San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1925-12-20
.SP0 flight
ON GIANT
STATE

Texas Is q giant among the states,
who has awakened to her strength,
and donned the seven league boots of
progress which lead TO wealth.
During the last decade enormous
strides have been taken, pushing Tex
as forward, and today the eyes Of big
business are turned this way. Wit
mes the battle Of great trunk lines to
acquire trackage In Texas. The state
|is no longer served by branch lines of
trsnsccntinental rail arteries. The
vast trunk lines have spread a net
work Of rails across the state, and are
pushing into new territory, while petit
tioning for permission to go into vir-
gin sections so far untouched by the
railroads, says J. e. Jarratt, invest
ment banker, who recently returned .
from q tour of the North and East
NJ. Jarrntt states: j
BETTER ROADS.
Good roads have opened up new
realms to motor transportation. Hard
| ly a county in the state but is busted
with q good roads" building pro-
gram. Civilization has always fol-
lowed the routes Of travel and as
rails and hard-surfaced roads traverse
the state, the huge cattle ranches are
breaking up into great farms. Texas
is still. and will continue to be, a great
cattle country and center for livestock.
But thousands OF acres Of tillable lands
are being turned over to the p,ow,
yearly.
Practically all Of this agricultural
development has come since the Civil
War, and the bulk of it in the last
quarter of century. To-day there are
more than twenty-seven millions OF
acres OF land in cultivation, yielding
in dollar value an average of approx.
mately one billion dollars annually in
farm products alone. There is still
available for cultivation approximate
ly twice this acreage of tinable lands I.
"a fertile field Off development for
many years to come.
COMPARATIVE VALUES.
"As an indication of the compare
tive value Of Texas lands and those of
other agricultural states, are these
figures: taken from the Department of
Agriculture report for 1924: pillow
lands in Iowa averaged S143 an acre
in Texas S45 an acre. The average
yield per acre in cultivated lands, in
dollar value, was $21.90 in Iowa in
I1923-and S4S.13 per acre in Texas
According to the government report
of 1920 the debt on owner-worked
farms in Texas was only $3.50 an
acre, against $3.50 per acre in Iowa.
Both Ohio and Illinois ranked far be.
hind Texas, on the dollar value OF
average crops, though farm lands were
valued much higher.
"Still, the bulk OF tillable acres ~
Texas has not been scratched by the
plow-the potential development IS APP
parent at a glance.
TEXAS JUST STARTING.
Though Texas is still an agricul.
tural state, by population, industrial
development has been striding abead
and the last decade has seen manufae-
turing plants magically poking their
smoke stacks into the air. Manufac-
ers have seen the practical efficiency
of establishing factories near the
source of supplies.
FLORIDA and California have been
booming for years, publicly exploiting
their possibilities by tongue and pen.
Texas has barely started. But keen
minds and eyes have seen the pcs
sibilities and have been quietly work
ing to aid this development which hns
been so noticeable during the fist
quarter Of this century"
A pioneer in the field Of develop
(Coutinued on Page 2. Part a.