The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1908-03-19
SOME THINGS TEXAS NEEDS.

/ deal to talk about. There Is scarcely
single industry which fiourishes
anywhere in the United States that
cannot be successfully carried on in
| the state OF the things that Texas
/ does not have and needs, visitors
and outsiders can talk more freely
| than those who are citizens, but usu-
ally the statements OF the outsiders
are based on limited knowledge.
Exhibitions like the National
| Feeders and Breeders show just
closed show that Texas is awake to
all the live stock opportunities before
it. Expositions like those of Dallas
| and San Antonio, as well as those in
| smaller Texas cities, show that the
state is not behind in agricultural
| development. But there are import
ant things needed in the develop
| ment of the state for which there
| are few or no expositions. One of
the most important of these is dairy
| ing. There are dairy exhibits at most
of the fairs, and the display at Dali
las last year was creditable. but for
a state the size of Texas it was ex-
ceedingly small. There ought to be
enough dairy interest in Texas to
give an exhibition which would fill
Fort Worth's big coliseum. There is
no state offering so many opportun-
tiles, climate, water, forage and,
best of all, home market for every
thing that can be produced for a
score of years to come, yet dairying
in Texas is only in it's infancy
Hog raising is another. Most of
the prizes at the hog shows given
are taken by Oklahomans. The pro-
duction of hogs in Texas compared
to the market for pork is astonish~
ingly light. Texas eats pork by the
ton and produces it by the hundred
weight. The result is that outside
states are feeding us with meat that
could be produced at home. There
ought to be an annual Texas hog
show that would bring 5000 hogs to
some central point and people
enough in Texas interested in the
industry to furnish market for the
hogs after they get here. The Texas
Swine Breeders association is grow
| ing steadily, but there ought to be
| time, and it is coming, when the
! Texas Swine Breeders association
| will be as large and as powerful as
| the Texas Cattle Raisers' association.
And still another thing needed is
more good roads. Work for better
roads has been in progress during
| the past several years, especially in
the northern part of the state, but
it is only begun. Good roads are
needed from Ell Paso to Texarkana
and from Texline to Corpus Christi
because good roads improve land
values, and aid accessibility to mar
ket, an important requisite for sue
cessful agriculture.
The agricultural sections of Texas
are not the only ones that need
many things. The cities need better
lighting. Even San Antonio, which
boasts of its superior street illumin-
alton, falls short of what it should
be. In time Fort Worth will probably
be the best lighted city in the state,
but it will take several months.
Every city with more than 10000
population should be so well lighted
at night as to excite comment of
every visitor.
More needed at present than light
ing is paving. Texas cities are behind
those of the same class in older
states. Oklahoma cities never fail to
excite commentator because of the
work they have done in this respect
poses, no matter how little, should
be paved, and the principal residence
streets should also be improved.
Civic Identification is needed
everywhere in the towns from 200
population up. More trees are need
ed, more parks, more sidewalks,
more shrubbery and better lawns. A
wellkept city is not only more pros
porous, but it is a healthier city in
which to live. For many years nobody
has ever visited Buffalo, n Y, with
out coming away to talk about the
miles of asphalt which are washed
clean every night.
None of the things mentioned
among the needs of either country or
city can be classed as a luxury. They
are all necessities to improvement
and development. They are not the
only things, but they are very i'm
portant.
A convention held in Fort Worth !
last week voiped tho naad for fau,ar