The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1891-06-25
WHAT AUSTIN HAS ACCOMPLISHED IN
THE PAST SIX MONTHS.
A Magnificent Showing-Few People Real
ize It-Look at the Facts and Con-
graduate Yourself You Live
in Austin.
70 the Editor of The Statesman:

the immense amount OF Work WHICH |
has been performed by the people OF
this city, and the splendid strides
which Austin has taken in the march
of progress in the first half of 1891? l
dare say there are comparatively few
people in Austin who have done so.
1t is fact, nevertheless, that Aus
tin has gone forward in the race be
tween Texas cities for industrial and
commercial supremacy at a more rapid
rate in the rast six months and has
accomplished more results which will
inure to the permanent benefit of the
city than any one of her sister cities
in Texas or the Southwest.
Do you doubt this assertion2 Then
let us see what are the facts in the
case.
In the first place and above and
beyond all others is the beginning of
actual work on our great granite dam.
The grandest enterprise, the
most stupendous undertaking
and the most far-reaching
in the beneficent effects which it
will produce upon the industrial
growth of city, ever attempted by
any community in the south. 1t is
unnecessary to dilate upon the great
good which this great public work has
already accomplished for Austin and
- h, IL mi oh 1,
completed. The votes and sentiments
of this people have already proven in
no uncertain manner their opinions OF
the substantial benefits which will &C
crue from the dam.
Second, the railroad which has been
to the dam this year will
prove of immense benefit to the city
OF Austin Sooner or later it will be
sold at profit and will form part of
a belt line road for Austin which is at
all times an attraction to railroads and
a necessity which enables them to
handle freight economically and rap
idly.
Third, the work inaugurated last
December aud carried out this year of
the ciJy's advantages to the
four corners of the United States may
be cited as one of the things which
has been fruitful of much good for
Austin. The hundreds of letters of
inquiry which have been answered by
the Commercial Club, the thousands
of pamphlets and maps and papers
which have been sown broadcast, as
it were, have yielded a harvest of
direct propositions to locate manufac
turing plants in Austin, showing q
knowledge OF the city's manifold ad
vantages and greater interest than
was ever before manifested in the city
and attest that the peoples money
subscribed for the purpose has been
properly and judiciously used by the
committee Of progressive and ener-
getic men into whose hands it was
entrusted.
Fourth, the location of the national
sanitarium of the T. P. A of America
in Austin was accomplished by the
combined and energetic efforts of the
Texas delegation to the national con-
vention of the L. P. A. which met in
Little Rock lately. This stroke
of good work for Austin
was the outcome of the
state convention Of the T. P. A.
which met in Austin, May /, and the
delegates to which were so magnifi-
Gently entertained by Austin's people
as to completely capture them.
Hitherto the travelling men of Texas
have been accustomed to speak of
Austin in q sarcastic and contemptuous
manner; now, however, they not only
sing it's praises, but have actually Sc
lected it as the one city in the entire
United States of America for their
sanitarium, their home of rest and
recuperation. Does this not speak
volumes for Austin as health resort?
Who can compute the good which the
erection of this building on one of our
beautiful hills will work for Austin?
Fifth, the building of the Austin
Rapid Transit railway electric line has
not only proven delight to residents
of the city, but has been a patent ad-
vertlsement of our progress, and its
financial success has been a gratifca-
ton to its energetic and enter
prising projectors and has been
instrumental in persuading the pro-
gressive owners of the horse car line to
begin at once the construction of
fifteen or twenty miles of electric car
lines.
Sixth, the purchase of the Austin
and Northwestern railroad by the
Huntington interests is fraught with
future good for Austin. 1t means that
the road will be made a standard
gauge road and pushed to Llaho with
out delay. This opens up new trade
relations for Austin and brings to it
the greatest iron ore deposits on the
continent. The Missouri, Kansas and
Texas railroad and the Arkansas Pass
road are both pointing their noses in
the direction of Austin and negotia-
tions are pending which will undoubt-
eddy bring both these great trunk lines
to our city.
Seventh, several factories will prob
ably be erected in Austin next fall as
the result of earnest work on the part
of the board Of trade and the CONNER
cial club.
Eighth, austin is attracting at
tention all over the country
as health resort and next winter will
see the effects of this knowledge of
Austin's delightful climate, the result
of advertising done in the first half of
1891.
Ninth, the city has been granted a
new and more liberal charter by the
l. l.. H. L