•SlliVBB IN- MEXICO.
■ .jjjf '
A TRIP OF OBSERVATION
THROUCH THAT COUNTRY.
W*S»* low and Cost of Living Illgh—
Mhcriiblc Condition of the Farmer—
Hneh Conditions Would firing on.j
Speedy devolution Here.
i V
■H
El Faso, Texas. Oct. 26.—I have just
concluded a tour of Mexico, which 1
made for the purpose of determining
whether business aud wages and prices
of farm produce were really as satis
factory 23 has been claimed and partic
ularly whether the conditions are such
as to encourage the people of this coun
ffy fn adopting the financial system of
Mexico. i • -...
I met and talked with two passenger
conductors between Torreon and El
Paso, Texas, about the wages of that
y£,a¥ Qi^railrcad employes. Unlike the
SofMiafc of the Mexican Central and
other roads in Mexico, the men in the
operating department do not receive
Sold for tlieir services. They are paid
in paper money or silver worth a little
more than 50 cent3 on the dollar. These
senllemcn would not permit me to
quote them, but. talked freely with the
nndersfanding that their names were
not to be used. They said it was the
policy of all railroad corporations in
that country to “stand in” with the
powers that be, and refuse to discus!
• he financial system of the republic.
This, they explained, was because the
govci■nrr.cnt gran'ed big concessions to
the railroads which were developing
the resources of the country. One of
these conductors said: “My salary is
$JCh per month. I pay S'29 a month
room Tret, or a ‘o»al of ?24J a year. I
pay r--. hoard that I would not eat in
the S-Mca, 51 per day, or $365 a year.
It <-r me ?20 per month for room rent
for r.iy wife. There's 5210 more. Then
I fc> -i c to pay ?25 per month for her
Ttoa-.1—fma a ye-r mere to add to the
tot?!.; The rules compel me to buy two
*uih; of clothes per year, for which I
have to pry 570 p r suit.. Out of the 50
ecu
pa?
ail c
tel
sid< :
end
herr
oilar-i which wo have left afte;
out there sums we-’must but
cur cinlhfne; Figure it out your
" d yon wil! f "•;l that it takes con
: hie Jinan scoring to make botl
meet. T he American who is down
i'rnsdinp on- hi. to be pretty wed
np in rrit^mrticfl.bgw^isp te has go*
do .' :<;c ttqnth to,lit
out .ms! haw muck his dollar is worth
out ’
T • oi ligjv concur orscofroborated a’
this rad sabre. -“My cxijenses in Mexi
to rre greater,” he said, “than in th
-4
any oX the towns or cities ot the United
States. For instance, in the City of
Mexico a six-room house crowded up
into a row of one or two story build
ings rents for $60 per month—$10 per
room. A railroad man who cares for
the comforts of his wife and children
would not pen them up in a sun-dried
mud house of two or three rooms for
which he would have to pay $25 to $30
per month—all he could afford to pay—
so he leaves them in this country,and it
ho has anything left after his living
expenses are paid at the end of each
month he converts his 50-cent dollars
into dollars worth 100 cents the world
over and sends them to his family.
Railroad Waffcs.
Locomotive engineers in Mexico rc
ccive from $125 to $225 per month in
Mexican money, while on the western
roads in the United States they are
paid from $125 to $200 per month in
gold ,or its equivalent.
Freight conductors are paid from $12."
to $200 per month in Mexico, while
the wages range the same in this coun
try with a dollar worth twice as muc?>.
Firemen get from $70 to $100 pec
month in Mesico. Here they get from
$60 to $100, and at the end of the
month they don’t have to figure how
much their dollars are worth.
Division superintendents in Mexico
receive $350 per month in the cheap
dollars, but iust over the line their sal
aries range from $250 to $325 in gold.
Trainmasters average about $165 in
Mexico, but in this country their aver
age i3 about $1G0—nearly double when
figured on a gold basis.
Mexican railroads pay telegraph oper
ators in a depreciated currency from
$10 to $80 per month. On our. western
roads they get from $40 to $100 a month
in dollars worth 100 cents everywhere.
Chief operators, to whose hands are
entrusted life and property, are paid
from $80 to $150 per month in Mexican
silver, while the same class of men in
this section are paid an average of
$140, or almost double.
The Mexican railroad companies pay
their station agents from $50 to $175
per month. On western roads the wages
range frem $40 to $150 per month in
100-cent dollars—that’s the difference.
