The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1881-11-30

uul1 OF talllOrnla and perhaps Monterey ON
the Pacific coast, on the one side, and the
ports of the Gulf of Mexico on the other,
Dancey-honest as Providence permits men
to be, enthusiastic as all honest and inteliec-
tual advanced thinkers are proven TO be.
thoroughly versed in all the geographical
knowledge then attainable loving his
country and kind-advanced those IDEAS,
coupled with the thought that its COnsum-
nation would make Texas, lying across the
most temperate and productive climate in
the world, tire conservative republic of the
earth lie was ahead of his generation, and
was laughed at by the unthinkinga vision
list. Dead and forgotten, except by Il few
who think and analyze the wealth OF the rich
North and of Europe is now daily before
our eyes, yindicating his memory with
out knowing it, for the evidences of his
genius and prescience are only among the
dust-covered archives in Austin, if not
burnt in the late destruction of the
State capitol Honored be the
memory of John w. Dancey. In 1917 a
meeting was held in the town OF Victoria,
Texas, Jesse O. Wheeler, President, John
Henry Brown, Secretary, in which resolu-
tons were passed, and an address prepared
to the Congress of the United States urging
national aid in the construction OF Il rail
road, as military necessity, from some
point on the Gulf of Mexico TO the Pacific
ocean in California. An address, was written
by John Henry Brown, associated in com
mittee with A. $. Cunningham, James W.
Allen, William S. Glass, and others, all
then prominent citizens of Southwest Texas,
and presented to Congress by Repre-
sentative Timothy Pilsberry, and re-
ferred to a committee, which made u favor
able report on the subject, but the sectional
jealousy of the day prevented action upon
it. Had Congress endorsed the plan pro-
posed and the road been butt, does any
sane man believe civil war would have en-
suedT Would not the million and more
men who died during the war been let to
die in peaceful homes? The wooden legs
and armless sleeves now so common would
be unknown in our country, except in soft
as accidents are concerned, and two hum
dred millions of dollars could have been
saved on the Indian question. Risk.
Throckmorton and others, few years
later, put forth the grand idea Of
CONTINENTAL HALLWAY
on the latitude of thirty-two, now. after 30
long time-now, to-day. an accomplished
fact, Inside Of sixty days the same car will
run from New Orleans via Shreveport and
Dallas; or from Galveston and Houston,
via Dallas or Waco, to San Diego or San
Francisco, in California. Look upon the
picture at which Europe stands in admir-
ing amazement Will any man, under
such facts, deny the far-seeing wisdom OF
those old-timc Texians' Or deridc their
memory as Bourbons, fossils, or moss-backs?
But this Is, so to speak, depression. My sole
object is to bring to the minds of our
people an idea of the future grandeur OF
Texas. The territorial area of the State,
bon Ill tln L..
French empire, speaks for itself But the
popular idea has long been that Southwest,
West, and Northwest Texas wssa vast
wilderness, fit only for cattle and sheep.
This impression, long known by the we'll
informed to be erroneous, is now dispelled
by ocular demonstration. The great South
west of the State, once called by Senator
Benton, teens with as rich q soil as there
is between the Mississippi and the Rio
Grande, and will become speedily,
under railroads now in operation,
a vast producer Of sugar, cotton,
and semi-tropicnl fruits. West Texa,
proper, from Eastland across the plains and
mountains to Ell Paso, now pierced by the
Texas & Pacific Railroad, and connected
with California and the whole United States
on and .c,st of the Mississippi, is destined
to become the grandest wool-growing coun-
try on the continent. The idea Of its being
a desert is an exploded myth. Take out
the sand-hills and the broken mountains
cast them away as worthless-enouph Of
generous soil and nutritious grass remains
to make it garden spot of the earth"
1t is simply astounding to trace the rapid
growth of the Spanish and American
clements in Mexico, in California, in
Louisiana, and in Texas, since the begin
ming ofthis century.
"o'hNNo" ii"oo = "o"'oN'
still a yonng man, only iiity-sevcn on the
lth OF February, lSS2, is one OF the links
that binds us to the past, reylvlng all OF
these marvellous memories lie moved
rom Arkansas with ms father IN lSil, be-
lore annexation, ana before the Mexican
1877. He has lived TO see the first railroad
built across the Rocky Mountains which
unites California, conquered from Mex
leo thirty-iour years ago, with Texas
on the north, and has assisted to con-
struct other transcontinental lines uniting
the Pacific with the Gulf of Mexico and the.
great lakes and the Atlantic Ocean; and
more than all, he has liveu to see Texas
itsclfassuming its ascendancy as the largest
commonwealth in our galaxy of States,
opening wide its doors to the commerce of
the world, contributing by itsvast material
and moral resources to the first civilization
of the Republic of Mexico on its borders,
and to the magical redemption of Louisiana,
the theatre of Thomas JEFF
ferson's greItest acquisition, more
than three.quarters of century
ago In a very remarkable speech by Gov
ernor Tnrockmorton, when he was a mem
Der of Congress, on the LIST Of March, 1879,
he described some of the future productions
al only forty out of two hundred counties