The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1892-04-14

equally as we'll in industrial develop
ment when they tn I'm their attention
to it, as they are II ow beginning to
do.
The truth is that the world at large
has looked upon reAas as one great
prairie, Hat country, good only for
agriculture anu stock raising, and
many Texans have scarcely known
much more about their own state.
The man down in Galveston hardly
thinks OF travelling 800 to 1000 miles
to ind out what kind OF q
country is in the western
part of his State. Except for the mat
ter of State pride, you might just as
we'll expect Baltimorean to travel
up to northern Maine TO see what
kind of country is to be found there.
The Lake Superior iron ore operators
know tar more about the ores of Llano,
for instance, thanthe general business
man in Galveston or San Antonio, or
Dallas or Fort Worth. The people of
the State have, however, eery wisely
supported q geological department.
hich for some years has been max
ag careful investigation of the min
OF al regions of the State The
The State geologist and his assistants
have done very important work and
have attracted wide attention to the
minerals of Texas. They now have in
the capitol building at Austin prob
ably the finest collection of specimens
that can be found in any state in the
South, although the exhibit is not yet
by any means complete. Gradually
the business men of the state as we'll
as of the world at large are learning to
look with great respect upon the min
eral resources which are to make
Texas one of the foremost Industrial
regions of the whole country.
The coal mines at Thurber, on the
Texas and Pacific road, are now turn
ing out 500 tons of coal a day, nearly
ali of which is used by the road. The
output is being steadily enlarged and
new mines are being opened at other
points, giving promise that Texas Will
soon produce all of the coal which it
consumes and furnish an abundance
of cheap fuel for smelling the iron
ores that are found in such great
quantity and of such high quality.
But for the unwise 70 ilroad and land
laws enacted two years ago the whole
state would be enjoying probably
greater prosperity than it has ever
known. The crops of 1891 were enor-
NOUS, the yield of wheat, corn and
oats aggregating, in round numbers,
about 100 900 900 bushels, and cotton
about 100000 bales. Unfortunately
for the prosperity and progress OF the
state, the politicians aroused a bitter
enmity to capital and to railroads,
and the result has been the
driving out of the state OF
good many millions of dollars,
formerly loaned on farm property, and
almost an entire stoppage OF railroad
construction. A very thorough can
vass of public sentiment as voiced by
leading business men, such as mer-
chants, bankers, lawyers, large prop
erty owners, ETC., shows that with
these classes at least, so far as the
writer has been able to meet them,
there is almost unanimous and GER
. tainly q very bitter opposition to these
laws. Led by scheming politicians,
the farmers were mainly responsible
for these laws, but it is believed that
enough of them will unite with the
business men of the state to make q
? yerv radical change at the next
I election. If this be done, and the IN
Z dications are certainly very favorable
, for it, Texas will once more become q
I favored place in the eyes of the cap
Q italist seeking investment, and OF the
3 railroad builder. A change like this
t would be proclamation by the PEG.
9 pie of this great state to the world at
: large that there should be no more
warning here against capital, but
8 rather that every mans investment,
8 whether it be in railroads OF in cor
: porations for lending money or devel-
!; oping the vast natural resources
should receive the fullest protection
Q Richard H. Edmonds of the Manu-
: facturers Record.
4 AUSTIN, Tex, April 2.