Shiner Gazette (Shiner, Tex.), Vol. 34, No. 8, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 23, 1926 Page: 4 of 18
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Bill
Review of the Passing Year
...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Texas
By W. N. BEARD
I
F you are pessimistic as to general
business conditions in Texas just
hM now and will but study what this
State has produced during the
year of 1926, you will have greater faith
and be better sold on Texas than ever
before in your life. Of course, there is
a large cotton crop and a drop in prices
below cost of producing the staple, but
other crops are so large this year that
they more than offset the loss sustained
by cotton. Government estimates of
the total value of Texas farm crops this
year are $901,312,000, against $799,-
330.000 last year, a gain over last year
of $101,982,000. In addition to farm
crop values, Texas farmers and land
owners will have received $260,000,000
this year from oil bonuses, oil leases,
and: oil and gas royalties.
Texas farms and ranches also produc-
ed in 1926 approximately $275,000,000
worth of livestock and livestock prod-
ucts which includes a wool clip of 25,-
804.000 pounds and 8,900,000 pounds of
mohair. This does not include approxi-
mately $75,000,000 in poultry and poul-
try products. It is believed that the
dressed turkey shipments out of Texas
this season will be at least 16,000 cars.
From the foregoing figures (and it
is to the interest of every man and wom-
an in Texas to study them closely), it is
evident that Texas, as a whole, is not so
bad off economically. Our “hard times”
are due, in a measure, to our own state
of mind, our own pessimistic attitude.
While it is true there has been a slow-
down to business activity in all cotton
towns in the State, yet, in financial re-
turns, Texas has fared better this year
than last year.
Increased Production.
For four years the growers of cotton
have been doing just what other pro-
ducers do when business is profitable—
increasing production. They have in-
creased the acreage steadily over the en-
tire United States from 30,000,000 acres
in 1921 to 47,000,000 acres in 1926. The
average price from 1921 to 1925—was
slightly over 20c per pound. The con-
sumption of American cotton during
these four years has been around an av-
erage of 14,000,000 to 15,000,000 bales
per year. Therefore, when we raised
over 18,000,000 bales of cotton, which
the government reports say we have
this year, we got into trouble.
But the temporary trouble caused by
overproduction of cotton will pass, as it
has in the past. Out of evil sometimes
comes good. The present situation will
Jead to greater diversification of crops
*
and to a policy which always has been
sound to the core—that of living more
at home and the keeping of a cow or
two, a few hogs and a small flock of
chickens. A wise move was recently
made by a landlord of Taylor, Texas,
who purchased a milk cow for each one
of his tenant farmers and who also is
helping them to get a start in chicken
and hog raising. This is an example that
should be followed by other landlords
throughout the State. No landlord can
hardly prosper unless his tenants pros-
per.
Cotton is a basic crop, and will
ever be so. The world will consume
a greater amount of cotton this year be-
cause of the low price. These simple
facts are worth considering in the dis-
cussion of our broader agricultural sit-
uation. A basic commodity cannot, in
the very nature of things, long remain
below cost of production. Men who
make a careful study of the cotton mar-
ket and foreign and domestic consump-
tion of raw cotton are agreed on one
thing, however, and that is, there can be
no advance in cotton prices of any con-
sequence without a substantial reduc-
tion in next year’s cotton acreage.
Undertone of Confidence.
But with all the pessimism that has
followed the sag in cotton, it is encour-
aging to note the undertone of confi-
dence that prevails among the financial
leaders of the State. Frank Kell, Wich-
ita Falls capitalist, says: “Financial
conditions in Texas are not at all alarm-
ing or even depressing. Large grain
crops and a satisfactory price for live-
stock have created a healthy financial
condition.”
W. S. Farish, president of the Hum-
ble Oil and Refining Co., is quoted as
follows: “No $100,000,000 loss from
any cause can hurt Texas long or badly.
The major oil companies this year are
paying to land owners in this State
$260,000,000 in actual cash as clear
profits on their land. These oil compa-
nies are turning loose this year in Texas
for leases, royalties, bonuses and labor
the sum of $557,500,000.”
I. H. Kempner, Galveston banker and
leading cotton factor of the State, made
this statement recently: “The varied
resources of Texas serve to prevent any
financial depression, though the Texas
farmer will pay a heavy penalty for the
uneconomic and unwarranted increase
of cotton acreage by the entire South.”
Building Activities.
tions in Texas is the building activity.
