New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-02-05
IRON A STAFF CORRESPONDENT THE THInUNE.l


,xvou . srAyy CORRESPONDENT OF THE T1inUNE.l
Taxas Is an empire which contains almost
.vervthing except natural beauty. It's resources
IN area and range Of productions and its progress
,n nopulation and material prosperity impress
sivs facts: but there are no duller railway jour
news in the Union than the circuit Of $40 miles
east and west from Louisiana 10 the Rio Grande.
or that Of $50 miles north and south from the Ind
tan Territory to the Gulf Coast. With the
ception Of San Antonio and Galveston. the cities
are neither picturesque in their environment nor
interesting apart from the evidences of enterprise
which they disclose. Austin is dreary capital:
Houston while well-built. bustng town des
tined to commercial greatness. is without dis
tnctive characteristics. good architecture signs
OF public taste: and Fort Worth. Waco Dallas.
Texarkana and other towns are remarkable chief
~ for their business energy and rapid progress.
Texas is a marvellously rich agricultural State
with black alluvial bottom lands adapted to
sugar cane and rice. with broad prairie Levels
equally good for cotton or corn. and with upland
stretches where stock raising can be conducted
under the most favorable conditions; but 1t is not
q beautiful country nor has the hand Of man sue
ceeded In investing the cities with picturesque
charms.
Thirteen wears ago Fort Worth village
with a few frame gambling houses restaurants
and rough dwellings. II was the headquarters for
cattlemen In the days when cowboys drove their
herds across the plains instead Of shipping stock
10 market as they do now. To-day II Is -four
.shing city and important railway centre. and the
country around 1t. where there was not cabin
nor a fence twenty years ago. is now thickly set
tied The pioneers Of Northern Texas were farm
ers who pilo;el prairie schcooners from Ken
lucky Tennessee and Arkansas and came 10
anchor in rich prairie lands where ranches
with hundreds of acres and thousands OF
cattle could be established The conditions or
the stock industry have been transformed
Land has risen in value and the ranches
and herds are smaller than they were. Stock
men are now interested in improving the quality
Of their herds and they have farms in high
state OF cultivation: and many of them instead
a. fattening their cattle their own acres. send
them to stockyards where they can be fed for 100
days on the refuse products of the cotton oil lac
tories The successful pioneer is now rich man.
owning stock in banks and railways and known
by the familiar title of Major or Colonel
acquired by service in some vigilance expedl-
tion and II he has any taste for politics ne is
member Of the Legislature. The unsuccessful
men who crossed the frontier during the same
period are either renting small unprohtaole farms
or are working for a few dollars a week as agri-
cultural laborers.
While Texas lacks the conservatism Of the
South. Il has in full measure the energy Of the
West. ITS growth has been too rapid TO ADMIT
of adequate assimilation of knowledge and ex-
perience Its farmers having set out with a
determination of makino the State the great
cotton producing centre Of the world, are not
easily convinced that they are condemning the
whole cotton belt TO ruin and impoverishment
through overproduction. Its Legislators. Influenced
by their prejudices pioneers and the class
feeling against railways and corporations nave
enacted l.ws which have retarded the progress
y, the State Demagogues like Ex-Governor
Ioee and Governor Culberson have attempted
n introduce and popuarize the same form OF
Democratic Populism which Tillmanism embodies
IN south Carolina More vulgar and less SIM
core than CAPTAIN Tillman. they have lacked his
constructive mower and imperous will. ire
Yrendous shrinkage of their majority In the last
election has warned them that there IS recon-
Of the conservative and educated classes against
demagogue politics
From, the close OF the there was rapid
increase Of railway construction in Texas. uh'i
I, rose to 1859 miles in 1882. and 1858 miles IN
1887 This was generally recognized as the MAN
source Of progress in population ana wealth.
As railways built the country was opened
swarms Of immigrants came in, and the volume
OF railway construction has been practically
susnended IN Texas during the last year. and
the dullest man in the State knows that some
thing has gone wrong. Hard times are not en-
,jrely at fault for 1000 miles Of railway nave
been constructed in the Union. II Is IN leAas
alone that railway building has been discoh-
tinued and the legislators and party leaders are
accounted responsible for it. The cowboy poh-
ticians ard vigilance "Colones' and MAJORS
have held up the train OF material progress ana
their popularity Is declining In rural consutu-
encies Governor Hogs, with his coarse JESUS
and vulgar stories was an amusing person III
a political canvass. and farmers were entertained
for a season by his Trades against the wicked
canitalist: but they now taking more serious
views Of public questions. and are not IN SYM
nathv with his buffoonery. They are disheart-
ened by the cessation of railway building. the
low price OF cotton. the destruction OF the sugar
industry Of the State and the abandonment by
Democratic tarf-makers Of the wool-growing
interests of the country. Quips and cranks
which once set the table on the roar no longer
provoke smile
One OF the characteristics OF the Texan is
rough.and-ready way of conducting business ana
disposing OF public questions. He has the haoit
Of riding rough-shod and at gallop over every
ground OF controversy Whether train-robbers
are to Be punished, Pullman car proprietors
taught to respect local option. or oil monopoNsts
10 be disciplined, he favors sharp. decisive az
gressive action. and does not want to waste any
time over It, He attributes the low p1ce OF
cotton to the gambling operations OF New
spectators and the fictitious calculations OF Mr..
Neill, Of New-Orleans; and is very reluctant TO
believe that production OF 100000 bales in ex-
cess Of the requirements Of consumption can have
anything to do with it. II he could have his
way, the New-York Cotton Exchange would be
closed and speculation in futures prohibited by
law; and operators like Mr.. Neill, who devote