766 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. (TEXAS.) 



Storey; Adjutant-General, Thomas Scurry: Com- 

 missioner of the General Land Office, Charles Ro- 

 gan; Attorney-General, C. K. Bell; Chief Justice 

 of the Supreme Court, Reuben R. Gaines; Asso- 

 ciate Justices, Thomas J. Brown and F. A. Wil- 

 liams; Clerk, Charles S. Morse all Democrats. 



The term of State officers is two years. They 

 are elected on the Tuesday after the first Monday 

 in November of the even-numbered years. The 

 Legislature meets biennially on Jan. 2 of the odd- 

 numbered years. The session may continue in- 

 definitely, but the members receive $5 per diem 

 for the first sixty days, after that $2 per diem. 

 There are 31 Senators* elected for four years, and 

 128 members of the House of Assembly, elected for 

 two years. 



Population. The population in 1900 was di- 

 vided, as to sex, into 1,578,900 males and 1,469,- 

 810 females; as to nativity, into 2,869,353 of na- 

 tive and 179,357 of foreign birth; as to color, into 

 2,426,669 whites and 622,041 colored, the latter 

 comprising 620,041 negroes, 836 Chinese, 13 Jap- 

 anese, and 470 Indians. Of the native whites, 

 2,249,088 in number, 1,959,762 were born of native 

 and 289,326 of foreign parents, and they com- 

 prised 1,166,760 males and 1,082,328 females, 

 while the foreign-born whites, 177,581 in number, 

 comprised 100,910 males and 76,671 females. The 

 total white population consisted of 1,267,670 males 

 and 1,158,999 females. The colored population 

 consisted of 310,135 negro males, 310,587 negro 

 females, 823 Chinese males, 13 Chinese . females, 

 9 Japanese males, 4 Japanese females, 263 Indian 

 males, and 207 Indian females, making the total 

 number of colored males 311,230 and of colored 

 females 310,811. The total number of persons of 

 school age was 1,215,634, including all between 

 five and twenty years of age, of whom 483,286 

 were white males, 472,260 white females, 128,015 

 colored males, and 131,713 colored females. Of 

 the 955,906 whites of school age 927,987 were 

 native born, comprising 469,295 males and 458,692 

 females, and 27,919 were of foreign birth, com- 



? rising 13,991 males and 13,928 females. Of 259,- 

 28 colored of school age 259,491 were negroes or 

 had negro blood. The male population of militia 

 age was 599,221, comprising 434,637 native whites, 

 50,584 foreign-born whites, 113,343 negroes, and 

 657 Indians and other colored. The number of 

 males of voting age was 737,768, of whom 514,188 

 were native and 85,773 foreign-born whites, mak- 

 ing 599,961 whites in all, and 137,807 were col- 

 ored, of whom 136,875 were negroes. Among the 

 native white males of voting age 5.3 per cent, of 

 those of native parentage and 10.6 per cent, of 

 those of foreign parentage were illiterate; of for- 

 eign whites, 7.7 per cent.; of colored males of 

 voting age, 45 per cent. Of the foreign-born males 

 of voting age 43.1 per cent, were naturalized, 5.3 

 per cent, had their first naturalization papers, 15.1 

 per cent, were returned as aliens, and of 16.9 per 

 cent, no details were given. Of the naturalized 

 citizens 3.2 per cent., of those who had taken 

 out their first papers 6.2 per cent, and of the 

 aliens 13.9 per cent, were illiterate. 



.There were 34,160 deaths reported in Texas 

 in 1900, of which 18,045 were males and 16,115 

 females, 26,216 whites and 7,944 colored, 23,526 

 native and 2,133 foreign whites. 



Finances. The appropriations voted for the 

 biennial period ending Aug. 31, 1903, amount to 

 $5,752,685, compared with $4,860,328 for the last 

 biennial period; but, taking special appropria- 

 tions into account, the Legislature voted only 

 $292,945 more than its predecessor. 