Construction of buildings of all kinds is
running ahead of last year. Compara-
tive data, compiled by the F. W. Dodge
Corporation of Dallas and New York,
shows that building contracts awarded
in Texas from January 1 to November 1,
1926, amounted to $201,810,000, as com-
pared with $157,271,000 from January
1 to November 1, last year. This firm
also states that it is safe to estimate
building contracts for November and
December of this year 15 per cent ahead
of the same months last year. From the
total of $201,810,000 there was spent
$490,600 for educational buildings,
$507,000 for religious and 'memorial
buildings, $1,157,400 for public build-
ings, public works and public utilities,
TEXAS CROP FIGURES
FOR 1925-1926
1926
(From Government
Estimates)
Cotton ......5351,000,000
Corn........ 92,310,000
Kafirs ...... 32,370,000
Oats ........ 28,259,000
Wheat ...... 40,014,000
Barley ...... 3,750,000
Rye ......... 1,440,000
1925
(From “Crops and Mar-
kets,” published by U. S.
Department of Agricul-
ture.)
Cotton ......5379,250,000
Corn ........ 29,490,000
Kafirs ...... 23,465,000
Rice
Hay ........
Peanuts .....
Sweet
Potatoes ...
Potatoes .....
Sorghum
Syrup .....
Broom Corn.
Peaches .....
Apples ......
Other crops. .
8.540.000
25,200,000
1.785.000
8.450.000
3.620.000
2.700.000
246.000
3.400.000
332.000
296,896,000
Oats
Wheat ......
Barley ......
Rye .........
Rice ........
Hay ........
Peanuts .....
Sweet
Potatoes . ..
Potatoes . ...
Sorghum
Syrup ......
Broom Corn
Peaches .....
Apples ......
Other crops..
8.454.000
10.156.000
752.000
67,000
.9,012,000
12.276.000
1.219.000
8.707.000
3.307.000
1.326.000
238.000
2.625.000
222.000
308,564,000
Total
.$901,312,000 Total .....5799,330,000
In addition to crop valuations, $557,500,000 will be
paid this year by major oil companies in Texas for
leases, royalties, bonuses and labor in the oil fields,
according to a statement by W. S. Farish, president
of the Humble Oil & Refining Company.
and $7,811,800 for residential buildings.
The last item is an outstanding feature.
A State that spends nearly eight mil-
lion dollars in ten months for the build-
ing of homes is not only fairly pros-
perous, but is laying a foundation for
greater future moral and material
growth and advancement.
Crude and Refined Oil.
Within a very few years there has de-
veloped in Texas an industry that has
assumed a commanding lead. It is
the production and refining of crude oil.
The value of oil and its by-products now
about equals the value of the Texas
cotton crop. Our crude oil production is
around 600,000 barrels per day. Texas
has passed both California and Oklaho-
A good barometer to business condi-l ma in production of oil. These two
States have been the leading oil States
for many years. And what astounds
is the fact that this great flow of wealth
in the form of liquid gold seems inex-
haustible and destined to further en-
rich Texas and make it the dominant oil
center of the world.
A most convincing proof of the sta-
bility of the oil business in Texas was
recently vouchsafed by the decision of
three major companies to build addi-
tional pipe lines into the Panhandle of
Texas. These lines will cost millions of
dollars and would not be built were it
not believed that the permanency of the
field justified the investment.
Government reports of oil transported
from leases in the State during the past
nine months, shows a production of
109,369,000 barrels, with an indicated
production for the entire year of 1926
of 169,000,000 barrels, which is about
25,000,000 more barrels than were pro-
duced last year.
With the development now under way
and the indicated development for 1927,
it is a foregone conclusion that Texas
will produce even more oil in 1927
than was produced in 1926; although
the year of 1926 will go on rec-
ord as one of the greatest years in
Texas oil field development. Discovery
wells in. remote territory have been
many and the success of the wildcatter
has been phenomenal. From Red river
to the Rio Grande river and from El
Paso to Texarkana there has been more
or less activity in leases, royalties and
actual drilling of wells. It seems the oil
map of Texas is not confined to any one
section especially, but spreads out in
every direction until now it almost cov-
ers the entire State.
State’s Health Record Good.
A silver lining to our financial trou-
bles is the State’s health record for
1926. During the year there has been
no serious outbreak of contagious dis-
ease—no flu epidemic—although there
has been a few cases of flu here and
there. One of our Texas cities—Fort
Worth—has taken first place during
1926 as the healthiest city in the United
States. Nearly all of our cities and
towns have co-operated with health
boards in maintaining sanitation and in
enforcing health ordinances.
