Dallas herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1849-1873, 1872-06-22
The Development Of Texas,

From tho New York Commercial Advertiser.
When wo consider tho enormous
railroad enterprises of tho last few
years, enterprises that abound even
in the poorer and moro thin y peo,
pied parts of the country, it seems
/ strange that the great and product
i've State of Texas has attracted SO
little ofthe public attention. 1t GER
tainly does not come from tho fact
that tho trade ofTeXas is insignfi-
cant; for the beef and cotton which
come from that State arc well known,
and tho stream of cmigrants to that
State is appreciated at something
like its real value. Perhaps the cause
Of tho comparative neglect Of rail
road matters in Texas, is to be found
in the fact that the State is princi-
pally kno wn by it's ports onthe Gulf
of Mexico. Communication by sea
being open from tho first, the i'm
provcment Of land communications
appears to have been too long post
pened.
Now, the intercourse with Texas
which tho rest Of the United States
has held by means of the Ocean and
Gulf lines of Steamers, was all very
we'll for a beginning Of trade; but it
has ceased to bc sufficient. 1t is truo
that this trade has caused the build
ing of some railroads, as feeders to
it, and with good business results,
as in the case of the Houston and
Texas Central Railroad. But this
method Of development does not
suffice for country SO extensive as
that within the boundary ofTexas
and it fails oftho necessary direct
ness, when tho geographical rela-
tions of tho State with tho rest Of
tho United State are borne in mind.
Texas is, to the whole family of
tho Atlantic and Middle States, tho
completion of tho Southwest; rs
those States become better devel-
opcd, it becomes, and will remain,
the Southwest itself. The popula-
ton from which Texas draws its inn
migration with which it trades, and
from which it receives the capital
to develop its resources, lies wholly
North and East Of it. With this
vast, rich, and cntcrprising popula-
tion, Texas needs direct railroad
communications, insuring unbroken
routes for freight and travel, and tho
post.ofiice facilities which are 9TH
orwise impossible. Tho railroads
which feed the Gulf ports do not af-
ford these advantages; and nothing
short Of line travorsing tho State,
from somo point ofits Mexican from
tier, on the Rio Grande, to the North
eastern frontier, will answer tho re-
quiremonts of Texas. This has been
thoroughly understood by the lead
ing people of Texas; and a railroad
charter, granted by the Legislature
two years ago, tostifies to the local
estimate its necessity. This road,
which might appropriately be known
as the Texas Diagonal, is called the
International Railroad ofTeXas; and
will run, when completed, from IL
point near Fulton (Ark.) to a point
near Laredo, on tho Rio Grandc.-
Already about hundred miles arc
completed, and trains running over
it, Northeast from Hearne, about
the middle of the limo. Tho cvi-
dent advantages of the route chosen
for this road have led to the Hous-
ton and Great Northern being am
algamatod with it; tho shortest limo
to the Northward, resting upon
Houston and the port of Galveston,
being thus merged into one com
plete scheme for anncXing Texas to
the railroad system of the older
States. The enterprise is carried
on by some of our own most solid
men in conjunction with leading men
of Texas; and the work has advan-
ccd with reasonable speed and is of
thorough solidity.
AS this International Railroad of
Texas will complete the skeleton of
Railroad communication Of the Uni
ted States, as far as the twenty.third
dcgroo of longitude West of Wash
ington and down to the Mexican
frontier, its completion will put
Texas into proper commercial rela-
tions with the whole of tho Union
by land-carriagc, and independently
Of long and dangerous voye ges by
the Gulf and the Atlantic Ocean,
1t is therefore public improve
ment of more than ordinary impor-
tancc and calls for an attention which
it has not hitherto received. This
will bo still moro apparent when
the Company's proposed extensions
in Mexico arc finally arranged;
Southwark to the City of Mexico,
and Westward to the Pacific Ocean
at San Bias or Mazatlan.