Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-04-10
RICHEST OF TOWNS
Victoria, Tex, Is Small, But
MiIIi0naireS Live There.
MONEY MADE FROM CATTLE
Descendants of Colony of Early Irish
Immigrants.
SECURED GRANTS OF LAND
Making Business Profitable Today,
Despite General Plant of
Cattle Raisers.
MONEY MADE FROM CATTLE
SECURED GRANTS OF LAND
BY WILLIAM e. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence Of The Star and the
Chicago Record Herald.

IL "AA<A<AA&u t. SUSllS.
Special Correspondence Of The Star and the
Chicago Record Herald.
REFCGIO, Texas April 4, 1911.
1t is popular impression that New
port. r. l., is the richest town in the
United States in proportion to its popu-
lation. and undoubtedly there are more
millions there than in any other place on
this side Of the Atlantic or perhaps in
the entire world. But that class Of resi-
dents only spend their money there:
they make It elsewhere. The same might
be said OF suburbs Of Boston, like Brook
line: Tuxedo, near New York; Ogontz, near
Philadelphia; Lake Forest, near Chicago;
Santa Barbara or Pasadena, Cal. where
the idle rich have gathered to rest and
recreate.
Victoria, Tex, probably has a larger
amount of wealth per capita than any of
the towns named. and it is actual money
which has been made right there or in
that immediate vicinity by men who
were born and brought up in the town
and expect to make 1t their homes for
the rest of their lives. and in appearance,
customs and etiquette 1t is very different
from Newport. New Bedford. Mass, is
also very rich place. Most Of its money
has come from whale fishing and other
enterprises of the sea. The wealth of
Victoria has been acquired on 1and-from
cattle raising and from sheep and goats.
1t is cow town.
In that little city of not more than
$500 population are eight milhonaires.
probably thirty or forty other persons
who are worth more than half q million
or an average of three-Quarters OF a
million each and an equal number who
are worth quarter of a million in lands,
cattle. stocks and bonds-good. solid
money, untainted by speculation and
made honestly by contributing to the
wealth Of the world.
Town Of Benefactors.
He was wise and just old Spaniard
who said that whoever causes two blades
of grass to grow where only one grew
before is a benefactor of his race. and
from that point Of view the little city Of
Victoria is fountain of public benevo-
lence. Its mllionaires or their fathers
took up land along the gulf coast Of Texas
many years ago. buying it by the square
mile for 10 cents an acre and even less
and purchasing Spanish grants which
were confirmed afterward by the govern
ment of the Republic of Texas. Their
ranges have produced millions of cattle,
and in ancient days the business was
very profitable. / do not believe that il
is Improbable today. Although I have
heard it argued again and again that
the ranchman who raises beef and the
ultimate consumer who eats it are both
the victims Of the packing companies who
convert the raw material into the fin
ished product, I am constrained to doubt
any story of poverty or distress that may
be told about the first mentioned, for l
have never seen q Texas ranchman for
saken nor his seed begging bread. The
millionaires of Victoria are a living con-
tradiction to those hard-luck stories that
may be told of cowmen-in this vicinity,
at least. @
The great ranches are being broken up
and sold for agriculture. The cattle are
no longer allowed to run wild on the
range, but are kept in pastures inclosed
by wire fences. The long-horned steer
has vanished and shorthorns and Here
fords have supplanted him. because they
bring so much more money in the mar
ket and cost no more to raise.
The late Tom OConnor, who died few
months ago, left two ranches, one of sixty
and the other of seventy thousand acres,
to his widow, who is selling off large por-
tons in the neighborhood of the railway
to be broken up into small farms.
John Wilder has the largest ranch,
little more than $4,000 acres; John
Tower has $1,000 acres. John O'Brien has
65. 600 acres and thirty or forty other
ranches in this vicinity run from 1900
to $4,000 acres each.