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Show . lexas Goes forward "i miiiiiiiiiwiiiaiMiiMiiiwm ii ii iiniiMni V'-'-'"-'1-- f-.z:.?t.!...x-zZ'.- .l-.f,M.. X Group of OH Wells In Texas. of our South and West, nothing has changed more completely than the Texas cattle ranches. Today the original orig-inal high-speed Texas longhorn, that streak of hoofs, horns and yellow hide that used to run with the deer and wild mustangs, is practically extinct Yet, in his time, he was the basis of vast fortunes. With the banished longhorn there also passed from this wild-cattle arena most of those rollicking, hard-riding, quick-shooting heroes whose names still live in the old cowboy ballads. When barbed wire was invented, romance ro-mance and adventure died on the Texas plains. Freedom was no more. As to Texas, the climatic, geographic, floral fact remains that she is still the biggest natural cow pasture in the United States At this very minute millions of bulky bovines are quietly feeding and fattening inside the wire fences of Texas. Bigger and better meat-bearing animals ani-mals that Is the modern Texas cowman's cow-man's slogan. Gradually building up the herds no yearly models but constantly con-stantly Improved. To get a husky, fever-resisting beast for the low coast lands, the canny Texans have crossed their native cattle with the great humpbacked Brahmans of India. In good years the Fort Worth market alone will receive more than 1,000,000 cattle, as well as, perhaps, 1,250,000 calves, sheep, and hogs. Measured in dollars and cents, Texas cotton is above cattle. Cotton, in Texas, is above everything. But nothing Is above cattle In the senti- (Prcpared bv National Geographic Society, ' Washington. D. C.) WNU Service. "T "TT THILE scientists are penetrat- Y tng the black depths of caves V V In Texas to trace the lives of their early occupants among America's oldest Inhabitants the Lone Star state swiftly marches in the opposite op-posite direction toward modern progress. prog-ress. Texas is so big! So big' that some one said the people of El Paso jeer at those of Galveston as being effete easterners. In terms of people, area, animals, crops, and natural wealth she is so big and her regional interests inter-ests are so diverse that she has outgrown out-grown her very constitution, as a boy outgrows his pants. Laws good for east Texas may be bad for west Texas. States policies agreeable to the natives na-tives on the lower Rio Grande may cause grief and pain to those hundreds hun-dreds of miles away In the vast Panhandle. Pan-handle. Merely to confound the newcomer, the native himself takes delight In mentioning casually that his state could swallow up more than 213 Rhode Islands and have a large area left over and that it is farther from El Paso to Beaumont than it is from New York to Chicago. Her governor rules more territory than any king or premier of Europe has in the continental conti-nental limits of his country, Russia alone excepted. Were Texas as densely dense-ly settled as Massachusetts, she'd have more than 131,000,000 people. In Texas mere native Americans, starting start-ing only with hard hands, strong wills, and great energy, have built up a vast, ments and memories of Texans. To keep alive and spread the fame of Texas cow kingdoms, 32 historic cattle brands have been carved on the walls of Garrison hall, newest building on the camups of the state university. When Cabeza de Vaca crossed Texas in 1535 the Indians gave him garments gar-ments of cotton. From the few plants of those early days there has developed devel-oped a- production of astounding magnitude. mag-nitude. At times Texas' crop has amounted to more than 40 per cent of all cotton grown In the United States. In the record year, 1926, it reached the amazing total of 5,630,831 500-pound 500-pound bales. Taking a leaf from the book of North Carolina, Texas is beginning to build up her most obvious industry, the cotton mill. She enjoys three of the most vital factors for their profitable profit-able operation : adequate labor, cotton "at the gate of the cotton patch," and fuel for power. Developing Its Resources. Like North Carolina, also, Texas Is setting about methodically to make the most of all her natural gifts. The newly formed Society for the Scientific Development of Texas Natural Resources Re-sources is just what its name implies. Vast as many resources of Texas are known to be, further surveys must yet be made to determine the best local industrial use of the many mineral min-eral deposits which exist. Already the annual mineral production, exclusive of oil, is -valued at $70,000,000. Take potash. A thorough survey of the Texas deposits may reveal enough of these salts to make the United States