The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-02-27
FINDS HUSTLER
 IN FORT WORTH
City Has Largest Grain And
 |A Cattle Market In, South
ny .. e. FoRsEs

THE SOUTH, Feb. 2s.--The world
 Xmove. so does the south. So does
 Exas. Take Fort Worth. One of its atixens, Major Van Zandt, is talking to the writer of this column:
 When all our. slaves went away from my family,s home. I struck out; to find ways and means> of making living. Ueveral others who started with me Z kave up, but I pushed on here to Fort Worth. What kind of 2 town was 1t It wasp't a town at all. There was just q little broken community, with a < few dilapidated houses; mo osrailroad, mo bank; and, what was worse, no cur rency to speak of. People would not use greenbacks. We had "a little Mexi- can currency-and . few ws7strays pieces cfsgold. f5 K the place one day with SEQ gold piece and paid ft to his doctor; who hadn't had d cent for attending to his family all through the Wan Between the States, which had just ended. The doctor paid 1t to some one else. This recipient paid 1t out to another party: And, stngie piece of gold liquidated $200 of dsbt and ended up in the pocket 'of tho farmer who brought 1t In 9"Barter wAA theS general rule. 5
 T realized that, good prices could he obtained for naerchandise, 70 F. went
 
 g0ods. Some of the goods had not arrived by the time four months given for them fell due. That will give you an idea of our Interpretations facilities In those days, fin 'sixty-five' and sixty Esix.' z" .s That's one picture. Today Fort Worth has 1880 population, having doubled within seven years. fN Has IS railroads.
 Is the scene of interchange of 1,300,- 900 carloads of freight in year and has consiEned to or through 1t some 50 per cent of all carlot freight enter ing Texas. 4slslf Manufactures more than $15o 000,- 900 worth of goods year. Has Sso manufacturing establish
 II the largest grain and cattle snarkst Has nine flour, and feed mills, and can store about 100000 bushels of grain.
 Is the center of the richest cotton producing region in the world. Is the center of mid-conttnent oil fields, with nine petroleum refineries. Has the only Iron and steel rolling mills in the southwest.
 Is the largest oil pipe center in the United States. Has the largest municipality owned reservoir west of the Mississippi. Has an abundance of cheap fuel oil. three pipe lines supplying natural gas | from nearby fields and vast bituminous coal fields within radius of 50 miles. Has the largest electric power plant : in the southwest with a. capacity of 75,000 horse power, and the lowest rates in the southwest. .ssS
 Has ample Ispor and favorable iiv- ] ing costs.
 Is almost, if got quite. the ihealthiest city in AmericS hasing more than 1oo.- | GOO populatioLS 7s
 Has bank csszr.ngs running as high as $65.00Q,00o ssmonth.
 Every day for the last three years, Fort Worth has built an average of five new homes. &
 I have before me a partial list of in dustrial plants under way or completed within the last three months in Fort Worth. ts It includes such projects as:
 Southwestern Cement company, $1,- 750 900.
 Trinity Portland Cement company. 3$1, ,760 900.
 Transcontinental Oils, cracking and Intoxicating plants, N 500 900. Texas Steel Mills, $1. .2s0. 900.
 White Eagle lRefinefy, crackins plant;
 Fort Worth Elevators eohapany, ele- vator S750 OO0 SH'y
 Fort Worth Elevators company, Warehouse, $250, 900. &
 U. s. Helium Gas plant, $250, 900.
 Bucy Ingram Lumber mills, 1000.
 Star Producing and Refining addi- Ition, $100,000.
 smith Brothers Grain company ad- dition, $100.000.
 And half score other plants of f5o,00o or more, bringing the totals up to S9,355, 900. 4
 The city is spending $f,0o0,000 on it's sewerage department and $250,000 in additions to it's filtration plant, while 1.-the Northern Texas Traction company is spending $500,000 on three new lines.
 Then there areSunder construction a $$1, 100000 Methodist hospital, q $350,- O0O N. M c. A, a $350, 900 addition to Sthe Masonic home, $250,o00 sanitariuIn Hand 2 million dollars worth of church Buildings. e
 And one man, still living, used to have his COW and his pigs and his chickens foraging around on land and lots on which now stand giant sky scrapers.
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