2. 1870 – Texas had only 583 miles of railroad tracks High freight rates and slow land service prevented the growth of commerce in Texas Economic growth depended on a large rail network Land Grant Law of 1876 Texas Constitution of 1876 defined railroads as public carriers Land Grant Law authorized 16 sections of land for every mile of rail track Results Forty railroads received 32 million acres for roughly 3000 miles of track Railroads and Economic Development
3. Railroad speculators promised instant prosperity to communities that subsidized routes through their town Many ghost towns result from over speculation Money for rail expansion Eastern investors Foreign investors Public aid from communities/towns that could afford it Results Some areas of the state were overbuilt Other areas lacked any rail facilities Railroads and Economic Development
4. Old Perry (Falls County) Otto (Falls County) Osage (Colorado County) Anson (Jones County) Named after Anson Jones Ghost Towns Resulting from Railroad Speculation Otto, Texas
8. Transportation company issues Most did not prosper from the sale of granted land Land was awarded in alternating sections Most wanted to buy land in contiguous sections However, the Texas Pacific Land Trust (est. 1888) is still the state’s largest landowner Amassed the holdings of the Texas and Pacific Railroad Results of rail expansion in Texas 1872- Texas ranked 28th in the U.S. for rail mileage 1904 – Texas led the nation in rail mileage (10,000) Population growth corresponded with the growth of the rail network Railroads and Economic Development
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10. Major Lines Missouri, Kansas, and Texas (Katy) Texas and Pacific Railroad (T&P) Southern Pacific Great Northern Rail influence on other industries Lumbar Need for ties, bridges, stations, etc. Cotton Gins Railroads and Economic Development
11. Patterns of trade The rail network broke up old patterns of trade Farmers and businessmen were forced to deal with markets far removed from their region Trade agents were impersonal and impartial to local concerns Criticisms of the rail industry Shipper discrimination Secret agreements between monopolistic lines Price discrimination The Texas Traffic Association (1885) attempted to regulate rates Atty. Gen. James Hogg won a court order to dissolve the association Numerous successors would attempt to regulate rates for the next 40 years Railroads and Economic Development
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13. 1876- Texas had 61 million acres of public land Two categories for land Permanent School Fund Roughly 42 million acres Unappropriated Public Domain Could be sold for numerous purposes; retire public debt, railroad allocation, economic development Fifty-Cent Law Permitted the sale of all unappropriated public domain for 50 cents an acre; no quantity limitations Texas sold less than 2 million acres during the law’s tenure However, it depressed the cost of land drastically Public Land
14. Fifty-Cent Law Railroads and land-holders were forced into recievership Land speculators bought land at deflated values Critics argued that Gov. Oran Roberts sold Texas to corporations and syndicates Revision Public domain land reclassified Agricultural, timber, or pastoral values No more land could be sold to railroads Texas legislature creates the State Land Board Oversee the reclassification of public domain Ensure settlers received priority over speculators General Land Office administered public land after the State Land Board was abolished in 1887 Public Land
15. Overall, land legislation’s success was debatable Public opinion ran against the state’s early choices Too many believed that farmers and small businesses fell victim to the state’s overzealous sale of land to railroads and corporations Public Land
16. Railroads led to the expansion of barbed wire and windmills in Texas Cattlemen began fencing their surface water sites, pastures, ranches, and sometimes public domain in around 1883 Disputes began to occur over fencing and “fence-cutting wars” began Occurred in more than ½ of the counties in the state 1884 Fencing Law It was a felony for fence cutting Every three miles of fence required a gate Prohibited the enclosure of public land Fence-Cutting Wars
17. Secret organizations were formed against fencing in general Saw it as a threat to republicanism (land use and democracy) Developed into a class consciousness that worked its way into Populism Were very popular in the Cross Timbers region Also responsible for fence cutting in the area Law enforcement and public opinion against fence cutting quelled the wars by 1890 One Texas Ranger placed dynamite at a fencing location and rigged it to explode if the fence was cut Fence-Cutting Wars
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19. East Texas yellow pine grew on roughly 20 million acres The mild climate and cheap labor made it an ideal location for a lumber industry in Texas Most farmers considered pine trees a nuisance Overcutting in the Midwest White pine forests in the Upper Midwest led to depletion in the mid 1880s Most consumers did not prefer the yellow pine of Texas, but short supply quickly ended that preference Texas’ lumber industry grew from a cottage industry to one of the nation’s largest The Lumber Industry in Texas