All areas in Texas that have been un-
der quarantine for the past few years
because of the prevalence and indica-
tions of hoof and mouth disease among
cattle were released Nov. 22 in a proc-
lamation signed by Governor Ferguson
and members of the Livestock Sanitary
Commission. Anthrax, another fatal
disease of cattle, and which is highly
dangerous to human beings, practically
has been cleared from the State. Veteri-
narians who have been fighting this dis-
ease, report there are still a few prem-
ises that need to be watched, but that
the disease is wiped out so far as endan-
gering the livestock industry of the
State.
Texas was, indeed, fortunate in get-
ting rid of the hoof and mouth disease
without greater loss to cattle and with-
out greater loss to business. California,
several years ago, was almost ruined by
this disease. Business in that State was
at a standstill during the hoof and
mouth epidemic, which ravaged live-
stock for nearly two years.
A Progressive Year.
In this review of the passing year it
is impossible to tell of all the achieve-
ments of 1926. To do so would require
many times the space herewith avail-
able. I would like to tell of the develop-
ments in mine, forest and field of our
great State of Texas—of potash explo-
rations and/the explorations of other
valuable minerals; of hardwoods from
Texas forests that are now being turned
into beautiful furniture by our own
Texas furniture factories; of products
from soils that are as rich as any in the
world; of breeders of livestock who are
building thoroughbred hercls; of breed-
ers of poultry who have been chiefly in-
strumental in doing away With so much
scrub stock; of horticulturist who are
working wonders in orchard develop-
ment and who have caused Texas to
lead in many varieties of fine fruits and
fine pecans.
This and much more I should like to
write about. But it is to be hoped I
have said enough to demonstrate that
1926 has been a progressive and an
abundant year in Texas—a year that we
should not look back upon with vain re-
grets ; a year undoubtedly that will
bring home to us many valuable lessons'
for our well-being.
As the New Year dawns and the
shadows of the old year linger, our
hearts cannot be unmindful of or un-
grateful to God’s blessings. Even
though all our dreams did not come true,
or all our pockets fill with gold, yet
we have much for which to be thank-
ful, The glad Christmas time is here—
a season for loving deeds, kind words
and gentle thoughts—a time to make
others happy, to be of good cheer,
and to look forward to the future with
faith, hope, courage and confidence.
Christmas
Where the Little Town of Bethlehem
Lies in “Deep and Dreamless Sleep”
HIS is the time—this Christmas
season—-when they all go back to
! the land where Christmas began.
.' Americans, bustling across three
thousand miles of sea; Europeans; wise
men of the East; others to whom the
Grotto of the Nativity is only a figure
of history and not a shrine.
For although the Christian religion
is now an occidental faith, the cradle of
Christianity draws adherents of every
belief. To* the vast majority of civil-
ized humanity, Christian, Jewish and
Moslem, the religious associations of
Palestine predominate over the interest
of any other place in the world, and now,
as at all ages, pilgrims flock to its holy
places.
Christianity, however, is responsible
for the development of the cult of sa-
cred places and none is held more holy
than the Grotto on the eastern part of
the mountainous ridge that runs south-
ward from Jerusalem w&ere the little
town of Bethlehem still lies in “deep and
dreamless sleep” on these winter nights.
The basilica which stands above it
was erected nearly sixteen hundred
years ago by the Emperor Constantine.
It was restored and added to by the Em-
peror Justinian and later was surround-
ed by three great convents, built by the
Greek, Latin and Armenian churches.
It was years later,; when wars were
raging in the Holy Land, that the suf-
ferings of the Christians and desecra-
tion of their buildings created indigna-
tion through the West. Peter the Her-
mit, a native of Picardy, once a soldier,
fanned this indignation into fury. Af-
ter a pilgrimage to Bethlehem, he re-
turned to Europe and preached the duty
of the Church to rescue the holy places
from the infidel. Under his leadership
a motley crowd of crusaders set out, in
1096, for Palestine.
Thus the crusades began and lasted
two hundred years. The crusaders cap-
tured the Grotto of the Nativity in the
eleventh century. But in 1850 another
war raged because of it when a dispute
arose between France and Russia con-
cerning the possession of the key to the
chief door of the basilica and the right
to place a silver star with the arms of
France in the Grotto. France was vic-
torious, but the disappointment of Rus-
sia was the cause of the Crimean war.
