Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1915-02-11
Communication

Vas lAit w ltiI " SSoiOuS VI
Texas and hau quite a line of
Thought worked out to report
to you but became so interest
ed sightseeing and going so
much That | have neglected to
Garry QUO my plans
When we crossed the line out
of Oklahoma into Texas, we did
MT noJlce any sp .cIal jar, in
facs, transition was so grad
ual that we hardly. noticed it.
Il wouidn's d } 60 talk chat way
to native for he thinks the
difference between Texas and
4 Oklahoma is as marked as be
tween hea en- and that other
place. Howev n, the Grange
was not 81 aDDarent in the soil
! or the i'm )covsments on tn :
farms as m gnt be expected but
/ really noticed quite change
in the appearance of the pas
sengers who came on the trains
at the way stations. They did
not seem to have the look of
WEAKNESS AMI far away stare
as though they were trying to
see something that was not in
sight,
l soon noticed one thing and
that was that the people were
having more catsIe to fatten
II fac, | saw one place wnere
tney claimed to have Is 5000
head in ons combination Of
pens, aud they cersalnly looked
To be in god condition.
! Olc fi,.ss stop was at Fort
/ Worth and as | had heard Of
y Fort Worth all my life | had
y considerable interest in pictur-
| ing out what We should see
I II some respects | was disap-
1{ppinted, and in others, | was
y greatly surprised to find so
Z good and interesting a commun-
ity. Osle Of the greatest in
dustries manifest was the horse
market and just at this time
the dealers were very busy in
! filing contracts for Europe,
but was not interested in this
so much as | was in the condi-
tion of the cotton crop and com,
pairing what | learned In the
way Of information from the
cities of Texas, have conclud-
Ell that Texas IS suffering more
from the old-fashioned idea
that cotton is king than from
any other cause. By compar
ing noJes | have concluded that
it costs Sc a pound to raise cot
ton and it must command a
higher price than at present in
order to pay expenses. But
the worst feature of it is, that
there has been an over-produc-
ton of nearly 40 per cent that
has accumulated during the
last two years and of necessity
the price would be forced down.
The trouble with cotton is, the
market can't be pushed. Peo-
pie use only what they are COM
PEELED to buy and that can be
varied every season. But such
is not the case with corn and
wheat. Everybody must have
the "staff Of life" and the
Walking stick" halos it along
81 that the market for food
stuffs is never overstocked
incidentally, | ant to remark
that | like Iowa better than
/, any place | have seen because
,Its wealth is in the production
L # food products and there is
~, danger of there ever being a
"a any .plus for the reason that
re never is a year when the
| ire world has bumper crop.
Aort Worth is really very
! (shaerprising town and we were
tunate in getting to see it
llsry thoroughly, as Mrs. Hen.
Iderson has two nephews living
\ there and they very kindly
I showed us the town in their
big auto. The trip from Fort
Worth to Dallas, was some
lwhat of q disappointment be-
cause | had expected to see not
}only some good farming land
hut samples OF good farming.
! The land is low and in many
Antaces very rocky and absolute
" good for nothing, while the
improvements are very crude
tand appear to be years behind
the times.
m Dallas is a business like and
Interesting city because of its
tup. to date business buildings
land fine residences. 1t is in
3many respects the most thor.
I, Soughly awake town we saw in
taaur trip through the state