Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1896-11-04
TEXAS MIsREPREsENTED.
An Atlanta Doctor Who Told . Fish
Story About the Drought.

TO The News)-The Atlanta journal
Of September 80 last contained an In
terview with certain doctor Of that
city on the condition of Texas, her
crops and people, that demands re-
ply from some person with more infor-
nation than the doctor. The large
headlines to the article are The Wolf
In Texas" AN Atlanta Man From the
Lone Star State Describes the Dread
Prospects of Poverty" Doctor In
terviewed" He tells how the fearful
drought burned the earth UP and de-
stroyed the grounds fertility"
| The Atlanta doctor is unknown to
me and perhaps to Texas people. II he
was better known maybe this reply
would be needless. But assume that he
did travel in Texas and that he did
see the worst drought in parts OF this
state since the year 1851, still the
statements are far from being correct.
In his extended tour through the West
he tells a sorrowful tale Of the condi-
ton of the crops of the West, and es-
pecially in the state of Texas. The
doctor relates only one exception to
bad crops, "and that is from Helena,
Ark, up to Southern Mississippi" And
there the land will make from half
bale to bale of cotton to the acre
and from thirty-five to seventy-nVe
bushels of wheat to the acre." This
must be an enchanted land, marvel
Gus paradise for the farmer From
Helena, Ark, to Southern Mississippi"
Kansas, Nebraska and the Dakotas are
far away from the real wheat coun-
try and do little business in COM
parison with the doctors golden grain
land from Helena, Ark, up to South
ern Mississippi"
The doctor says no rain fell In Tex
as since May /, and in some sections
no rain since April to the day OF his
interview, September 80, 1896. Suppose
the weather reports were drawn on
the doctor and they showed rainfalls
since April of two inches, four inches
and as high as seven inches at one
dropping in large areas OF Texas. Inc
picture drawn by the doctor is a sof-
| rowful tale" of woe and distress, such
as would choke off every man who
| dreamed of cheap lands and COM
| Portable home in Texas. Listen to his
mournful weepings for the miserable
people of this state: "Much cotton that
| was planted has never come up. There
has not been enough moisture to gen.
crate the seed" He proceeds: Corn
| is almost total failure this year."
| that the "little half-grown stalks that
have dried up in the summer sun rus
tie mournfully in the wind that sweeps
across the barren waste" The Georgia
doctor when interviewed must have
been in a sad state Of mind.
| These statements were published as
II they were based on facts In re-
putable journal in the largest city In
| the great state of Georgia as coming
from an Atlanta man." Now, what
| do the people Of Texas think OF such
statements? What do the people OF
Georgia think of them? And what do
! the people from Helena, Ark, up to
Southern Mississippi" think of them?
| The best test of such assertions, per-
| haps, is the price that the staple pro-
auctions of Texas bring in an open
market. At the city OF Tyler, about
| the geographical center of Eastern Tex
as. where the Cotton Belt Railroad
crosses the International & Great
Northern Railroad, is in the midst or
| the dcought-stricken area, and l Will
| submit the prices at retail here to-day
| of h. cfQnla
tons of this section of the state, VIZ.
Cotton. best grades, z cents; corn in
shuck, 40 cents; hay, best quality, $40
per ton; dry salt bacon and clear sides,
s cents and cents; corn fed pork on
| foot. 3 cents; prime beef, Ia cents;
-four. per barrel, 81 to IS; October
peaches, Coo per bushel; fall apples,
large, Is cents to 81 per bushei These
prices could not exist if these articles
had not been made here. The fact Is
| that Texas has an abundance OF feed
| for man and beast, Notwithstanding a
severe drought for Texas occurred this
past season. This state will still mako
more cotton than any other state in
| the Union. No one can safely estimate
| the cotton crop yet, as the neids are
green. and the plant is loaded In many
parts of the state with growing bolls
| that with late frost will mature into
good cotton.
/ give one example of farmer in
Smith county this year. l sold him fif-
| ty acres of land, unimproved, in 1895
| for $3.50. He moved on it in 1896,
cleared twenty-six acres and fenced it,
| built three-room house and out
| houses and cultivated eighteen acres
cotton and eight acres corn, all with
/ his own labor. Yesterday he reported
he had five bales of cotton picked and
that he would likely get two more and
had $50 bushels of corn. Or at the
price above now ruling. If he makes
six bales Of cotton he will have for
his crop 1910 cash, and in this dread
full year" pay for his home and have
$50 left. If one-horse farmer can buy
home in the woods and pay for 1t in
one year in such severe drought,
what may he not do in all the life
time of good years? Texas is the best
poor mans country, all things consid-