The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1912-12-01
Texas Siftines
BY EBERT HUBBARD.

N'NA'lt SlrPfiiSiEiE NDc ca
loric. under the kindly guidance OF
the Ad clubs.
To say that Texas Is prosperous Is
putting Il pianlssimo. Texas Is mi
croby with money.
The buying power OF the people -
revealed by the business done In
the department stores 4 ploneer
people buy things that are coarse
and strong. and always the intent Is
TO make the dollar go as far as thaI
famous dollar which GEORGE Wash
lnston once threw across the Po-
tomaC.
In the Texas department stores you
Will ind the latest iashions-modes
from Paris and styles from London.
Texas has passed out OF the pioneer
stage.
The thing that has caused the
Teling waters OF prosperity TO fow
is king. Cotton clothes the world.
Texas produces one third OF the
cotton crop OF the United States
Cotton Is raised in Texas at a less
cost per bale than anywhere else in
In most states YOU hear OF "cot-
ton patches" but in Texas there ara
cotton helds-fields seemingly limit
ed only ,by the horizon.
rrdTs dne disssoveTy SEQ that cotton will
Texas, IN this year OF grace, 1912.
is producing four million bales OF
cotton. This cotton, including the
various products OF cotton seed, is
worth three hundred million dollars
And yet cotton Il only one OF nine
great products that Texas produces
However only half OF the people
are engaged In farming In Texas.
And about one-halt OF these raise
cotton. The result when figured up
would show that In some districts
whole families will receive in cash
thousand dollars for each mSmber
OF the family.
At one place Of a thousand iuhab-
itaDts counted over two hundred
teams that had come 10 town with
loads OF cotton. A wagon load Is any
where from one bale TO five; go each
farmer went back home with from
sixty 10 three hundred dollars in cash.
or its equivalent.
The tendency OF the cotton farmer
Is toward tho small farm, simply be-
cause labor conditions are such that
the farmer has 10 do the work him
self. and with his own immediate
family. AZ for hiring n great num-
Der OF men and systematiZIng the
business. this Ia getting more and
more of problem. The helpers are
not TO be had. A big family in Texas
is an asset.
Cotton pickers set a dollar and a
quarter hundred pounds. When
they were hired by the day they
picked n hundred pounds OF cotton a
day. And so the idea of piece work
came in, and dollar and quarter
was fixed as a fair rate for picking a
hundred pounds OF cotton.
The result has been that piece work
has much guickened the process. ]
saw girls Of twelve that would pick
a hundred pounds day, and here In
Texas In the country all the children
work. And working out OF doors.
with plenty to eat, in salubrtous
climate. they are healthy and well
They can sleep all right. and they
certainly eat
Some expert women pickers do their
three hundred pounds day. and i
hundred pounds day. a great num-
ber of negroes make from three 10
five dollars a day When pay day
comes, and they get one hundred
dollars apiece. there is great temp
tation to so TO town and rest up
This vast amount OF cash being
distributed through Texas for her
cotton crop is not without It's draw
backs Comparatively nothing is be-
ing put back into tho soil In the way
will produce a yearly cotton crop no
one knows, but there must be limit
There was a time when the Texas
steer held the center OF the economic
number oi cattle in Texas is about
hundred and fifty million dollars. and
the number OF cattle shipped out OF
Texas brings back in cash, annually.
say In tho neighborhood OF thirty
million dollars,
AT Fort Worth arc immense pack
ing plants conducted by the Armours
and the Swifts. These concerns. Y
saw. were, paving eastern prices for
rHcfiVp
in Fort Worth for hogs and cattle
were the Identical prices being paid
by. Jacob Dodd & CO. In Buffalo.
saw carloads Of ham and bacon
this came from, they said, ct ls
shipped In hero from Kansas City and
Chica go" So, behold the curious fact
ouri. Iowa and Kansas for food prod
ucts.
ssw mules sold IN the stockyarda
at Fort Worth from three hundred to
six hundred dollars pair-bought
by farmers who had the good cash
TO pay for them. Good horses brought
two hundred dollars and extra choice
gated saddle horses sold for seven
and eight hundred dollars apiece
Texas Is neither north nor south.
European emigrants. and the influx
from the north have brokon down
section lines. You set e good deal
OF the hustle OF Denver in Dallas.
Yankee enterprise Is everywhere no
ticeable,
Long years ago we were told that
Texas lacked two things-society and
water You will find both ot thess
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.
yams, sweet potatoes have been rot
ting In the fields for lack Of trans
The black dirt means fertility OF
soil. but IL also means impossible
roads at certain seasons II costs
big money here even 10 get tho prod
uct from the farm to the railroad
station, and just now there 10
dearth Of freight cars.
Texas has suffered from oyer-legis-
lation. The provincial mind fears big
business. Much OF this fear Is tenn
us from the remote past, when pow
ways especially polite.
Texas laws have made II difficult
for the railroads 10 build and operate.
The railroads have been overtaxed.
over-supervised. and subjected TO
many harasslpg and exasperatpg ex-
actions.
The tide seems 10 have turned.
however, and the people OF Texas
now realize that the prosperity OF the
state turns on being broad and gcn-
erous rather than small and sus-
plcious,