672 



TEXAS. 



buildings, machinery, etc., at $5,000,000. Thou- 

 sands of the coast people were left homeless, but 

 they quickly recovered, with comparatively little 

 assistance, from the first shock of the disaster. 

 In courage and energy the citizens of Galveston 

 also proved themselves equal to their terrible situ- 

 ation, and by the end of the year the restoration 

 of their city' was well advanced. At the close of 

 1900 the relief received by Galveston from all 

 sources amounted to $1,594^000. 



In spite of the great storm and of a short cotton 

 crop in southern Texas, the movement of cotton 

 through the port of Galveston for the calendar 

 year of 1900 was larger than that of 1899, and the 

 city is expected to remain the chief primary cotton 

 port of the world. According to official custom- 

 house figures, the cotton export of 1899 was 1,528,- 

 >*> bales, valued at $52,786,731; that of 1900, 

 1,535,202 bales, valued at $73,333,304. Of cotton- 

 seed cake and meal and cotton-seed oil, the Gal- 

 \e-ton exports for 1900 together reached the value 

 of $6,703,912. At the end of 1900 the storage- 

 elevator capacity of the city was 3,000,000 bushels, 

 and during a season the port can handle 70,000,000 

 bushels of grain. Diversification of crops has 

 greatly developed Galveston as a general market 

 and shipping point. 



Floods. The Brazos flood of 1899, which caused 

 heavy damage, was followed by great enrichment 

 of the soil along the river bottoms through the 

 deposit of deep sediment with highly fertile quali- 

 ties, in consequence of which new land was broken 

 .and the area of cultivation in many places was 

 largely increased. The spring floods of 1900 on 

 many of the streams caused damage to lands and 

 other property. Those on the Colorado were of 

 extreme violence, and at Austin, April 7, the mag- 

 nificent dam, which cost $1,000,000, was swept 

 away with serious loss of life. (For description 

 of this dam, see Annual Cyclopaedia for 1892, page 

 252, and for 1893, page 715.) The inundation 

 bel(tw Austin was very destructive. There was 

 a sudden flood in the creek at Coleman, July 16, 

 whereby buildings and camps were washed away 

 and lives were lost. 



Brazos River Survey. The end of 1900 

 brought the completion of the Government survey 

 of Brazos river from Waco to its mouth, 428 miles. 

 The engineers reported that improvement of the 

 river so as to make it navigable at all seasons 

 was only a question of money, the most feasible 

 plan being the construction of locks and dams. 

 Stationary dams were considered unsuitable, on 

 account of the periodical overflows. The fall of the 

 Brazos from Waco to its mouth is about 358 feet. 



Independence Monuments. A monument 

 " to the heroes of the Texas revolution of 1836 " 

 was unveiled at Galveston, April 21. It was the 

 gift of the late Henry Rosenberg to the people of 

 Texas, and represents all the prominent features 

 of the revolution. Its full height is 74 feet, and 

 the base is 34 feet square. The bronze statuary, 

 which was cast in Rome, is supported by a struc- 

 ture of the finest Concord granite. 



On the same day, to commemorate the same 

 events, a monument erected by the school children 

 of the State was unveiled on the site of old Wash- 

 ington, the town where independence was pro- 

 claimed, which was three times the capital of the 

 republic of Texas. The height of this monument 

 is 13 feet and 9 inches, and the material is gray 

 Texas granite. 



Legislative Session. The Legislature held a 

 special session from, Jan. 23 to Feb. 21. The Gov- 

 ernor's first message dealt solely with the tax bill 

 framed and reported by a commission created at 

 the regular session in 1899. The commission was 



directed " to frame and report a bill or bills de- 

 signed and calculated to secure an exhaustive and 

 equitable assessment of all taxes upon every spe- 

 cies of property in this State, real, personal, and 

 mixed, tangible and intangible, and whether be- 

 longing to natural or artificial, to residents or 

 nonresidents, to the end that no character of prop- 

 erty, assets, holdings, or valuable interests shall 

 escape the due, just, and equal burdens of taxa- 

 tion; and to provide for and enforce the prompt, 

 effective, and complete collection of all taxes im- 

 posed." 



The Legislature at this session not only failed 

 to reach any final action upon the bill, but was 

 unable even to consider all its provisions. In a 

 final message the Governor gave his reasons for not 

 calling another special session for further consid- 

 eration of the bill. Among measures of general 

 importance passed at this session was one reducing 

 the rate of taxation so as to save to the people 

 annually about $300,000 in cost of government; 

 another, settling the differences between the per- 

 manent school fund and the State regarding the 

 division of the public domain, whereby all the 

 remaining public domain, amounting to 4,456,000 

 acres and $17,000 in cash, were appropriated to the 

 permanent school fund ; and a law providing a 

 form of government for the public schools in place 

 of a statute declared unconstitutional by the Su- 

 preme Court. 



Political. Two Republican State conventions 

 were held in Waco, March 7, and two sets of 

 delegates to the national convention and two sets 

 of candidates for presidential electors at large were 

 elected. These rival gatherings were the outcome 

 of factional differences. 



The first State convention of the People's party 

 was held in Fort Worth, May 4. Resolutions 

 were adopted recognizing the national convention 

 called to meet at Cincinnati, May 9, as the only 

 authorized national convention of the party, and 

 opposing fusion with either of the old parties, 

 but favoring a union of all reformers under the 

 banner of the People's party, with one leader and 

 no surrender of the Omaha platform. All dele- 

 gates from the State to the Cincinnati convention 

 were instructed to vote for none but a straight 

 Populist as candidate for President or Vice-Pi esi 

 dent. Resolutions were adopted denouncing the 

 British war on- the Boers, and expressing sympa- 

 thy for the South African republics. 



The first Democratic State convention met in 

 Austin, June 20. The platform instructed the 

 delegates to the national convention to vote for 

 the nomination of William J. Bryan for President : 

 for the readoption of the Chicago platform, with 

 amendments opposing trusts and combinations in 

 restraint of trade, affirming that all governments 

 derive their just powers from the consent of lite 

 governed, opposing all efforts to establish or main 

 tain colonial possessions, renewing allegiance to 

 the Monroe doctrine, demanding speedy fulfillment 

 of our pledge to Cuba, and the same treatment 

 for the people of the Philippines that was prom- 

 ised to the Cubans; for a declaration in favor of 

 a constitutional amendment providing for election 

 of United States Senators by direct vote of llie 

 people; for a resolution expressing the cordial 

 sympathy of the United Stales \\itli the South 

 African republics: and for a declaration in favor 

 of the construction, owning, and operating of the 

 Nicaragua Canal by the United States. 



Tho Social-Democratic State Convention was 

 held in Dallas, July 4, and nominated the follow- 

 ing State ticket: For Governor, L. L. Rhoades; 

 Lieutenant Governor, G. H. Shoap; Comptroller, 

 W. A. Mitchell ; Treasurer, W. E. Marshall ; Com- 





