and hay always command high
rates, and the amount consumed by the
cattle being large, must form large
item in the cost of raising them. 1t is
not so in Texas. The calves turned
loose on the prairies of that extensive
country are rarely seen by their owners
after they are branded until they are full
grown and ready for the market