I am certain that there is not an
American laborer who works on the
section who would want to go to Mexi
co. There the average price paid sec
tion hands is 50 cent3 per day, and
they work from sunrise to sunset.
Compared with the money paid to
American labrrers, these poor unfor
tunate section hands receive practically
26 cents a day. On my return home I
talked with several gangs of section
men who receive from $1 to $1.25 per
I
“COMMON CARRIERS."
United States] For a while I was on
the upper, end ;Of a run on the Eagle
• Pass rouJ.6 darf.fended at San Antonio,
* 'tf&xis. TWre-..I; pkid ‘$18 per month
hoard.' J»o,Wfjt am bbarding in Torreon
and pay’$40 ’ per month in Mexican
money. But the greatest expense to 3
railroad man in this country is the high
price he lias to pay for clothing. If I
could do as the Mexicans do, go half
naked, wear sandals for shoes, or go
barefooted, I could get along pretty well
on $80 per month, for that is what $100
in Mexican money is worth, especially
.when the cost of living here is more
y'ythan double.: 1 Uavfe to buy American
shirts, American shoes and hats, and,
indeed, practically everything I wear
comes from the United States. They ,
don't manufacture articles of a charac
ter here in Mexico suitable for our use,
so when I buy a pair of shoes I have 1o
pay double value and the duty added.
This pair of shoes I am wearing cost me
$7.50 in Mexican money, and I could ■
buy the same shoes in Texas for $2.50
or $.«. The same is true of every other
article that I wear. I wish every Amer
ican railroad man who believes that'
the Me xican 00-cent dollar system is a
good thing for wage earners would
come to Mexico and take a few object
lessens. I have had all I want of it,
and will get back to the Stater, as soon
as a position opens for me.”
House Rent.
; - If the railroad man in Mexico should
*ent!d hotlse as good as the home of the
average conluctor, engineer, fireman,!
v. brakeman or telegraph operator In this |
country, he would find himself bank
'.Irhpt at the curt hr the first month, i
ISftSS**. 273 aoubK*'- wliat thtiy'are in!
<1» I." * , j|
**"‘1 •/ i# v.J J > . ,** y * f?
«**-»*«** „■« 2 K-Ml %.
day in sound money, and I did not find
one who intended to vote for a policy
which would reduce the value of Amer
ican labor to a level with that of Mexi
co.
Another class of poorly paid railroad
laborers ip Mexico is the freight brake
men. They, too. are the victims of the
50-cent dollar, receiving from $35 to
$75 per month, while on this side of
the Rio Grande American railroads pay
from §G0 to $100, in gold if they want
it.
In Mexico a section foreman who
lives in a mud house and on a mud
floor, with a sheep skin to sleep on,
without a change of clothing or enough
..table linen to wad a gun, is paid the
muniiicc-n.. salary of from 75 cents to
$1.25 per day. In cheap dollars, of
course. Who has not noted the well
painted homes of the section foreman
as he sped over the Kansas railroads?
^ou not only observe comfortable
houses, with green lawns in front,
bright and sweet faced children play
. ing about the door, but if you will look
inside you will see modern furniture
and plenty of it, carpeted floors, papered
walls, pictures, books, magazines, lace
curtains at the windows, and in many
instances a piano or organ graces the
Parlor. All these things the section
foreman has accumulated from his sal
ary, which averages anywhere from
$75 per month. The reason is
Plain. Every dollar is worth 100 cents
and its purchasing power is three
times that of the Mexican dollar.
' What Money liny*.
I1 found in my investigations of
paid mechanics and skilled labor in the
shops of the Mexican railroads that
.ate, _
wages ranged about as they do in the
United States. The shop men at To
peka receive about the same wages that
are paid on the Mexican Central and
other roads in Mexico, with possibly a
few exceptions, but when you consider
the 100-cent dollar of Uncle Sam and
its purchasing power, and compare it
with the Mexican dollar at SO cents and
the prices of the commodities of life in
that country, an object lesson is pre
sented that a child can understand.
Railroad men are consumers and are
interested in buying their goods where
they can get them cheapest. If the
Mexican dollar would buy as much as
• he American dollar in such articles aa
food and clothing, the railroad man in
Mexico would have little to complain
of. The American dollar will buy
double the amount of the staple com
modities in Mexico, and in this country
it will buy nearly three times as
much in the common articles of food.
