The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 70, July 1966 - April, 1967 Page: 147

                                
Book Reviews

"illustrates all too clearly that at the close of the nineteenth cen-
tury Texas had in some respects merely approached maturity, not
actually attained it."
Professor Jones has sketched interestingly the stirring events
of a quarter century that witnessed the suppression of lawless-
ness and feuds, the exploiting and closing of the open cattle range,
railroad building, curbing the power of corporate wealth, and
paying for a new state capitol with land. He contends that certain
developments beyond the scope of the volume are evidence of the
arrival at maturity: Galveston's adoption of commission govern-
ment after the great flood disaster in 1900, the Terrell Election
Laws of 1903 and 1905, the Robertson Insurance Law of 1907,
and the act of 1909 regulating banking.
In the last volume of the series, Texas After Spindletop, zgoz-
1965, Seth S. McKay, joined by Odie B. Faulk, opens the story
with Captain Anthony Lucas and his gushing oil well on January
1o, 1901. From Spindletop the authors follow the course of oil
development during the early years of the century and return to
the subject briefly in an account of the East Texas Oil Field and
Governor Ross Sterling's struggle in the interest of oil conser-
vation. Near the end of the book there is a good account of the
impact of World War II on agriculture and the shifting of the
center of the cattle industry from West Texas to East Texas. A part
of the chapter on "The Fabulous Fifties" deals with industry,
the greater part of it linked in some way with the production and
processing of oil and gas.
The book is, however, chiefly a political history of twentieth-
century Texas. The authors apparently believe that the prime
factor of history is the state, that is the course of public affairs;
and in the writing of this book Professor McKay has evidenced
the knowledge and craftsmanship that has come from decades of
research and writing in this field. Accounts of campaigns and
elections are followed by evaluation of gubernatorial leadership
or the lack of it and the consequent results that appear in the
form of laws. There are such exciting themes as prohibition, "the
Bailey Question," and the impeachment of Governor Ferguson.
Sharp political battles, such as Neff against Bailey and Moody
against Ferguson, are recounted in vivid style.

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