Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-03-25

located more than forty thousand people
In the gulf coast country and they are
pouring in continually in ever-increasinS
about this immigration is that the dis
tribution is general and fairly, even. The
difference in the prices OF land regulates
this automatically. The lands which sell
for $50 and $50 an acre attract certain
and $125 an acre appeal to another CLASS
and both classes are attracted In even
numbers Those who take the msn-
priced lands are rich farmers from the
chiefly for the climate. Those who take
the lower-priced lands are chiefly young
men, who have enough capital to start
with, but cannot make large investment
for q fruit or a truck farm, apd cotton
and sugar cane produced upon those
small farms by irrigation will pay as
much as the entire produce OF one-hun-
dred-and-sixty-acre farm IN the .d noa,,'
and the crop is an absolute certainty.
hese are the best classes OF 1armels
that state can get. They are tnriItS,
industrious and intelligent and the pest
wealth producers in the nation.
needs three million immigrants OF that
sort and If she could get them they Wouid
advance the value of her agriculture:
products three billion dollars every year.
Growth of the Cities.
The growth Of the cities of Texas mas
been very rapid during the last ten years
more rapid than ever before-but II
has not been SO phenomenal as the
growth of the farming districts. Fort
Worth is the most rapid growing city in
the state. and during the last ten years
has increased from 26,6SS to 1892, which
is equivalent to 174 per cent; Dallas mas
Increased from 42.63S to 92,104, which Is
equivalent to 116 per cent: San Antonio
has increased from 53,321 to 96,8l4 or 81
per cent; Houston has Increased from
A,613 to 1880, or IS per cent, and ~
Paso has Increased from 1890 to 9,2'3.
the United States have grown faster than
Ell Paso, while Fort Worth stands eighth
and Dallas fifteenth on the list.
Galveston is one of the few cities IN
the United States which have fallen OIL
in population during the last ten years
and she shows a decrease of about 1Wo.
The change in moral conditions in Texas
has been quite as marked as In other re-
spects. Until a few years ago Texas was
regarded as community of desperadoes.
We are all familiar with the old adage
that such and such thing is needed as
badly ais revolver in Texas. whereas
the legislatureof this state several years
ago passed a law prohibiting people from
carrying revolvers. and It COST man
$4S to tote a pistol. II he Is caught
with one on his person he pays S4s; the
second time he is fined hundred dol
lars and goes to Jail for thirty days.
Bowie knives. slngshots. brass knuckles
and other weapons are prohibited under
penalties equally severe.
Jokes No Longer Appreciated.
You have doubtless heard about the
Texas custom of having revolvers check
ed at theaters, and how every man was
compelled to leave his gun in the cloak
room before he entered a ball. Those
jokes are not so funny as they used te
be. because they lack application and
nothing bores Texas man so much as tc
have them recalled. No state IN the
Union has SO many protective and pro
hibitory laws as Texas. Her statute book:
contain provisions that are as puritanica
as any that were ever passed In Connec'
ticut, and while they do not prohiDat
man from kissing his wife Sunday. some
Of them are almost as absurd. For ex
ample, it is unlawful to play cards or al,
game of chance in public in Texas. ant
In certain parts of the state that statute
has been so constructed as to prohiDit
man from playing game with his WIZ
or his children or neighbor where INT
windows are open.
Prohibition for years has been. ant
still Is, the liveliest issue in Texas politics
| The voters Of the state are almost al
democrats, but they divide on that. State
| wide prohibition has not yet been enacted
! A county local option system prevails ant
| more than three-fourths Of the counties
are dry" This proportion is increasing
at every election. The tendency Is to
ward prohibition rather than the othe
! way. and its advocates insist that the!
would have a large majority of the voter
II the question ever came up on the squar'
| for q direct vote.
There is, however. a large and PERM