The best place to ascertain the cost of
articles in general use is at El Paso and
Juarez, border towns separated by the
Rio Grande river, which is the bound
ary line. There the man who desires
to ascertain the relative values of the
two moneys will gain some valuable
information. While I was there Mayor
R. P. Campbell of El Paso went to the
stores in El Paso and secured prices on
the staple groceries and articles that a
laboring man would have to use. Then
he went over to Juarez and got the
prices of the Mexican merchants on the
same articles, for which they would
pay in Mexican silver. After compiling
his figures he made affidavit to the
statement which follows:
in in
U.S. Mex.
Matches, per gross.$ .00 $1.20
Pickles. In live gallon kegs. 2.23 (5.50
Vinegar, In five gallon kegs.SO 1.40
liaking soda, per dozen.1.0*1 2.40
Salt, In two-pound sacks. .40 .90
Royal baking powder . 4.00 9.00
Molasses, per gallon.<5 1.00
Means, per pound .03 .17
Candles, per box.(i.00 11.75
Catsup, per dozen . 2.00 0.25
Dried plums, per pound.11 .25
Macaroni, per pound.10 ,2a
Dried apples and peaches, per
pound .11 .25
Dried prunes, per pound.10 .20
Arbuckle's coffee, per pound.20 .40
Tea per pound, 35 cents to $1 in
K1 Paso: In Mexico.70 to 1.50
Sugar, per 100 pounds. 5.50 10.75
Rice, per pound .05 .12
Canned tomatoes, per case. 2.25 7.90
Canned peas, per ease. 2.25 S.G0
Crackers, per pound.07 .21
I ought for Corn.
At the town of Siloa, 150 miles from
the City of Mexico, I saw an object les
son of Mexican energy anti activity.
Travelers who havo explored Mexico
will tell you that the masses are lazy,'
listless and indifferent, but there are
exceptions to the rule. When the Mex
ican Central passenger train halted at
the station the usual great crowd of
natives were there to meet it. The
venders and beggars and the curious
specimens of humanity of the neighbor
hood were all there. On the opposite
side of the depot stood a train of hogs
which were being shipped by Armour
of Kansas City to the City of Mexico.
It had been sidetracked for the passen
ger. Instantly there was a mad rush
of men, women and children for the
hog train. The brakeinen had taken
from the. caboose several sacks of
shelled corn and were feeding the hogs.
A few gallons of the corn fell to the
ground, and one hundred men, women
and children fought each other like
demons to get hold of a few kernels to
eat. The race was to the swift, and
decrepit old women and half-clothed
children were trampled upon by the
muscular Mexicans whose hunger for
food made demons of them.
Farming.
The traveler who goes to Mexico to
study the conditions of the people
ought to stop a day or two at the bor
der, as I did. I crossed the line at Ei
Paso, Texas, where I had a good op
portunity for comparing the methods of
farming in both countries. On the Mex
ican side of the Rio Grande is a valley
that stretches away for many miles,
which has been under a crude system
of cultivation ror over three hundred
years. The lack of enterprise, thrift
and prosperity is noticeable every
where, while over on the Texas border,
with fewer natural advantages, are
large and commodious homes, well im
proved farms, big stock ranches, and
every evidence of a contented and pros
perous people.
The ClaHHes of Mexico.
There are only two classes In Mexico
—the very rich anil the very poor.
There are about 13,000,000 people in
the republic, anil one million of these
own the lands, the mines, the manufac
tures and other enterprises. The rail
roads are owned by foreign capitalists.
This class is prosperous because it is
the policy of the government to aid by
large concessions any enterprise that
will tend to the development of Mexi
co’s inexhaustible resources. Back of
this Is President Diaz' standing army
which would shoot to death any body
of laboring men who would even con
sider the matter of striking for better
wages. Why should not these big en
terprises prosper when they can employ
labor for almost, nothing? But the
magic touch of this prosperity has not
left its impress on the other 12,000,000
who constitute the toiling mases of
Mexico. The men who work on the
great haciendas, or plantations of the
rich, are today in as deplorable condi
tion as they were before a mile of rail
road track was laid in the republic.
During the past seventeen years that
country has experienced its greatest
growth in railroad building and min
ing. Within this period the Mexican
dollar has fallen from 8 per cent above
par, as compared with American gold,
but labor has remained stationary. The
common farm labor has ranged from
25 to 37 cents per day, while the Mexi
can dollar has fluctuated from $1.08 to
43 cents. Therefore, it is not true that
there is a tendency to increase the
wages of the millions whose toil pro
duces the wheat, the corn, the cotton,
the coffee, the tobacco aud the fruits
of Mexico.