Productions. There were 4.553.495 acres un- 

 der corn in 1900, yielding 81,962,910 bushels, val- 



ued at $38,522,568; 1,271,517 acres under wheat,, 

 yielding 23,395,913 bushels, valued at $14,973,- 

 384; and 744,164 acres under oats, yielding 28,- 

 278,232 bushels, valued at $8,483,470. The esti- 

 mated cotton-crop of Texas for 19.01 was 3,550,000 

 bales. The drought that affected the Western 

 States in 1901 was a serious blow to Texas. Corn 

 was not more than half a crop, and wheat was a 

 failure, the wheat-louse having destroyed a large 

 part of the crop. Cotton was attacked by the new 

 enemy, the Mexican boll weevil, against which 

 the planters fought with energy as soon as the 

 destructive nature of the pest was appreciated. 

 In some districts they made up a purse to pay 

 a bounty for dead insects. It is estimated that 

 its ravages reduced the year's crop by 242,500 

 bales. The w^eevil never appeared in dangerous- 

 numbers before 1900, but in 1901 it infested the 

 river counties of southern and central Texas arid 

 appeared in isolated localities jn the north. In 

 some sections only a tenth of a crop was harvest- 

 ed. The acreage of cotton was 7.1 per cent, greater 

 than in 1900. The destruction of wheat and oats 

 by the aphis caused farmers in the north to plant 

 more cotton, and the higher prices led to planting 

 on new land, but in the south diversification of 

 crops kept the cotton area down to the average. 

 Rice is a new crop for Texas, but its culture in 

 the coast district and on bottom-lands by means, 

 of irrigation is already an important industry. 

 A great deal of capital has been put into pump- 

 ing-stations and irrigating canals, and a great 

 deal more is being attracted to the rice industry, 

 which has led to a great advance in the price of 

 suitable land. In 1901 the area planted to rice 

 was three times as much as in 1900. The crop 

 was seriously affected by scarcity of water. Still 

 it reached 1,000,000 sacks, twice as much as was 

 raised the year before. Another new development 

 is the cultivation of vegetables and fruits for 

 northern markets, especially in the belt of black 

 land in eastern Texas, which produces without 

 fertilizing. Tomatoes and peaches are the prin- 

 cipal crops, and after these strawberries, canta- 

 loups, cucumbers, cabbages, cauliflowers, and 

 sweet potatoes. 



In the cattle-ranches of western and north- 

 western Texas the long-horned cattle have given 

 place to herds bred up to the best strains of Here- 

 fords, shorthorns, or red-polled cattle. There are 

 vast regions that with irrigation can be made as 

 productive as any part of the country, though 

 now unfit for agriculture. The failure of food- 

 crops and pasturage from drought and the con- 

 sequent loss of cattle reduced the people of Zapata 

 County and parts of adjacent counties in 1901 to 

 a state of destitution. Deaths occurred from 

 starvation before aid could be brought from out- 

 side. The live stock of Texas is officially esti- 

 mated at 1,500,000 horses, 250,000 mules, 800,000 

 milch cows, 6,000,000 other cattle, 2,500,000 

 sheep, and more than 3,000,000 swine. The State 

 produced only half as much wool in 1900 as in 

 1893. The raising of hogs and poultry, on the 

 other hand, has grown in connection "with the 

 diversification of farming. Splenetic fever having 

 appeared in the southeastern counties, quarantine 

 was enforced against these infected districts and 

 against one in Oklahoma from Nov. 1, and from 

 May 1, 1902, against Louisiana to keep out an- 

 thrax; furthermore, all persons were warned to 

 report any case of anthrax or of glanders among 

 their live stock. -The Secretary of the Interior 

 intended to open to settlement, on Aug. 4, the 

 Kiowa, Comanche, Wichita, and Apache reserva- 

 tions, on which Texas cattlemen had 150,000 head 

 of immature cattle, but at their request he re- 



