The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1881-10-28
TEXAS THROUGH NORTHERN EYES.

euitoT tnuS ulluutS 10 tnls STATE, we cA-
tract, against our usual custom, extensively
from the article for. our editorial columns,
AS it shows how one of the foremost and
representative men of his section
regards this "happy land of Canaan"
Col. Forney says By law as inevitable
as destiny and as nscru.able rs fate, man.
kind steadily gravitates to intellectual and
civil liberty; no matter what nat ions
or parties may The end to all humanity
is this. War, luton, death and victory
are at last solved in the elevation and the
Improvement of the human race, Take the
history of the two great commonwealth
Texas and Kansas, the history of the one
since its independence of Mexico in 1896
and romantic story of Stephen
+. Austin, the founder, son of Moses Aus
tin, of Durham, Connecticut and compare
it with the almost equally dazzling and
briefer narrative of the romance Of Kansas,
which may be said to have grown as rapidly
as the palace of Aladdin within less than
twenty-five years or since 1851. And we
have a record of human progress which de-
ties imagination and surpasses the ordinary
records of ancient and modern civilization.
1t was my good fortune, with many others,
most of them dead, and many living to
have watched the advance and development
of these two phenomenal communities,
to have personally participated with many
of the pioneers of both, and to
have seen the substantial evidences
Tor their joint, and for the last ten Yeas
their parallel progress, and therefore, guild.
ed by this experience, dwell upon their un.
sDeakable influence upon human affairs.
The Academic Qua civil war delayed the
development of the incalculabc riches OF
Texas, while it served primarily to reveal
the wonderful value of Kansas, and now
that peace has come, it is marvellous how
rapidly that event has served to call forth
the fabulous resources of Texas. In 1879 |
saw Texas for the first time, in company
with the late Thomas Alexander Scott
president of the Pennsylvania railroad
chief, at that time, of the great Texas
and ,trans-continental thoroughfarc
Long before it seemed to have
been ordered that Kansas would take the
lead in the struggle for the mastery of the
continent but this was an illusion. Texas
had been conquered in the conquest of the
rebellion; Kansas had been victorious in
he victory over the rebellion. The passion
Tor emigration attracted myrifds to Kansas
and to the other new stat. 4 of the Union.
but 1t was some time before the spirit OF
adventure could be tLrned to the unlimited
ields OF enterprise and production in the
great empire of Texas, but that time soon
elapsed. When our party reached the Dor.
ders of Texas, Shreveport, Louisiana, on
the 22d June, lS72,a little more than nine
years.ago there were only $50 miles of rail
road in the state, and we travelled several
hundred miles in ambulances over n tract
of country which is now covered with pop
ulation and iron highways. spoke, as tn,
representative of Colonel Scott, to large au
dicnces in favor of the construction of tn,
Texas Il Pacific railway, from the Red Rive,
to the sea, at Shreveport, Louisiana; a
Jefferson, Texas; at Marshall, Texas; n
kaufman, Texas; at Dallas, Texas; at For
Worth, Texas, and at other points, windin,
up at New Orleans on the 18th of July
From that moment fresh and all.absorb
ing interest was awakened in regard t.
Texas in every part Of the country. Tn,
proceedings of the tour of Colonel Scott anC
his expedition were printed in pamph
let and circulated far and wide
and were followed by continuous and per
sistent movements looking to the develop
mcnt of the country and the organization o
immigration. What is the outlook to-day
Judged by contrast with the experience o
the younger, and what may be called tn,
rival commonwealth of Texas, we gatho,
the details of picture wholly without par
allel in human civilization. There is n,
contest between Texas and Kansas th,
world is large enough for both. Kansas i
| n planet, star, planet of the first magni
tudc, a star of matchless brilliancy, re
public; but Texas is great sun, anothc
world, born for superior and supreme con
troll, held in its superb entirety, no
for any subordinate place in grea
| system, but intended as system alone
marked for command and for enduring i'm
mortality, 1t is not yet fifty years sine
Texas was founded by Austin, but thi
period must be discounted, first, by It's wa
with Mexico; then by the struggle between
Mexico and the United States for its posses
sion; and, finally, by the disasters Incl
| dental to the rebellion. The area o
Texas is 27i,3j6 square miles, This /
larger than France, Austria, or the German
empire it is greater than the United King
| dom of England, Scotland, Ireland an,
WALES; larger than Greece, Switzerland
Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, por
tugol and all the New England State
combined and more immense in its are
than Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island
| Connecticut, Massachusetts,, Maryland Ncy
York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware
| Illinois and Ohio combined. nlS72, whei
| visited Texas, there were but $50 miles o
railroad; there are now $500 miles, Kansa
has 3,lOi miles, The educational iacili
ties of Texas are without parable
in the history of mankind there are iou