The agricultural lands of Mexico are
owned by a few men. They have
■massed great fortunes off the cheap
labor of the poor people and are grow
ing richer every year. These great h'a
eiendus contain from 40,000 to 350,000
acres. Each landlord employs from 300
to 1.500 men. I visited several of these
haciendas. The owners live In palaces
and are surrounded with every com
fort that heart could wish. Around and
about these palaces are scattered tho
adobe or sundried, one-room mud
bouses of the laborers. The nverage
wages paid these men is 2G cents per
day. A few get three bits a day, but
the number is limited. In many of
these so-called homes the luxury of a
dining tftble, chairs, bedstead and
knives and forks to eat with are un
known. A sheepskin or a mat thrown
upon the dirt floor serves as a bed. Not
one in twenty of these huts have a
floor. There Is no paper on the wall,
no pictures, no books, no music, except
the cries for food which come from tho
lips of the half-naked, hungry children.
It matters not to this great class of
people who plant, cultivate and harvest
tho crops what the price of wheat, bar
ley, potatoes or other staple may be,
for they have no share in the profits
of their labor. In fact, they never taste
many of these articles. Their food is
corn, with an occasional allowance of
dersolu by those of the smaller towns.
For example, a pair of blankets that I
can btty In Topeka for$2.50 would cost
|6 there. X three-piece oak bed room
set that could be purchased at any fur
niture store in Kansas for $25 was of
fered me for $150 in the City of Mexico.
Unbleached muslin costs 15 cents and
the cheapest calico 13 cents per yard,
end with 33 inches for a yard, at that.
Codec, one of Mexico's staples, costs 60
cents per pound, and butter ranges
from 75 cents to $1 per pound.
Before going to Mexico I was told
that I could buy as much with the Mex
ican dollar in Mexico as I could with
our 100-cent dollar on this side of ,the
line. I am prepared to deny that prop
osition, and in proof need only refdr to
another object lesson which impressed
itself on me. A street car line connects
El Paso, Texas, with the city of Juarez,
the Rio Grande river between them
forming the boundary line. I rode over'
to the Mexican town, and ou the car
was an intelligent young Mexican.
,When the car approached the Juarez
end of the bridge he crowded up Into
the corner to hide a bundle behind
hint. Just then the representative of the
Mexican government came aboard to
see If the occupants had dutiable goods.
Nothing was found on which ‘ a tax
HOMES OF THE POOR FARMERS WHO WORK FOR £Gc PER DAY.
beans. These they get through the
hacienda store. The ration for each
man is one and one-half pints of corn
per day. If he has a wife and six chil
dren, as is generally the case, he would
have to draw from the store account
twelve pints each day. The hacienda
owner charges all the way from 8 to 12
cents per pint for shelled corn, and at
the end of the year when a settlement
is made the poor farmer finds himself
helplessly in debt, and his slavery con
tinues.
There are those who insist that these
people do not desire and would not en
joy and appreciate a better condition
in life; that they prefer a mud house
to a comfortable home; a sheepEkin in
preference to a bed, and a blanket to
cover their nakedness and keep them
warm instead of clothing. There is
just as much reason and truth in such
a declaration as in the • oft-repeated
claim that the free silver policy of that
country is beneficial to the laboring
classes, for neither assertion is true.
There is no more peaceable, patient
and hard-working class of people on
the globe than the peon laborers of
Mexico. They are not responsible for
the policy that has tended to degrade
rather than lift them up. They know
nothing about the benefits and bless
ings of education, but they can look
about them and observe the conditions
of the rich, and although they may
never hope to advance from the life of
slavery that is now upon them, It is
idle folly to say that these people would
not appreciate the little home-com
forts that make life worth the living.
Beggeni Kverywlirro.
The City of Mexico is the flower of
the republic. I was not disappointed
in finding there the concentration of
enormous wealth, because I had heard
mucli of the magnificent homes, fine
business blocks, the beautiful drive to
Chepultepec, the great parks—and the
bull fights. But amid all this gorgeous
display of wealth I found undeniable
evidences of poverty and hunger every
where. The halt, tho lame and the
blind are not the only class who beg
you to give them money on nearly ev
ery street corner. Strong men and wo
men, able to work, vie with the af
flicted in their appeals for “centavos.”
