Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-04-21
SAN ANTONIO BOOM
Population Gains Eighty-0 One
Per Cent in Ten Years.
HANDSOME NEW HOTEL
Railways Have Contributed to Pros
perity of the City.
MONEY IN GUAYULE PLANT
Big New Industry Has Been Created
With the Investment of
Little Capital. I
BY WILLIAM r. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence of The Star and the
Chicago Record Herald

Special Correspondence -of The Star and tn,
Chicago Record Herald.
SAN ANTONIO. April Il. 1911.
What a great city San Antonio has be
come. and 1t has improved in appearance
as much as in population During tn
last ten years the increase has been S
per cent in population and 500 per cen
in appearance. In 1890 there were 37,61
people; in 1900 there were 1891, and ii
1910 there were 96,6l4. so that the boost
ers now claim place in the one-hundred
thousand class. In the business section
the streets are lined with lofty building
and You will not find better retail shop
In any city of twice the size. The new
hotel, which was completed about yea'
ago, is, of course. "the finest in thu
south. The same claim is made fol
every one of the many new hotels south
of the Mason and Dixon line.
Ii is really an up-to-date establishment
with every modern Improvement and con
venience. and there is none in New Yorl
or London more comfortable. 1t seem:
10 be we'll patronized also, and / am tolc
that il pays a good dividend on the In
yestment. That is true of nearly all the
fine new hotels in the south, all the way
from Richmond TO FL PaSo. There Is III
such advertisement for a growing city as
a good hotel. 1t not only attracts peo-
away satisfied.
The railways have done everything to
make San Antonio prosperous. 1t has
become a center of transportation facili-
ties, with lines running in every direction
and developing the surrounding country.
Of course. You hear the same complaint
about rates that is made everywhere.
have never yet found city, town or vii
lage that was not Disseminated against
by all common carriers. and If you will
take any two cities, side by side. and
give them the same rates on every ar
ticle and passenger to every point on
earth each of them will accuse the rail-
way company of discriminating in favor
of the other. And if the railways were to
carry freight for nothing the shippers
would kick about the way it was ham
died.
know of a church in Ohio that has
been endowed by generous native OF
the town because his father and mother
were members of the congregation all
their lives and he used to go to Sunday
school there when he was a boy. He put
the church building in perfect repair to
begin with, and set up a fine new organ:
ne decorated the grounds with plants and
flowers and erected an artistic cottage
upon the adjoining lot for a manse. Then
he created a trust fund which would
bring a perpetual revenue of about 81, JOO
a year, to be added annually to the sal
airy of the pastor. in order to secure the
services of an ADLER preacher than the
.
second year after the arrangement began
nearly every pew holder declined to pay
his rent because the trust fund produced
as much salary as the pastor was enti-
tied to-aS much as was paid by any or
the other churches in the town. Ultl-
nately the congregation ceased to pay
anything toward the pastors salary and
grumbIed because their benefactor had
net made provision for the organist and
the janitor And that is the way with
towns and railroads.
Is Sheep Town.
San Antonio is a sheep town. Barring
Billings, Mont, it is the greatest WOO
market in the world. and the fine man
sions on its broad streets are occupied by
sheepmen who have made fortunes upor
the surrounding ranches and by commits
sion men who have made millions lr
wool. Every sheepman is a pauper. &C
cording to his own version. and every
commission man has been doing bushes:
at a loss for generations because Of the
extortions Of the railway companies II
freight but they don't seem to show the
proper symptoms.
The mansions in which they live. thu
automobiles in which they ride about
the diamonds and velvetS which theil
wives wear. the money that is invested
in the education OF their children and the
contents of the tin boxes they keep a,
the banks do not indicate entire destitu
ton. and they will admit they might have
made more money if the railway com
ranies hadn't charged SO much for haul
ing wool. Another great complaint is the
discrimination against San Antonio in ia
vor OF other sheep towns. And, strange tt
say. other sheep towns would have pros
pered more If the railroads hadn't favored
San Antonio.
wealth, which is more prolific than mines
OF gold, is the guayule plant, a WILD
shrub with which the plains Of southern
Texas and northern Mexico are covered
Is are those of the north with cactus AND
sage brush Somebody discovered a few
years ago that the roots of the guayule
contained the same juice as the rubber
tree of the tropics and invented machin
cry to extract it. The industry proved 81
profitable that many establishments hav.
been set up on both sides of the border
and the guayule now is almost as irnpor-
tsnt source of supply Of crude rubber
a. the forests of the Amazon The ship
ments amount TO nearly 100000 pounds
month. having a market value of 81 ;.
1;pGC
Entirely New Industry.
This is an entirely new industry. II
has been created with the investment OF
very little capital. The land upon which
the plant is gathered could be bought FOL
20 or 20 cents an acre a few years age
in tracts Of millions of acres. II costs
from $40 to SIS ton to gather the plan,
and deliver il at the mills and not more
than 10 cents a pound altogether to re-
duce II TO a commercial form. while or
binary rubber gum from the ordinary
rubber tree costs at least 40 cents q
pound to produce In most instances ths
Suayule gum loses its identity when il
reaches the market and is sold anc
treated like ordinary Amazon rubber, al
though the profit in its production is -four
times great
The rubber trust has been gradual lily
picking up the little companies that were
organized down here and buying out the
individual producers until il practicaIly
controls the source of supply. But sci
dom has any country gained SO mucl
wealth from SO simple and unsupported q
source, and most of il came TO San An.
tonic worthless plant which incum
bered the ground has brought hundre,
fortunes 10 the people of this city alone
without including an equal number OF
the other side of the border.
The Madero family. which recently ha:
come into prominence because of Their
connection with the political revolution il
Mexico. are among the largest and mos
fortunate of the beneficiaries They ar,
an important clan in northern Mexico
numbering several hundred persons O
more or less wealth and standing all de
scended from a Portuguese immigrant VIII,
came TO Mexico two hundred years ag,
and obtained large grant in the north
ern part of the colony. That grant ha.
been increased by gifts from the govern
ment and purchases by the owners Unit
the Madero family control a suficien
area for an empire. And they have bee,