Memorial and Biographical History of Dallas County, Texas. Page: 265 of 1,110
vii, 9-1011 p. incl. ill., ports. : ports. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this book.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.
exult in his fortune, let us take account of his
standing. (Applause).
Whence this enormous growth? For ten
years the world has been at peace. The pioneer
has now replaced the soldier. Commerce
has whitened new seas, and the merchants have
occupied new areas. Steam has made of the
world a chess board, on which men play for
markets. Our western wheat-grower is made
acquainted in London with the Russian and
the East Indian. The Ohio wool-grower
watches the Australian shepherd, and the
bleat of the now historic sheep of Vermont
is answered from the steppes of Asia. The
herds that emerge from the dust of your
amazing prairies might hear in their pauses
the hoof-beats of antipodean herds marching
to meet them. Under Holland's dykes the
cheese and butter makers fight American dairies.
California challenges vine-clad France.
The Dark Continent is disclosed through
meshes of light. There is competition everywhere.
The husbandman driven from his
market balances price against starvation and
undercuts his rival. This conflict often runs
to panic and profit vanishes. The Iowa farmer
burning his corn for fuel is is not an unusual
type.
Amid this universal conflict, where stands
the South? While the producer of everything
we eat or wear in every land is fighting
through glutted markets for bare existence,
what of the Southern farmer? In his industrial,
as in his political problem, he is set
apart-not in doubt, but in assured independence.
Cotton makes him king. Not all
the fleeces Jason sought can rival the richness
of this plant, as it unfurls its banners.
It is gold from the instant it puts forth its
tiny shoot. The showed that whispers to it
is heard around the world; the trespass of a
worm on its green leaf means more to Englandthan the advance of the Russians on its Asiatic
outposts; and when its fiber, current in
every bank, is marketed, it renders back to
the South $350,000,000 every year. Its seed
will yield $60,000,000 worth of oil to the
press, and $40,000,000 in food for soil or
beast, making the stupendous total of $450000,000
annual income from this crop. And
now, under the Tompkins patent, from its
stalk newspaper is to be made at two cents
per pound. Edward Atkinson once said:
"If New England could grow the cotton
plant without the lint, it would make her richestcrop;
if she held monopoly of cotton lint
and seed she would control the commerce of
the world." But is our monopoly, threatened
from Egypt, India and Brazil, sure and permanent?
Let the record answer. In 1872,
the South made 3,241,000 bales; other countries
3,036,000,-leading her rivals by
less than 200,000 bales. This year the Southern
supply was 8,000,000 bales; from other
sources 2,100,000,-all expressed in bales of
4(0 pounds each. In spite of new areas
elsewhere, of fuller experience, of better
transportation, and unlimited money spent in
experiment, the supply of foreign cotton has
decreased since 1872 nearly 1,000,000 bales,
while that of the South has increased nearly
5,000,000 bales. Further than this. Since
1872, population in Europe has increased
thirteen percent., and cotton consumption in
Europe has increased fifty per cent. Still
further. Since 1880, cotton consumption in
Europe has increased twenty-eight per cent,
wool four per cent., and flax has decreased
eleven per cent. As for new areas, the uttermost
missionary woos the heathen with a cotton
shirt in one hand, and the Bible in the
other, and no savage, I believe, has ever been
converted to one. without having first put on
the other. To summarize: Our American
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This book can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Book.
Lewis Publishing Company. Memorial and Biographical History of Dallas County, Texas., book, 1892; Chicago, Illinois. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth20932/m1/265/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dallas Public Library.