21. By 1900, Texas produced more than 1 billion board feet of lumber in 637 establishments John H. Kirby organized the Kirby Lumber Firm First multi-million dollar firm in Texas Acquired timberlands at less than $2 an acre Company Towns Lumber entrepreneurs built company towns with churches, schools, housing, and stores Camden, Texas Over 75 of the workforce was unskilled labor that earned $1.50 to $2 a day until the early 1920s Companies frequently paid in merchandise checks redeemable only at the company store Prices were almost always inflated Essentially, workers who lived in company towns were at the mercy of lumber mill owners for almost all aspects of their lives The Lumber Industry in Texas
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23. Texas and Industrialization National per capita value of manufactures was $171 (1900) Texas’ value was $39.99 Texas was far from being a profitable industrial state Cottonseed Mills 4,514 cotton gins in the state (1 was in Osage) Produced roughly 34 percent of the nation’s total cotton crop Flour Milling Other Industries in Texas
24. Oil Becomes the mineral that makes Texas rich during the early 20th century Coal Industry worth over $5 million in 1900 Most profitable mineral before the oil explosion Salt Second to Coal Van Zandt County had the Grand Saline plant Iron Some iron ores discovered in East Texas Cherokee County produced 50,000 tons of pig iron annually Minerals in Texas
26. Dallas was the leading industrial center Flour and grist milling, printing, publishing Houston (2nd) Railcar construction, cottonseed processing San Antonio (3rd) Distilling of malt liquors Fort Worth (4th) Meat-packing, flour and grist milling Galveston (5th) Once the leading city in Texas, now exporting cotton Waco, Sherman, and Beaumont represented other significant cities Agricultural wealth’s concentration in major cities irritated farmers Cities became rich at the farmer’s expense This sentiment paves the way for political movements such as Populism Manufacturing in Texas
27. Working Conditions 12 hour work days, 6 days a week $12 per month for unskilled labor Up to $100 for skilled labor Works accepted terms of employment or found other jobs; no negotiation Texan Views of Organized Labor Strikes led to violence, thus, threatened stability and order Organized labor akin to radicalism, thus, un-American Organized labor was primarily a foreign influence Unions in Texas
28. Why Unions Fail in Texas Majority of the workforce was unskilled Little reason to demand better wages when you could easily be replaced State government endorsed anti-unionism Part of the New South creed Need to attract industry to the region Had to guarantee an inexpensive and stable labor force Unions only complicated the matter Industries came in and were allowed to bust unions Blacklisting Hiring of strike-breakers Government force used to break strikes Unions in Texas
29. Knights of Labor “reform unionism” (very political in nature) Claimed 30,000 Texan members in 1885 Led numerous strikes, but public support went against them when violence resulted Government power used to break strikes and the union declined in Texas American Federation of Labor (AFL) “business unionism” (apolitical) Numerous branches of the AFL form in Texas, but overall, they do not do well Unions in Texas
30. New South mentality Diversification of crops would lead to self-sufficient farms Wheat, corn, oats, and cotton Scientific farming and crop rotation would preserve the family farm and prevent sharecropping Political Influence Democrats blamed Republicans and Reconstruction for the Panic of 1873 and the subsequent agricultural instability If Democrats were allowed, they would restore economic stability to Texas Problem with these ideas Technology led to overproduction It was now too easy to get crops to market Everyone wanted a stake in cash crops like cotton Prices suffer as a result Agricultural Issues
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32. Tenant farming and sharecropping increase despite the grand rhetoric of agricultural advisors and the Democratic party Sharecropping and Cotton The only way for sharecropping to fail miserably was for cotton prices to increase As most speculated it would However, cotton prices did not increase at the rate needed to keep sharecroppers out of chronic indebtedness These issues lead to the rise of Populist sentiment during the mid-1890s Agricultural Issues
33. Problems Overcrowding and inadequate correctional facilities Result of population growth and lawlessness in West Texas Self-sufficiency Prison labor force to essentially run the prison Gov. Oran Roberts believed pardoning and self-reliance in the prison system would help Convict Leasing Private individuals could lease convicts from the prison system to work whatever economic necessity the renter desired The system is overhauled numerous times with little success It became a bigger issue around 1920 Prison Reform
