Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-02-05
THE CATTLE INTEREST.
What Outside Capital has Done for Texas.
The Part the Ranchman Plays.
Why Capital is Deserving Texas-More fayOra-
bic Treatment at Hands of the State
Government Necessary.
AUSTIN, TEX, Feb. ?, 1883.

doubt, is the silent, If not the audible
comment of every traveller who passes
through her vast domain with eyes and
ears open. She covers as much of
mother earth as an empire and is beamed
upon from years end to year
end by one Of the most delicious climates
on the American continent. She has al
since the time as a boy delighted in the
stories of stirring adventure laid upon
her rolling plains. But of late [ have
learned to look upon her with
a practical cast of eye, al
though have not dollar
invested within her borders. But 20
there and reflect upon what 1 see and
learn, and on each visit [ am more and
more impressed with the magnitude of
her resources and the diversity of her
products. There is scarcely anything
necessary to the life and comfort of
man she does not produce, while
the thrifty hum of manufactures
show she cannot only furnish
the raw material, but turn it into the ar
ficle ready for use The numerous cities
and towns that stud her eastern half,
closely connected by lengthy railway
systems, are sources of untiagging inter-
est to me. They seem to have drawn
down upon ali nations and chimes for
their population The strange faces and
costumes on the streets, the novel arti-
cles and implements, with whose
use we are unfamiliar, the
peculiar local styles of architecture, keep
one eye on the alert and his brain ac-
tive Then the signs of commerce on
every hand: Mammoth warehouses
packed with bales of merchandise,
crowded wharves and depots, the roar
aud rattle OF traffic, lead to the involun-
tary conclusion that though young in
years, these cities are old Sin business.
All this advancement and prosperity
standing where only few decades ago
were Indian hunting grounds, reveal the
power of capital to civiliZe and improve.
Up to a few years ago capital poured into
Texas from ali directions in an
immense stream. With the
possible exception of California, no other
state of the Union has ever had such an
influx of money. The laws were favora-
bic, the government held out inviting
hands, and believing there were good
prospects of profits, capital fastened to
invest in land and cattle industry. That
within so few years such large
part Of Texas wears the appearance of
old civilization, with its cities, towns and
railroads, is chiefly the result of the eX-
traordinary amount of outside capital
that came in and engaged in the cattle
business. 1t swelled the income of the
state, it opened up the country, made
improvements, and, most important of
all, provided water by boring
wells and building pools, thereby making
the lands available for settlement.
Conditions having been made so friendly,
it did not take the settler long to come.
Towns Sprang up as if by magic, and
rapidly swelled into cities; railroads
checkered the country. Undiminished
the streams of capital continued to pour
in, and the wealth and development of
the state moved forward with
gigantic strides On q sudden this for
ward movement received a severe check.
Laws were passed that rendered invest
ment in lands no longer desirable if pos
sible. The policy of the authorities to-
wards the cattle interest became alarm
ing. A land board was created whose
acts were high-handed and oppressive,
and capital instead of continuing to flow
in so improve her waste places and make
her waterless lands habitable, is desert
ing the state with might and main.
Go further west and you
reach the great ranching
regions of Texas. Here is a world unto
itself, with habits and customs of its
own. But the habits and customs are
not so much the result of choice as the
result of necessity. In the minds of the
inhabitants of the older states life on a
cattle ranch is carried on with q certain
glamour, which stripped aside discloseS !
an amount of hardship, exposure and
discomfort that renders it strongly unin-
,f
lot is less enviabIe than that of ranch !
man. But this cattle ranching bust |
ness has been of inestimable benefit to
our country. without it there are mil !
lions of our population whose meager re- |
sources would prevent their knowing the !
taste of beef but seldom. Our people do |
not begin to comprehend what they owe |
to the ranchmen, yet there is not a worse
abused class of men, nor one concern /
ing which opinions are more
erroneous. 1t passes current that they |
are rolling in wealth, and make for
tune each yeaT-as class they are all |
broke to-day. They are decried con-
demned and legislated against, vet they
keep the price of beef within the reach of
the poor man. They are called ''catt1e
kings and "cattle barons there was
never king so crownless, nor n baron so
pOwerlesS. Even old mother nature buff
fets them as often as she smiles
upon them. Cold, ice, snow,
sleet, nOrthers, cyclones, hail
storms, rain storms, wind storms, drouth
ali are poured upon their defenceless
heads with a liberal hand; and these are
Sterner realities TO them than to any other
class of men. Every one Of them is fol-
lowed by disaster, and in nnumerable
by utter and dire ruin. Then
when for brief period favorable seasons
reign legislatures, governments, rail-
roads, petty officials and the Big Four
take their turn at them, and all consider
them legitimate prey. On the
whole, the lot of cow
man is not happy one.
1 do not own q single share of
cattle stock, nor have single dollar in
vested in cattle, yet cattle ranching in
Texas as well as many other things with
in her borders has attracted my attention
and melted my spirit of investigation,
and l am not totally ignorant concerning
the business. l 1--we in a state where a
love of justice and fair play is one of the
characteristics of its people,
and, as after q long, hard contest with
man and the elements, the ranchman is
he under dog in the fight, my sympathies