Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-11-06
Ebert Hubbard
Writes on -
Texas Siftings
To Say That theLoneStar
State Is Prosperous Is
Putting 1t Pianissimo; It
Is Microby With Money. -
Bv EBERT HUBBARD
Copyright, 1912, by international News Service

: When pay day comes, and they get
500 apiece. there is great tenn
tation to go to town and rest IN
This vast amount Of cash ho;,,
distributed through Texas for ber
cotton crop is not without if.
drawbacks. Comparatively notb,n.
is being put back into the sol, IN
the way Of fertilizer. How Iora
the black dirt will produce a vaar
~ cotton crop no one knows h..
there must be limit.
No Sectional Lines.
There was time when the rexs.
steer held the center Of the era
nomic state. Now the value "a
the entire number Of cattle i
Texas is about s15o,OOo, 900. and III.
number of cattle shipped out .,
Texas brings back in cash, animal.
~, say approximately s30ooO.ooo
At Fort Worth are immense
packing plants conducted by the
Armours and the swifts Tbo.o
concerns, I saw, were paying East.
ern prices for hogs, cattle and
sheep. That is to say. the pr,cs.
the farmers receive in Fort Worth
for hogs and cattle were The ,dan
teal prices, being paid by Jacob
Dold & Co. in Buffalo.
I saw carloads of ham and bs-
con being unloaded at these pack
Ing houses. And when I asked
where this came from they said.
TT is shipped in here from Kansas
City and Chicago" So, behold the
curious fact of Texas depending on
Illinois, Missouri, Iowa and Kansas
for food products.
I saw mules sold in tn. stcck
yards at Fort Worth at from $500
to $500 a pair-bought by farmers
who had the good cash to paw for
them. Good horses brought $500
and extra choice gated saddle
horses sold for $500 and $500 apiece
Texas is neither North nor
South. European immigrants, and
the influx from the North. have
broken down sectional lines. You
get a good deal OF the hustle Of
Denver in Dallas. Yankee enter
prise is everywhere noticeable.
Long years ago we were told that
Texas lacked two things-society
and water. You will find both Of
these here now in abundance.
The two things that Texas really
lacks are transportation and labor
There are no double-track rail-
roads in Texas. Melons, peaches
vans, sweet potatoes have been
rotting in the fields for lack Of
transportation.
The black dirt means fertility OF
soil, but it also means impossible
roads at certain seasons. It costs
big money here even to get the
product from the farm to the rail
road station, and just now there is
a dearth of freight cars.
Suffers From Over-Legislation,
Texas has suffered from over
legislation. The provincial mind
fears big business. Much Of this
fear is temperamental, and has
come down to us from the remote
past, when power was polite pill
lage-and not always especially po-
lite.
Texas laws have made II dim
cult for the railroads to build ava
operate. The railroads have been
overtaxed, oversupervised, and sub
jected to many harassing and eX-
+ asperating exactions.
The tide seems to have turned
however, and the people of Texas
now realize that the prosperity OIL
the state turns on being broad ana
generous rather than small ana
suspicious.
Texas is an empire in herself ou'
her resources will be practically uh-
guessed until the state joins hanus
with big business-say as Cana"e
does-and then, indeed, viii tAs
"a