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About The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 30, 1896)
ft , "SILVER IN MEXICO. H A TRIP OF OBSERVATION B ; , THROUGH THAT COUNTRY. f • K . WnK 'R Lorr and Col or Living IHrU K .J" * Mlncmlilo Condition r ihu Farmer Hft huch Conditions Would Brlnj ; on a Hpccdy Involution llcrr. N V < EI Paso , Texas , Oct. 2G. I have just H" ' concluded a tour of Mexico , which 1 Hh made for tlio purpose of determining > whether business and wages and prices KL oi farm produce were really as satis- Kf factory atf has been claimed and partlc- Rr uJarly whether the conditions are such Hv b to encourage the people of this coun- K" trJ" in adopting the financial system of ft.Mexico. . . K \ I met and talked with two passenger B conductors between Torrcon and El BB Paso , Texas , about the wages of that m ! class of railroad employes. Unlike the L W • officials of the Mexican Central and B , . V other roads in Mexico , the men in the MLa operating department do not receive HPb | Ked ! for their cervices. They are paid Bt & in papar money or silver worth a little B V. more than SO tents on the dollar. These VG i ScnUemen would not permit me to / / quote them , but talked freely with the k understanding that their names were B not , to be used. They said it was the m policy of all railroad corporations in lhat country to "stand in" with the H [ j Tiowcrc That be , and refuse to discuss B. \ 'bo ' financial system of the republic. BO This , they explained , was because the K sovermnrnt granted big concessions to B tJc railroads which were developing RaT Hie resources of the country. One of H ? these conductors said : "My salary is B\1 ? 1C0 per month. I pay $20 a month ? \ voom rent , cr a total of $240 a year. I K V pay for beard that 1 would not eat in Kjf * "e States. $1 per day , or $3G5 a year. Bf It costs rae $20 per month for room rent B [ | for my wife. There's § 2 JU more. Then jp I have to pay 523 per month for her HI board f. 'JOQ a. year mere to add to the Bfj total. The rules eomr-cl inc to buy t * .vo ' K suits of clothes per yer.r , for which I % have io pr.v $70 per suit. Out of the 30- f | cent dollars which we have left after Rfjj r .vins oat these sues we must buy Hip ull of cur clothing. Figure it cu : your- B | self a : ! 3ou will find that it takes con- HjftK | sideiable financcering to make , both Btf | end : ; meet. The American whe is down Hty - bere railroading ought to be pretty well Wml "I * 'n arithmetic , because he has got to M1 } do come calculating each month to find Htf } out just Tiow much bin dollar is worth. " Jg \ The other conductor corroborated all Bj | ( ta"nd mcie. "My expenses in Mexi- m \ co arc greater , " he said , "than in the any of the towns or cities of 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 v/ould 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. Itailroail WaRts. Locomotive engineers in Mexico re ceive 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 fiom § 12. to $200 per month in Mexico , while the wages range the same in this coun try with a dollar worth twice as mue > . Firemen get from § 70 to $100 pe * month in Mexico. Here they get from 560 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 just over the line their sal aries range from $250 to S325 in gold. Trainmasters average about $105 in Mexico , but in this country their aver age is about § 100 nearly double when figured on a gold basis. Mexican railroads pay telegraph oper ators in a depreciated currency from § 10 to § S0 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 cilvcr , 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 rang- ) from $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 -eetion who would want to go to Mexi co. There the average price paid sec tion hands is 50 cents per day , and they work from sunrise to sunset. Compared with the money paid to American laborers , these poor unfor tunate section hands receive practically 20 cents a day. On my return home I talked with several gangs of section men who receive from $1 to $1.25 per rWa ? v , s ? rrv\vVv&if ; " % k1MKh nwM'/ firl zSs ? ! W " u | j ( "COMMON CARRIERS. " "United States. For a while I was on the upper end of a run on the Eagle Pass route and boarded at San Antonio , Texas. There I paid $1S per month beard. NevI am boarding in Torreon and pay $40 per month in Mexican -money. But Uie greatest expense to a railroad man in this country is the high price he has 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 $160 in Mexican money is worth , especially when the cost of living here is more than double. I have to buy American shirts , American shoes and hats , and , indeed , practically everything I wear i * 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 to pay double value and the duty added. This pair of shoes I am wearing cost me $7.50 in Mexican money , and I could Tiuy tlie same shoes in Texas for § 2.50 or S3. The same is true of. every other article that I wear. I wish every Amer ican railroad man who believes that the Mexican 50-cent dollar system is a good thing for wage earners would -come to Mexico and take a few object lessors. I have had all I want of it , and will get back to the States as soon -as a position opens for me. " Iloato Bent. If the railroad man in Mexico should F Kr" Tent a house as good as the home of the ] average conductor , engineer , fireman , K aBi "brakeman or telegraph operator in this m " B country , he would find himself bank- ral T5Dt at lhe endot tue first month. " ' what they are in ' K ? XSentsare' double w Wm | - , „ i , . 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 in Mexico is the freight brake- men. They , too , are the victims of the 50-cent dollar , receiving from § 35 to $75 { jer month , while on this side of the Rio Grande American railroads pay from § 60 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 munificent 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 ho sped over the Kansas railroads ? You 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 curiains 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 § 45 to $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 Bays. I found in my investigations of paid mechanics and skilled labor in the shops of the Mexican railroads that ta . j - M m"Mjj-rtfya * * * ' * * * * ' * " ' ' ti' Mp wmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmammmmmMmm wages ranged about as they do In the United States. The shop men at Topeka - 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 lis purchasing power , and compare it with the Mexican dollar at 50 cents and the prices of the commodities of life in that country , a 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' the American dollar in such articles a3 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. F. 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 ho went over to Juarez and got the prices of the Mexican merchants on the same articies , 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 Bross. . . . . $ .GO $1.20 Pickles , in live gaJlon kesrs 2.2o G.50 YincFrar , in live s Hon kegs .GO 1.40 Hakins soda , per dozen . 1.00 2.40 Salt , in two-pound sacks 40 .90 Royal baking powder 4.00 0-00 Molasses , per Ballon < • _ > 1.G0 Beans , per pound 0o .11 Candles , per box H.OO 11. id Catsup , per dozen 2.0' ) 0.2. Dried plums , per pound 11 .2 , > Macaroni , per pound 10 ,23 Dried apples and peaches , per pound 1125 Dried prunes , per pound 10 .20 Ai buckle's coffee , per pound 20 .40 Tea per pound , 3Ti cents to ? 1 in 131 Paso : in Mexico TO to 1.50 Si'gar , per 100 pounds 5.50 10.To Rice , per pound 03 .12 Canned tomatoes , per case 2.23 7.90 Canned peas , per case 2.23 S.50 Ciackeia , per pound 07 .21 Fougbt for Corn. At the town of Siloa , 150 miles from the City of Mexico , I saw an object les son of Mexican energy and activity. Travelers who have 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 usufl 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 brakemen 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. Farniinij. 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 El 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 for 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 pror- perous people. The Classes of Mexico. There are only two classes in Mexico the very rich and the very poor. There are about 13,000,000 people in the republic , and 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 S 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 and the fruits of Mexico. The agricultural lands of Mexico are owned , by a few men. They have * amassed great fortunes off the cheap labor of the poor people and are grow ing richer every year. These great ha ciendas contain from 40,000 to 350,000 acres. Each landlord employs from 300 to 1,500 men. 1 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 the adobe or sundried , one-room mud houses of the laborers. The average wages paid these men is 2C 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 table , chairs , bedstead and knives and forks to cat 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 Avail , no pictures , no books , no music , except the cries for food which come from the lips of the half-naked , hungry children. It matters not to this great class of people who plant , cultivate and harvest the 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 SBMMtaeaitf mm HOMES OF THE POOR FARMERS WHO WORK FOR 2Gc PER DAA\ Tcculd be " levied -hn. -l lhfT von lie man 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 ill 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 sheepskin 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. Bescers Eieryvliere. 