The only reason I can give for this gen
eral begging is that they can make
FARM HOUSES IN MEXICO,
more money at it than they can to work
from one to three bits per day. How
many thousand beggars there are in
the City of Mexico can only be guessed
at. The newspapers of that city admit
that the beggars are a reproach to the
republic. It Is claimed that of the 300,
800 Inhabitants, 7,000 are homeless and
sleep in the parks and on the streets,
with the broad canopy of heaven as
their shelter.
A Comparison of Prices.
The prices of some of the common
articles of merchandise furnished an
abject lesson which I shall not soon for
get. The City of Mexico is the metrop
olis of the republic, and it is fair to
oresume that the merchants are not un
could bo levied and tho young u.
smoked his cigar leisurely until he w.,s
out of sight of tho Mexican offli <
Then he alighted, taking with h
twenty pounds of American granule c '
sugar which he had purchased at I
Paso for $1. If he paid for this stir a,
in Mexican silver it cost him a litlii
less than $2, for Mexican silver w
worth 52 cents that day. The same dual
tty of sugar was selling in Juarez fo:
In cents per pound, and if he had pur
chased it on the Mexican side would
have paid ?3 for it.
This little incident caused me tc
make some investigations as to the
HOMS OF THE SECTION FOREMAN
price ot staple commodities on each side
of the line. In Juarez these prices pre
vailed:
Beans, 5 to 6 cents per pound.
Sugar, 14 to 15 cents per pound.
Coffee, 50 to 60 cents per pound.
Soap, 9 cents per pound.
Bleached sheeting, 20 cents per yal d.
Prints, 12% cents per yard (33 inch
es).
Candles. 3 cents each.
On the western coast of Mexico corn
is a drug on the market, and the far
mers were selling crops grown two
years ago for from 20 to 25 cents pei
bushel.
Beef cattle, as line as any on the
American ranches, are sold on the Mex
ican plantations at from $25 to $35 pet
head, while ranch cattle bring from $12
to $16 per head. All classes of stock
are sold by the head, and not by the
pound. Ranch horses can be bought
for $12 per head. Mules were quoted
at from $20 to $50 per bead.
The above prices, of course, prevail
in the cheap Mexican dollar, worth a
little more than 50 cents, and these ar
ticles are produced by the toil of mil
lions whose average dally wage is 26
cents, in the same depreciated money.
D. O. M’AVOY.
Roman CnnnlH In llrltaln.
The first canala In Britain were con
structed by the Romans. Of these the
most remarkable are the Caer Dyke
and Foss Dyke cuts In Lincolnshire,
which are by general consent admitted
to have been of Roman origin. The
former extends from Peterborough to
the River Witliam, near the city of
Lincoln, a distance of about forty
miles; and the latter from Lincoln to
the River Trent, near Torksey, a dis
tance of eleven miles. Of the Caer
Dyke the name only now remains, but
the Foss Dyke, though of Roman
origin, still exists, and is the oldest
British canal. Foss Dyke, according to
Camden, was deepened and rendered
more navigable in 1121 by Henry I.
About 1841 it was widened to the min
imum breadth of 45 feet and deepened
to the extent of six feet throughout,
and thu3 this ancient canal, which is
quoted by Telford and Nimmo as “the
oldest artificial canal in Britain," wa3
restored to a state c-f perfect efficiency,
at a cost of forty thousand pounds.
- -i
I TEXAS MISREPRESENTED.
An Atlanta Doctor Who Told • FlaM
story About the Drought.
Tyler, Smith County, Tex., Oct. 6.—
(To Tile News.)—The Atlanta Journal
of September 30 last contained an in
terview with a certain doctor of that
city on the condition of Texas, her
crops and people, that demands a re
ply from some person with more infor
Imatlon than the doctor. The large •
headlines to the article are "The Wolf
in Texas." "An Atlanta Man From the
Lone Star State Describes the Dread
Prospects of Poverty." "Doctor-In
terviewed.” He tells how the fearful
drought "burned die earth up and de
stroyed the ground’s fertility.”
The Atlanta doctor is unknown to
. hfe and perhaps to. Texas people.' If he
wee better known maybe this reply
would be needless. But assume that he
did . travel in Texas and that he did
see the worst drought (U parts of thin
state since the year 1851, still the
statements are far from being corrects
In his extended tour through the West
he tells a sorrowful tale of the condi
tion of the crops of the WeBt, and es
pecially in the etate of Texas. The
doctor relates only one exception to
bad crops, “and that is from Helena.
