Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-10-24
THE RACE BEGUN.
The Beginning of the Contest for Mu-
nicipal Supremacy in Texas.
What Denison Paper Says of the Chances
and Its Own Plucky
Town.
Denison Herald.

be tremendous struggle for vantage
ground and for supremacy as trade, rail-
road and manufacturing centers between
number of the leading Texas cities.
That San Antonio has more people to-day
than any other municipal corporation in
the state. and that Dallas has more than
San Antonio, If immediate suburbs be
included, does not make 1t certain by
any means, but either of these will be the
most populous city in Texas when Uncle
sam S enumerators come around again
in 1900. Fort Worth, bitterly dsap-
pointed to find that she has but 90, 900
population, is going to make the greatest
effort of her life to overtake and pass
Dallas. While the probabilities of her
dong that may not be roseate just now,
II should be borne in mind that Fort
Worth has infinitely the better
natural advantages for q large city
and is surrounded by rich agricul-
tural county, rapidly growing. Besides
she has number of citizens of eXtraor-
binary energy, far seeing intelligence,
great public spirit and considerable
wealth who are ever scheming and push
ing for the glory and prosperity of Fort
Worth. Dallas has the advantage in
having large number of wealthy East
ern people already interested in her
progress, but there is no telling what
Fort Worth people may yet accomplish
or what the wheel of fortune muy not
have in store for that plucky city. Dali
las is forging ahead and in spite of nat
ural disadvantages is making unquss-
tionably substantial progress. She is
getting to be quite an important manu-
facturi' center and her enthusiastic and
persistent business men, oil pulling to-
gether as board of trade, are drawing
capital from all directions and securing
new Industries of one kind and another.
Austin is about TO begin work on her
great dam to cost million of dollars and
already feels the thrill of new be-
ing. There IS no telling what ten wears
may do for the beautiful Texas capital
and it is easily probable that she NAV
grow as fast as has Augusta, Ga, and
that ten years hence she NAV he one of
the leading manufacturing cities of the
South. Waco is going ahead splendidly
and although she has q start OF but little
more than 1000 over Dsnison she has
much wealth, rich country and people
around her, and Is now attracting East
ern capital. Galveston is Intoxicated
with joy because after years OF waiting
and of agitation the general government
is TO spend several millions to make her
safe deep water port. What an I'M
netus this great work will give to the
growth of the Island city can only be i'm
agined. 1t is bound to be
great. Houston, already the most i'm
portant railroad center in the state, ex-
poets TO gain quite as much from the gov
eminent work at Galveston as Galveston
herself. She is near to Galveston and
connected by rail and by water. Each
of the cities we have named has some
special reason for expecting a large
growth within the next decade and each
is straining every nerve to-day for ad-
vantage; railroad connections, factories
and improved navigation are the ends
sought after. There is another city, not
large nor rich, but plucky and, on the
whole, lucky, that we have not yet men,
toned. Her name is Denison. She has
grown from village of 1900 population
in 1880 to city of IL 900 population to-
day. She has greater natural advan-
taees than either of the other cities; the
country surrounding her is rich, not only
in an agricultural sense, but rich in coal,
in coke, in minerals of various kinds.
She stands ut the natural gateway of
the great empire state and the rich,
possibly fabulou,ly rich, Indian Terri
tory. She has made good beginning
as railroad centre and is just now
making a start in manufacturing, every
requisite for which is found here in
quantity and quality that ought to give
her undoubted advantage over any Texas
point competing. But there are draw
backs that the good people of benson
must take IN consideration before it is
tso late. If Denison is to realize the
great hopes her people have long enter
tanned of her she must get down to
business this very year. She has not the
individual wealth of either OF the other
cities we have named and she is the
smallest of the lot; but what she lacks in
wealth and numbers she makes up in
Safck and luck. The great hindrance to
Yer growth and her proper development
is q sIip-shod, unbusiness like. devil go
lucky way of dong things and
it. HAL come out right in the end
sort of spirit which seems to pervade
all classes. There is a lamentable
lack of organization and open-handed
concerted action for the public good. A
few, very few. men are allowed to go
ahead and do everything, and If they do
that those who hang back say the city ia
dominated by clique. This disorgani-
cation, every man for himself style of
doing things is keeping benson back; it
is dangerous, and unless there is an
awakening here soon and strong pupu-
lar movement iuaugurated to push Dsni-
son ahead on all lines, q movement
showing on its face that it is pro bono
publico and means business and progress
unless such a movement is inaugurated,
Denison will be one of the cities that will
be ashamed of her population in 1900.
Denison is progressing, and she will
surely make fair increase IN wealth
and population between now and 1900,
but that ought not to be satisfactory.
She ought to ovsrtake and pass at least
three of the cities now ahead of her.
and hard, unselfish work
will do it, and nothing else will.