816 



TEXAS. 



expended at the close of the fiscal year." The re- 

 ceipts and disbursements of the available school 

 fund during the same period were: Balance on 

 hand in 1898, $97,789.85; receipts during the fis- 

 cal year, $3,151,409.18; total receipts, including 

 balance, $3,249,199.93; disbursed during the same 

 period, $3,232,624.27; leaving a balance on hand 

 of $16,574.76. The permanent school fund had a 

 cash balance in 1898 of $967,157.12; the cash re- 

 ceived during the fiscal year amounted to $1.268,- 

 059.63, making a total of $2,235,216.75; the dis- 

 bursements during the same period amounted to 

 $261,874.95, leaving a cash balance of $1,973,- 

 341.80; bonds on hand to the credit of this fund 

 in 1898 amounted to $6,962.531.54, the value of 

 county bonds purchased during the year being 

 $250,002, making a total of $7,212,533.54: county 

 bonds redeemed during the year, $765,286.49j 

 leaving a balance on hand in 1899 of $6,447,247.05. 

 The occupation taxes yielded an aggregate of 

 $916,997.53, a decrease from the previous year of 

 $24,703.55, the principal receipts being from the 

 following occupations: Ketail liquor dealers, 

 $555,600; wholesale liquor dealers, $12,000; beer 

 dealers, $91,200; merchants, including pawnbrok- 

 ers, $149,891; physicians, $19,610; lawyers, $11,- 

 175; bankers, $10,900; billiard and pool tables, 

 $9,740. The total value of taxable property in 

 1899 was shown to be $922,927,231, which was an 

 increase of $69,307,866 over the previous year. 

 The Comptroller says, in his report for 1899: 

 " There is a general increase in almost every form 

 of taxable property, most notable of which is an 

 increase of $4,281,890 in lands in organized coun- 

 ties; town lots, $2,848,171; cattle, $7,160,792; 

 goods and merchandise, $2,157,461 ; moneys ren- 

 dered by others than bankers, $2,577,097; notes 

 and other credits rendered by others than bank- 

 ers, $1,430,394; amount of shares of capital stock 

 companies and associations, $3,167,881 ; miscella- 

 neous property, $37,870,275, in which item fran- 

 chises are included; railroads, $6,417,616, exclu- 

 sive of railroad franchises assessed : telegraph and 

 telephone lines, $329,308." 



Education. A summary of school property 

 and expenditures in the cities containing over 

 8,000 inhabitants showed: Number of school 

 buildings, 157; number of seats for study, 46,533; 

 value of all public property used for school pur- 

 poses, $3,127,704; expenditure for supervision and 

 teaching, $572,839; expenditure for all purposes, 

 loans and bonds excepted, $718,321. There were 

 8 institutions for the colored race in operation, 

 with 82 teachers; the elementary students num- 

 bered 1,748, the secondary 471, the collegiate 72, 

 the total being 2,291. There were 14,400 colored 

 persons in the industrial training schools. 



Bailroads. There were 9,540.21 miles of rail- 

 road in the State, exclusive of yard tracks and 

 sidings, which amounted to 1,528 miles. The net 

 increase in length of tracks of all classes was 

 181.4 miles. There were 72 different roads in 

 operation. The total earnings for the year were: 

 Passenger, $7,209,766.46; mail, $1,090,927.85; ex- 

 press, $677,247.86 ; extra baggage, etc., $93,026.52 ; 

 freight, $31,170,645.94 ; miscellaneous, $860,972.51 

 total, $41,102,587.14. This was an increase of 

 $3,762,360.45, or about 10 per cent, over the gross 

 earnings for the preceding year. The operating 

 expenses were: Maintenance of way and struc- 

 tures, $7,409,387.95; maintenance of equipment, 

 $4,347,020.64; conducting transportation, $17,- 

 046,892,93; general expenses, $1,460,646.51; un- 

 classified, $29,801.13; aggregate, $30,293,749.16. 