Ark., up to Southern Mississippi.” And
there the land will make "from half
a bale to a bale of cotton tp the acre
and from ithlrtyirflve to seventy-five
bushels of wheat to the acre.” This
must be an enchanted land, a marvel
ous paradise for the farmer “From
Helena, Ark., to Southern Mississippi.’*
Kansas, Nebraska and the Dakotas are
far away from the real wheat coun
try and do a little business in com
parison with the doctor’s golden grain
land “from Helena, Ark., up to South
ern Mississippi.” .. t
The doctor says no rain fell In Tex
as since Hay. 1, and in some flections
no rain since April to the day of his
interview, September 30, 1896. Suppose
the weather reports were drawn on
the doctor and they showed rainfalls
since April of two inches, four inches
and as high ns seven inches at one
dropping in large areas of Texas. Tho
picture drawn by the doctor is a “sor
rowful tale" of woe and distress, such1
as would choke off every man who
dreamed of cheap lands and a com-j
fortable home in Texas. Listen to his
mournful weepings for the miserable ' :
people of this state: “Much cotton that
was planted has never come up. There
has not been enough moisture to gen
erate the seed.” He proceeds: “Corn
is almost a total failure this year;’' •
that the “little half-grown stalks that
have dried up.in the summer sun rus
tle mournfully in the wind that sweeps
across the barren waste.” The Oeorgia f
doctor when interviewed must have
been in a sad state of mind. :
These statements were published as
if they were based on facts in a re
putable journal in the largest city in
the great state of Georgia as coming
from an "Atlanta man.” Now, what
do the people of Texas think of such
statements? What do the people of
Georgia think of them? And what do *■"
the people “from Helena, Ark., up to
Southern Mississippi” think of them?
The best test of such assertions, per
haps, is the price that the staple pro
ductions of Texas bring in an open'
market. At the city of Tyler, about
the geographical center of Eastern Tex
as, where the Cotton Belt Railroad
crosses the International & Great ^
Northern Railroad, is in the midst of.
the drought-stricken area, and I; will
submit the prices at retail here to-day.
of some of the leading staple produc
tions of this section of the state, viz.:
Cotton, best grades, 7 cents; corn in
shuck, 40 cents; hay, best quality, $10
per ton; dry salt bacon and clear sides,
5 cents and 6 cents; corn fed pork on
foot, 3 cents; prime beef, 1% cents;
flour, per barrel, $4 to $5; October*
peaches, 60c per bushel; fall apples,
large, 75 cents to $1 per bushel. These
prices could not exist if these articles
had not been made here. The fact is'
that Texas has an abundance of feed
for man and beast, notwithstanding a
severe drought for Texas occurred this
past season. This state will still make
more cotton than any other state in
the Union. No one can safely estimato
the cotton crop yet, as the fields are
green, and the plant is loaded in many’
parts of the state with growing bolls
that with late fro3t will mature into
good cotton. i
l give one example of a farmer in
Smith county this year. I sold him fif
ty acres of land, unimproved, in 1895
for $250. He moved on it in 1896,
cleared twenty-six acres and fenced it,
built a three-room house and out
houses and cultivated eighteen acres
cotton and eight acres oorn, all with
his own labor. Yesterday he reported
he had five bales of cotton picked and
that he would likely get two more and
had 250 bushels of corn. Or at the
price above now ruling, if he makes
six bales of cotton he will have for
his crop $310 cash, and in this “dread
ful year” pay for his home and have
$60 left. If a one-horse farmer can buy
a home in the woods and pay for it in
one year in such a severe drought,'
what may he not do in all the life
time of good years? Texas is the best
poor man's country, all things consid
ered, on this account, and those who
seek a good country and a comfortable
home should not be driven from their
purpose by the “sorrowful tale" of th®
sensationalist. Respectfully,
W. S. HERNDON.
(Dallas News, Oct. 9, 1896.)
Col. W. S. Herndon, ex-member of
Congress from Texas, Is probably as
well equipped for giving accurate in-;'
formation concerning Texas as any of'
her citizens.
We are also informed that present
indications point to a heavy top crop;
owing to the average high temperature
in September, and seasonable and
abundant rains, and experts estimate
♦he Texas cotton cron at 9 500 000 ha lea.