San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-08-05
ON THE WING NO. 4.
For the Daily LIGHT.

Brownsville, the inaccessible, is a
very attractive city of five or six
thousand inhabitants, one of the most
American-like of our Rio Grande Cit
les. 1t dates from the arrival of Gen.
Taylor there in April or May of 1916,
enroute for Monterey, Saltillo and
Buena Vista. He located a camp on
the Rio Grande there, since Fort
Brown, in honor of Major Brown,
killed at the time, to command Mata-
moras, Just across the river; hence
the name Brownsville. For a long
time it was the largest and most i'm
portant town on the lower Rio Grande
on our side. But the tribute one must
pay to reach it, about $25 from Gal
weston by steamer, and as much any
other way, has been an in
cubus on its development, as
the steamer plying between
Galveston and Brownsville must de-
pend on wind and wave, one can
never feel certain when he can reach
Brownsville, and less certain when
he can leave 1t. Hence one only goes
there when he has to. so while
Brownsville has had the bars of pro-
gress secure against her in the past,
she is now about to have the hateful
bars removed, so she can begin a new
life. AS an illustration of what we
say, the facilities for landing passen-
gers and cargo at Point Isabel were
better forty years ago than now. One
of the least of her troubles in times
past, was that she was recruiting
station for Mexican revOlutionists.
1t was there Jaurez and Dias began
and it was Escobedo's base of sup
plies in his early movements on Max
milan. 1t was also the chosen
field of Cortinas with his cutthroat
and robber band. But as before init
mated, after long years of waiting
Brownsville is to have new lease of
life and q release from the curse of
outlawry and base servitude to her
taskmasters. She is to have rail-
road to connect her with the outer
world. If this road is built the one
from Corpus Christi, and extended
down to Victoria, the capital of Ia
maulipas, and then on to the City of
Mexico, and across to the Pacific,
will grow like q we'll.
watered banana plant and will wave
her rich luxuriance OF her new growth
in the sunlight of q new life. We
venture this prediction without claim.
ing to be prophet.
She has q small force at work on the
End of the Corpus Chris
ii railroad now, for congress will au-
thorize the building of a railroad
bridge there, and work will soon be
begun on the United States building
there for courthouse, postoffice and
The people there seem
awake to their interests and propose
to foster them with jealous care.
Colonel E. H. Ropes, who is cutting
a waterway through Mustang Island,
in front of Corpus Christi, as his solu-
ton of the deepwater question on the
Texas coast is at the head of the Cor
pus Christi and Brownsville railroad,
and is now in New York to enlist
capital in the enterprise. The
must be apparent, and
hence his success is assured.
some rich lands will be developed
both in Texas and in Mexico. Any
one can also see its advantages; the
shortest line and the tropical products
of Mexico and its proximity to our
sea coast.
We regard the political outlook as
hopeful, as the methods resorted to
to maintain power by the democracy
are irritating and satisfactory.
The people begin to feel that a change
Is needed, and they feel like touching
elbows with the elements that are to
rescue them from their down grade
to commercial death, which elements
are northern, not Texan, and repub-
lican, not democratic. The old cry of
fools and thieves" as applied to
the republican party by democrats
has lost its force in the face of
huge democratic defalcatlons in
almost every southern state. We
think those three corner counties,
Cameron, Hidalgo and Starr, are get
ing ready to support the party that
will give them q chance in the race
fer success with the balance of this
wide-awake world, as embraced in the
United States.
The democratic party in power in
Starr county deemed it political ne
cessity to throw out the vote of Roma
to enable them to hold that county,
and United States democratic Judge
was alike impressed with a party me-
cessity that compelled him to use his
authority to prevent an investigation
of parties indicted for frauds there
and state democratic judge felt it
TO be political necessity to
reconstruct all the county offices
of Hidalgo county, without shadow
of law or authority for his interior.