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 much of the magnificent homes , fine business blocks , the beautiful drive to Chepiiltepec , 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 , the 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 guessefl at The newspapers of that city admit that the beggars are a reproach to the republic. It is claimed that of the 300 , - 000 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 Trices. The prices of some of the common articles of merchandise furnished an object lesson which I shall not soon for get. The City of Mexico is the metrop olis of the republic , and it is fair to nresume that the merchants are not un- dersold by those -at rhe smaller towns. For example , n pair of blankets that I can buy in Topeka for$2.50 would cost $ G there. A three-piece oak bed room set that could bo purchased at any fur niture store in Kansas for $25 wa3 of fered me for $150 in the City of Mexico. Unbleached muslin costs 15 cents and lhe cheapest calico 13 cents per yard , and with 33 inches for a yard , at that. Coffee , one of Mexico's staples , costs > 0 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 refer 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 on 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 him. .lust then the representative of the Mexican government came aboard to see if the occupants had dutiable goods. Nothing was found on which a tax smoked his cigar leisurely until he was out of sight of the Mexican officer Then he alighted , taking with him twenty pounds of American granulatec sugar which he had purchased at El Paso for $1. If he paid for this sugar in Mexican silver it cost him a little less than $2 , for Mexican silver was worth 52 cents that day. The same qual ity of sugar was selling in Juarez for 15 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 to make some investigations as to tZic HOME OF THE SECTION FOREMAN price of 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 CO cents per pound. Soap , 9 cents per pound. Bleached sheeting , 20 cents per yard. 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 per bushel. Beef cattle , as fine as any on the American ranches , are sold on the Mex ican plantations at from $25 to § 35 per 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 head. 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 daily wage is 2C cents , in the same depreciated monev. " D. O. M'AVOY. Koman Canals in Britain. The first canals 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. Tire former extends from Peterborough to the River Witham , 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 thus this ancient canal , "which is quoted by Telford and Nimmo as "the oldest artificial canal in Britain , " was restored to a state c-f perfect efficiency , at a cost of forty thousand pounds. * | TEXAS MISREPRESENTED. H An Atlanta IJoctor Whi Told 1'Ubj | 8tory About the Drought. | Tyler , Smith County , Tex. , Oct. C H ( To The Now3.--The Atlanta Journal. j H of September 30 last contained an interview - | terview with a certain doctor or that | jdty on the condition of Texas , her H jcrops and people , that demands a reply - | ply from some person with more infor- | jmatlon than the doctor. The largo H 'headlines ' to the artlclo are "Tho WolC | ; in Texas. " "An Atlanta Man From tho. | ( Lone Star State Describes the Dread H Prospects of Poverty. " "Doctor In- H terviewed. " He tells how the fearful H drought "burned the earth up and destroyed - H stroyed the ground's fertility. " H The Atlanta doctor is unknown to H me and perhaps to Texas people. If ho H was better known maybe this reply H would be needless. But assume that ho H did travel in Texas and that he did H sec the worst drought in parts of this , H state since the year 1851 , still the j f statements are far from being correct. j H In his extended tour through the West i B he tells a sorrowful talc of the condi- i H tlon of the crops of the West , and cs- 1 | pecially in the state of Texas. Tho. i H doctor relates only one exception to- 1 bad crops , "and that is from Helena , * i H Ark. , up to Southern Mississippi. " And I H there the land will make "from halt ' | a bale to a hale of cotton to the aero H and from H thirty-five to scyenty-flvo bushels of wheat to the acre. " This H must be an enchanted