TEXAS. 



741 



1891,442,337: in 1892,570,798. The following 

 shows the acreage, production, and value of the 

 crop for the year 1892. Acres planted, 703,004 ; 

 bushels produced, 24,595,169. There is not less 

 than 1,000,000 acres in south Texas alone where 

 sugar cane can be successfully grown every year, 

 and on the river bottoms and along many* of the 

 smaller streams, as high as the thirty-third paral- 

 lel, it is successfully grown for the manufacture 

 of sirup. The total value of the sugar and sirup 

 crops amounts to $1,357,254.30, and the value to 

 the acre $75.59. 



Irrigation. A State Irrigation Convention 

 met in San Antonio, Dec. 4 to 7, and effected a 

 permanent organization with P. M. Clarke as 

 president and Edwin Chamberlain as secretary. 

 Besides the reading of special papers the follow- 

 ing resolutions were adopted : 



That the legislative committee is requested to frame 

 a bill to create and maintain an irrigation depart- 

 ment by the State ; also the appointment of a State 

 irrigation engineer and three State irrigation com- 

 missioners. 



The next meeting will be held in San Antonio, 

 Nov. 12, 1895. 



Mineral Resources. The following state- 

 ment is furnished by the Geological Department : 

 The mineral production for the year 1893 in- 

 cludes the following items : Pig iron, 7,874 tons ; 

 bituminous coal, 265,666 tons ; brown coal and 

 lignite, 57,079 tons; total coal, 322,745 tons. 

 Salt, 20,221 tons. 



This department was closed up on Feb. 28, 

 the Governor's veto having cut off the appro- 

 priations for its support during the ensuing 

 year. The geologist was able to show as the 

 direct result of the survey that the school fund 

 has been saved large values. Coal and mineral 

 lands belonging to the school fund were reserved 

 from sale under the actual settlers law and 

 placed on sale at high prices under the mining 

 act, and are beginning to sell. Two sections, 

 which would never have sold at all as farm or 

 grazing lands, on which the geologist found coal 

 recently, sold for $12,800. This sale resulted in 

 the building of a railroad in which $400,000 will 

 be invested. 



Political. Early in the year the two factions 

 that existed in the Democratic party since the 

 canvass of 1892 (see " Annual Cyclopaedia " for 

 1892, page 740) met in Dallas, and on March 20 

 adopted the following terms of agreement : 



We most heartily favor a reunion of the party, and 

 while this committee does not assume to frame or 

 dictate a platform, yet, for the purpose of reunion, we 

 recommend and submit as a basis of adjustment and 

 settlement of all differences honorably : 



We propose that all primaries and conventions to 

 be held in 1894 be composed and constituted on the 

 basis of the vote for Democratic presidential electors 

 in 1892 ; and no person who was then of age and did 

 not vote, unless prevented by sickness, absence, or 

 other good cause, and no person who will not pledge 

 himself to abide by the action of the State conven- 

 tion so assembled, shall be allowed to participate in 

 the primaries. 



In order to unify the machinery of the party in the 

 State, it is agreed that in all counties in which there 

 may exist 2 Democratic county or precinct com- 

 mittees ; that committee which was created by the 

 regular Democratic county convention shall consti- 

 tute the only recognized county and precinct Demo- 

 cratic committee, and all appointments of county 



chairmen made by either State executive committee 

 be and the same are hereby revoked. 



These terms having been accepted, it was 

 further agreed "that the call of Chairman 

 Baker and his committee is the authorized call 

 of the regular united Democracy of Texas." 



The Republican State Executive Committee 

 convened in Fort Worth, on June 12, and then 

 excluded from recognition certain organizations 

 composed of white and colored Republicans. 

 The mixed representatives were called "Lily 

 Whites," and promptly organized under Chair- 

 man Goodell, and agreed to hold a separate 

 convention. 



The People's party held a convention in Waco, 

 on June 20 to 22. The platform adopted in- 

 cluded the following : 



We declare the monopolies of land, money, and 

 transportation to be the fruitful sources of civil and 

 industrial inequality and wrong, the parent of monop- 

 olies from which all lesser monopolies spring ; and to 

 the end that these monopolies and their baneful con- 

 sequences may be removed, we advocate as appropriate 

 measures of relief : 



The abolition of all private banks of issue of every 

 character, whether State or .National. 



The construction, ownership, and operation of rail- 

 roads by the Government to the extent necessary to 

 control and regulate railroads. 



The governmental ownership and operation of all 

 telephone and telegraph lines. 



The free and unlimited coinage of gold and silver 

 upon the ratio of 16 to 1. 



The issuance by the Government of full legal -tender 

 paper money upon some system or plan which, while 

 securing all flexibility, shall so regulate the value of 

 currency as to limit it to the actual needs of business. 



We denounce emphatically the issue of gold bonds 

 in times of peace to meet current expenses of the 

 Government. 



We favor the building of the Nicaragua Canal under 

 a proper treaty, provided it is built and operated by 

 our Government, in proper co-operation with Nica- 

 ragua and Costa Eica. 



No alien ownership of land should be allowed in 

 Texas. 



Corporations should not be allowed to own more 

 land than they actually use in the prosecution of their 

 business. 



The following ticket was nominated: For 

 Governor, Thomas L. Nugent ; Lieutenant-Gov- 

 ernor, Marion Martin ; Attorney-General, R. M. 

 Bell ; Treasurer, Henry McCullock ; Land Com- 

 missioner, Stephen C. Granberry ; Comptroller, 

 E. 0. Meitzer; Superintendent of Public In- 

 struction, E. P. Alsberry. The naming of the 

 judicial officers was left with the Executive Com- 

 mittee. 



The so-called Lily White Republicans met in 

 Dallas, on Aug. 6, and adopted the following 

 platform : 



That the negro race has earned and is as much en- 

 titled as any other race to a domicile upon the North 

 American continent and to citizenship within the 

 United States of America. 



That whatever may be the condition of other races 

 resident in the former slave States, it is a well-known 

 fact that the political as well as the social condition 

 of the negro race in some of said States is most un- 

 happy and deplorable. 



That the said negro race can look to the .Repub- 

 lican party only with any justified hope of relief from 

 their present distressed condition. 



That to the end that said negro race may have an 

 unobstructed opportunity, and be aided in their noble 