forever independent of the present French-German potash monopoly. Texas produces $50,000,000 of net surplus wealth each year. It Is the elm of the Scientific society, by publishing publish-ing freely the results of its surveys, to aid this home capital in the development develop-ment of mining and industry. Texas, never a territory, entered the Union on her own terms. Shrewdly, Shrewd-ly, she kept title to her own public lands. Half this vast domain she gave to her schools. Her university received re-ceived more than two million acres. OH found on these lands has made the University of Texas very rich. Hosts of Americans have seen Texas from the windows of transcontinental trains. To such train riders it seems largely a flat, dry, almost treeless country. That's the fault of men who located the railroads. Parts of Texas, like the great barrancas of the Panhandle, Pan-handle, or the Santa Helena gorge in Brewster county, are wild and picturesque. pic-turesque. Cross-country train trippers killing time at bridge between Kansas City and Los Angeles, see nothing of these rougher, wilder regions. Likewise, Like-wise, by hundreds of miles, they miss the verdant, fruitful, subtroplc Gulf coast, with its palms and beaches, Its pleasure resorts, and its busy, growing grow-ing tourist traffic. From all over the Middle West Increasing numbers of visitors go now each winter to Galveston, Gal-veston, Corpus Christ!, and other Gulf towns. Farther south and alone: the Rio Grande, between Laredo and Brownsville, Browns-ville, has developed rapidly a vegetable au?I citrus-growing region of wealth and importance. rich and powerful commonwealth. The human tide to Texas, so far, has been steady, but never in any sense a great migration. When Stephen F. Austin founded his famous colony on the banks of the Brazos, a little more than 100 years ago, the Texas population, Including Mexicans and Indians, was probably not more than 8,000 or 10,000. In the next quarter quar-ter of a century the state had only 100,000 white Inhabitants and 85,000 slaves. Not till railways began to spread, in the seventies, was its growth at all rapid. In the last 20 years it has gained more than 2,000,000. From the Middle Western states, since 1920, more than 100,000 people have come each year to settle In Teas. Of these Immigrants, 86 per cent have settled in towns and cities. The remaining re-maining 14 per cent, going to the country, coun-try, have put close to 2,000,000 acres of new land into crops. Since the end of the World war, It' is estimated that propably 600,000 people have settled on new farms in the vast Panhandle region. Less Than Half Cultivated. The enormous agricultural potentiality poten-tiality of Texas is shown by the fact that, although less than half of her arable land has been put under cultivation, culti-vation, yet in a good year she produces pro-duces a billion-dollar crop. More than a billion dollars' worth . of oil has been produced in Texas In five years and the state probably has more lignite, or brown coal, than the whole famous Ruhr region of Germany. Ger-many. Her deposits run Into billions of tons. No one knows how much. Her industrial population, though long of minor consequence, is now increasing increas-ing fast. With her abundant oil, gas lignite, Iron ore, and other minerals, the resulting re-sulting gradual Increase of trade and Industry Is bound to bring substantial growth to certain Texas cities. , On the maps of the United States used by the general staff at' Washington Washing-ton certain little flags are flying. They Indicate the strategic cities of America, Amer-ica, such as New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and San Antonio, Texas. Besides Its place on the map, among the things which give a city strategic Importance are safe and adequate food and fuel, In easy reach, and ample transport. In these respects San Antonio, An-tonio, as well as Houston and Dallas, Is well supplied. "To o singular degree, east Texas, with her oil, lignite, and other minerals, min-erals, her lumber, her excellent means of transport, and her easy access to vast meat, grain and natural gas supplies, sup-plies, is a strategic may spot whereon It Is easy to visualize a grent southwestern south-western city. Already Houston is conspicuous. It Is the greatest spot-cotton market In the world. On Its ship canal it has huge storage for export oil and grain t. grain sent from Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska for Liverpool and Europe. Fed by 17 railways and served by numerous steamship and tanker lines, It trades with the world. Its destiny Is one of large possibilities. Bigger and Better Cattle. In all the kaleidoscopic industrial transitions that are sweeping so much |