land , a marvel- H " ous paradise for < the farmer "Front fl l Helena , Ark. , to Southern Mississippi. " i H Kansas , Nebraska and the Dakotas are I H far away from the real wheat coun- H H try and do a little business in comparison - | parison with the doctor's golden grain H land "from Helena , Ark. , up to South- t H ' ern Mississippi. " H ; The doctor says no rain fell in Texas - H as since May 1 , and in some sections | no rain since April to the day of his H interview , September 30 , 189G. Suppose H the weather reports were drawn on H the doctor and they showed rainfalls H since April of two itches , four inches , H and as high as seven inches at ono > H dropping in large areas of Texas. The ' H picture drawn by the doctor is a "sor- H rowful tale" of woe and distress , such jj H as would choke off every man who i l dreamed of cheap lands and a com- , f l fortable home in Texas. Listen to his 1 mournful weepings for the miserable ' H people of this state : "Much cotton that H was planted ha3 never come up. There H has not been enough moisture to generate - | erate the seed. " He proceeds : "Corn / H is almost a lotal failure this year ; " / H that the "little half-grown stalks that ? | have dried up in the summer sun rus- J H tie mournfully in the wind that sweeps o l across the barren waste. " The Georgia ' H doctor when interviewed must have : j | been in a sad state of mind. H These statements were published as M if they were based on facts in a re- f l putable journal in the largest city in M the great state of Georgia as coming H from an "Atlanta man. " Now , what M do the people of Texas think of such H statements ? What do the people of M Georgia think of them ? And what do H the people "from Helena , Ark. , up to ' H Southern Mississippi" think of them ? | The best test of such assertions , perhaps - M haps , is the price that the staple pro- j H ductions of Texas bring in an open H market. At the city of Tyler , about H the geographical center of Eastern Texas - " H as , where the Cotton Belt Railroad H crosses the International & Great I H Northern Railroad , is in the midst of 1 1 the drought-stricken area , and I will I H submit ths prices at retail here to-day 1 | of some of the leading staple p ' roduc- * 1 1 tions of this section of the state , viz. : | H Cotton , best grades , 7 cents ; corn in | H shuck , 40 cents ; hay , best quality , $10 \ \ M per ton ; dry salt bacon and clear sides , • M 5 cents and C cents ; corn fed pork on H foot , 3 cents ; prime beef , 1 % cents ; . M flour , per barrel , S4 to $5 ; October = M peaches , 60e per bushel ; fall apples , B M large , 75 cents to $1 per bushel. These a M prices could not exist if these articles ? | H " had not been 'made ' here. The fact is | that Texas has an abundance of feed M for man and beast , notwithstanding a H severe drought for Texas occurred this * H past season. This state will still make " S more cotton than any other state in H the Union. No one can safely estimate s , H the cotton crop yet , as the fields are JC H green , and the plant is loaded in many r H parts of the state with growing bolls ' B that with late frost will mature into x fl good cotton. 3 fl I give one example of a farmer in 3 Smith county this year. I sold him fif- | j fl ty acres of land , unimproved , in 1805 * I for $250. He moved on it in 1896 , V cleared twenty-six acres and fenced it , 3 built a three-room house and outhouses - a houses and cultivated eighteen acres V cotton and eight acres corn , all with 3 his " own labor. Yesterday he reported he had five bales of cotton picked and . a that he would likely get two more and Shad ' had 250 bushels of corn. Or at the V , price above now ruling , if he makes ' h six bales of cotton he will have for H his crop $310 cash , and in this "dread- X ful year" pay for his home and -have y 8 560 left. If a one-horse farmer can buy 3 i home in the woods and pay for it in h one year in such a severe drought , ' : a what may he not do in all the life- jjg time of good years ? Texas is the best poor man's country , all things considered - M * 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 the ? sensationalist. Respectfully , % W. S. HERNDON. * ( Dallas News , Oct. 9 , 1S9G. ) % Col. W. S. Herndon , ex-memher of , 7j Congress from Texas , is probably as ' -2 ; well equipped for giving accurate in- | B formation concerning Texas as any oV if her citizens. TWt We are also informed that present 31 ' indications point to a heavy top " crop1 * & % awing to the average high temperature ' f g in September , and seasonable and ' - j abundant rains , and experts estimate > . fa j the Texas cotton crnn at 2 r nn non hal s _ Jj * 3 = D' '