 The general average of percentage of operating 

 expenses to gross earnings was 73.70 per cent. 

 Taking the roads as a whole, their averages per 



mile were as follow: Freight earnings, $3,291.47; 

 passenger train earnings. $!>57.s5; gro>- earnings 

 from all sources, $4,330.70; operating exjM-11-. >. 

 $3,194.86; and net earnings, $1,135.84. 



Galveston. Galveston has become the first 

 cotton exporting point in the United States, and, 

 as the Galveston News puts it, "is therefore the 

 biggest primary cotton port of the world." New 

 Orleans is the' only point that Galveston recog- 

 nizes as a competitor. The following facts are 

 given by the Galveston News: "The past \;u 

 witnessed the consummation of negotiations i<i 

 the union of the Southern Pacific rail and steam- 

 ship interests at Galveston. The coining of the 

 Southern Pacific means a largely increased Idle- 

 ness at this port. The concentration of business 

 at Galveston will make it the basing point for 

 southwestern rates. This city occupies fifth place 

 among the 127 foreign exporting points of the 

 United States. During the past season she ex- 

 ported 6.39 per cent, of the merchandise that left 

 the country. Her exports increased $10,500,000, 

 or 13 per cent., during the year. The navigable 

 depth of water in the channel, where the bars 

 formerly were, is 27 to 29 feet. In the season of 

 l,S9(>-'97 deep water was first utilized to any great 

 extent, and beginning with that season the ]><>rt 

 has each year made gigantic strides forward. 

 There is a greater variety of articles exported 

 than ever in the history of the port, for the reason 

 that the West is sending its products to the < Md 

 World through here, these products in previ..u- 

 seasons having gone bv way of Atlantic ports. The 

 import articles also show a greater variety, owing 



to the fact that the demand for import goods 

 through Galveston is from a greatly widened ter- 

 ritory. Galveston handled 07.91 per cent, of the 

 1S9H_'99 cotton crop, against 68.80 per cent, for 

 lS97-'98. There was an increase for 1898-'!)! i in 

 wheat exports of over 3,000,000 bushels compared 

 with the previous season. Galveston is becoming 

 a great lumber port. The exports of lumber and 

 wood manufactures for 1898-'99 were $1,247 .!> 14. 

 against $1,120,539 for the previous year, this busi- 

 ness having been built up almost entirely since 

 the advent of deep water. The exportation of hog 

 and dairy products, eggs and poultry, is al><> a 

 new business which contains unknown po^ibjH- 

 ties. The port handled $200,000 worth of eggs 

 the past season. The close of the war with Spain 

 was followed by the exportation of live stock to 

 Cuba through this port, the live stock exports 

 to Cuba in 1898-'99 being $676,254, agamM 

 $295,572 the previous year." 



Cotton. Statistics place the cotton crop of 

 1898-'99 at 3,574,921 bales. The crop for 18!' 

 was 2.948,826 bales. Thus there was an increase 

 of 626,095 bales. 



The Brazos Flood. A large part of the I'.ra- 

 zos valley was flooded in August, the counties 

 that suffered most being, in the order named. 

 Fort Bend, Washington, Milam, Burleson, Wal- 

 ler, Austin, Brazos, Robertson, Falls, Grimes, 

 Brazoria, Bell, and McLennan, the loss ranging 

 from $2,500,000 to $10,000. A report issued by 

 the United States Department of Agriculture, 

 which sent a statistician to the submerged re- 

 gion, gave the following facts: The farms sub- 

 merged had a total area of about 1,380,000 a 

 Of this area, at the time of the flood, aboiii 

 503,000 acres were under cultivation, 33!.iMM> 

 acres being in cotton, 124,000 acres in corn. IH.MMI 

 acres in sugar cane, and 28,600 acres in other 

 crops, with a total production in sight equivalent 

 to about $7,950,000. The value of the land it>elf 

 was estimated at $16,322,000, that of the build- 

 ings and other improvements at $3,678,000, that 