And even now soldiers—British sol-
diers—guard the shrine which stands
where a manger was, more than nine-
teen centuries
ago. They
stand at at-
tention, while
sanctuar
lights p 1 a
upon the splen-
dor of a place
that once was
a stable; war-
like figures
where “peace
on earth” was
born.
Pilgrims,
P r o t e s tants
and Catholic
a like, kneel
there, and re-
in e m b e r the
story of the
first Christ-
mas. The jour-
ney of a
ant fan
from Naza-
reth; the little
town — even
now the popu-
lation is but
8,000 — crowd-
ed by the in-
flux of taxpay-
ers ; the
turning them
away, an
lodging taken
meekly in a
stable. They
fancy t h
shepherds
trembling be-
fore their vis-
ion on the hill-
sides beyond
the town, and
the great star,
pausing in its
journey across
the heavens, to
shine above
that lowly
place.
Other sacred
assoc iations,
however, are
drawing all
classes of men
and women to
the Holy Land.
The J ewish
people, who
more so now
than ever be-
fore in the his-
tory of the
world, are com-
ing to accept
Christ as a
great leader of
men, centralize
their ideas in
Jerusalem.
The same as-
sociations are
those of the
Moslems,
whose religion
has so strange-
ly absorbed the
prophets and
traditions of
the older
faiths.
So they all
are going back
at this season
of good-will to
man — people
of all nations
and all creeds
— to partici-
pate in the
Christmas, in
the land where
Christmas be-
gan!
Where Christ Was Born. The Grotto, Marking the Traditional Site of the Holy Manger at Bethlehem,
Under the Basilica, Which Was Erected Over It by the Emperor Constantine Sixteen Hundred Years Ago.
WORLD’S
FIRST
RELIGION.
The Christ-
mas tree, for
example, is a
survival of
what possibly
was the world’s
first religion,
that of tree
worship, touch-
ed with the
story of the
C r u c i f ixion
and the Death
upon the Cross
— the joyous
symbol of the
divine birth be-
coming also
the tree upon
which He died.y
The electric lights, glass tops, tin-
sel and candy canes symbolize the belief
that on Christmas day all trees burst
into bloom; use of the somber ever-
greens is in part due to the fact that the
ancients associated them especially with
tragedy.
CHRISTMAS IN ROME A RELIGIOUS
FESTIVAL.
Christmas is a religious festival in
Italy, when all the churches and cathe-
drals hold their most beautiful services.
In the Church of Santa Maria Maggoire
(Saint Mary the Greater) in Rome is
preserved the sacred Presepe, or man-
ger, which the worshipers th&re believe
to be the manger in which the Christ
Child was laid on the morning of His
birth. It is exhibited to the throng of
pilgrims on every Christmas Eve. At
another of the great Roman churches it
is the custom for two or three little boys
to deliver sermons on Christmas Day,
in commemoration of Christ’s discourses
to the doctors in the temple.
“MERRY CHRISTMAS!”
Centuries ago, an infant Christ-child
was born in a lowly manger. Wise men
came long distances to bring it gifts,
even though it was only a baby, and a
baby born in wretched poverty, at that.
Since then we have celebrated Christ-
mas by giving presents to one another.
It is fine to receive lots of presents.
But it is so much finer to give them.
Boys and girls aren’t expected to give
costly things. It is the spirit of giving
that counts.
And even if it is only a smile, and a
cheerily-spoken “Merry Christmas,” it
will do a lot to spread joy—and make
you feel a lot better, too.
WHEN CHRISTMAS WAS PAGAN.
Long, long before Christ was born or
even prophesied, December 25 was cele-
brated as the winter solstice of the sun.
Great pagan festivities honored what
was supposed to be the procession of
the source of light around the earth.
The two weeks before Christmas and
Twelfth Night represent the conflict
between the old idolatry and the new re-
ligion, between the pagan and the Chris-
tion worlds, when Pan and all his hosts
made their last stand against the teach-
ings'of Christ. Thus many of our an-
cient Christmas customs are half pa-
gan in their origin.
___
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Habermacher, Mrs. J. C. & Lane, Ella E. Shiner Gazette (Shiner, Tex.), Vol. 34, No. 8, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 23, 1926, newspaper, December 23, 1926; Shiner, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1144393/m1/4/: accessed July 9, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Shiner Public Library.