Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-06-04

those who have come from the older
| Southern states changing into ordinary
American. Manners are different, too
! more direct, less suaye and decorated.
| The matter in hand is taken up more
| promptly, traVcrSed more speedily.
| The negroes themselves are quite per-
| ccptibly different. Their bearing
| towards the whites is more like that of
| their fellows in the North. Though
respectful, they seem on the whole less
| inclined to dependence. less con-
fdential. less expectant of contemptu-
| Gus familiarity.
Strangely enough, it is eastern
| Texas. and particularly the coast coun-
| try. through which l have passed. that
| for the last half-dozen years has been
| attracting more and more attention.
When l was in the state two years ago
l did not talk with a single person who
| Seemed to be at all confident that the
| city of Galveston would ever recover
| from the disaster which ut that time
was still fresh in c"cryhody'S memory.
| Today. there is no more questioning Of
| the places future than there was he
| fore the flood swept over it. The sea
wall is nearly finished. and the port is
| increasing its trade faster than any
| other in the country. Beaumont oil
was then the principal fuel and lubri-
| cant of conversation. That use of it
may have declined. hut otherwise it IS
still an uDeXhaust"d resource. The eX-
tent of it is still unknown. How much
of the out out is controlled by the
Standard Oil Company is also matte,
of conjecture to the general public
But at present neither beaumont oil
nor the seawall of Galveston is 50
much talked about in the coast country
! as the rapid southwestward movement
of the rice planters and the truck
, farmer
The rice belt, as it is called. extends
westward from New Orleans to the Rio
Grande. 1t lies between the timber
! belt and the Gulf. In Louisiana diff
| cult stretch of marsh Land edges it on
the south. In Texas, its southern and
eastern boundary is simply the actl !
! coast line. and its average width is
. eighty miles. One estimate of the en-
tire area adapted to rice culture west
| of the Sabine is three million acres.
/ while the whole belt is nearly as large
! as iHuialla. w men the last census was
| taken. less than nine thousand acres in
| all Texas were planted in rice Last
year the total was not less than two
! hundred thousand acres, and the esti-
mates for this year run from~two hun
dred and fifty thousand 70 three hun
! dred and fifty thousand acres.
Rice fields, as everybody knows. must
be flooded with fresh water while the
, crop is growing. Irrigation from some
source is Indispensable The Texas
; rivers flow, as Il rule. southeastward
across the belt. Eeneath the earth
there is vein of water available by
! the use Of artesiar wells Both canals
and wells are employed. and to q trav-
eler along the lines of the Southern
Pacific which parallel the coast it
seems as If the people were all engaged
either in digging canals or in boring
wells. Irrigation companies are rapid
ly dividing up the territory and max
4 contracts for the planters. The cost
! Vz ilooding, rainfall being the principal
cause of the variations, ranges from
$l.50 TO Sc the acre. The land. much
OF 1t virgin soil, though treeIess. sells
at from SO to $40 the acre. The work