35. Law of 1884 Completed reorganized the public school system Mandated a partial return to a centralized system State superintendants, record keeping, teacher certification, etc. Local districts were allowed to tax themselves (with the county’s help) to support common schools Beginning of “independent school districts” Regular attendance mandated Ages eight to sixteen Success of the law was somewhat limited Scattered settlement patterns Education in the city was better than in rural areas Common Education
36. Texas A&M First public college in Texas opened in 1876 Located near Bryan It was originally designed to be a part of the University of Texas system The Morrill Act required that the all male school provide military training Lawrence “Sul” Ross, former Confederate hero and Waco local became president in 1891 Blacks could not attend Texas A&M per state law Higher Education
37. University of Texas Chartered in 1839, but did not begin classes until 1883 Austin was picked for the main campus Galveston was selected for the medical school Former Texas Gov. Oran Roberts served as the first dean of the law school University was financed through general revenues and the permanent fund (from the sale/lease of UT’s 2 million acres of land) Higher Education
38. Prairie View Normal Institute Opened in 1879 Provided an agricultural education for black students Also became a college to train teachers Sam Houston State Normal School Opened in 1879 in Huntsville Became the institutional model for other normal schools throughout the state Later becomes Sam Houston State University Higher Education
39. Democrats became the de facto party of choice after Reconstruction Welded to the “Lost Cause” mentality The party almost became a homage to the Confederate dead and their cause Whites Voting against the Democratic party meant dishonoring the party of their fathers This mentality lingers well into the 1940s Major achievements from 1876-1886 Building the new state capitol Overall, Democrats strove to maintain the status quo and did little to help the poor and dispossessed Prohibition becomes a key issue during the 1880s, yet they do nothing Conservative Democratic Control
40. Norris Wright Cuney (Galveston) becomes head of the Republican party in Texas due to his influence with black voters Strength of the party was in East Texas and the Gulf Coast White Republicans formed “lily-white factions” in protest of blacks controlling the party They wanted to become more influential with the national Republican party They decline due to their refusal to merge with any other third parties Republicans in the 1880s
41. First third-party to challenge Democratic control of Texas Organized in response to deflation of the national money supply U.S. gov’t took the country off the gold standard during the Civil War Gov’t issued “greenback” paper money that was not backed by gold during the war Greenbacks caused inflation, but allowed for economic expansion The problem with greenbacks Financiers and Wall Street brokers wanted to redeem their greenbacks for gold In response, the U.S. gov’t goes back to the gold standard in 1875 (Specie Resumption Act) The Greenback Party
42. The problem with greenbacks As a result, the amount of money in circulation declines Interest rates increase Farmers are hit especially hard They are already fighting a recession (1873) Greenback party’s goal Reverse the policies that were leading farmers to financial ruin Especially the Specie Resumption Act Railroad regulation, better school system, elimination of convict leasing, reduction of useless offices in state gov’t The Greenback Party
43. Constituency Radical farmers Courted white Republicans from lily-white factions Talk of fusion with these factions produced nothing Had most of their strength in East Texas, the Cross Timbers, and other poor, farming counties Decline Peaked during 1882-1883 as George “Wash” Jones runs for Texas Governor However, they remain a distant third with voters Their party declines, but their issues get raised again with the Populist party The Greenback Party
45. Attorney General (1887-1891) and Governor of Texas (1891-1895) Ushered in a new era of Progressive Democrats Had not fought in the Civil War Less bound by tradition than conservative Democrats Identified with the common man and sympathized with their issues Progressive agenda Use state powers to regulate railroads and trusts Railroad Commission (1891) – appointive body that could set rates and fares Prevent foreign ownership of Texas public land Farmers and agriculturalists loved his stance towards big business James S. Hogg: Progressive Democrat
46. “Hogg laws” 1 – establishing the Railroad Commission Supreme Court upheld the commission after 7 railroads sued 2 – railroad stock and bond law Allowed the Railroad Commission to regulate railroad stock 3 – law forcing land corporations to sell off holdings in 15 years 4 – Alien Land Law Forbid further land grants to foreign corporations Attempted to put land back in the hands of Texans 5 – Restriction on the amount of bond debt that county and municipalities could legally undertake James S. Hogg: Progressive Democrat
47. Agrarian Groups Patrons of Husbandry “The Grange” Secret, fraternal organization comprised mostly of family farmers Offered educational and social benefits to its membership; later focused on economic issues affecting farmers While the organization was apolitical, it encouraged members to take political action Catered primarily to higher middle-class farmers Texas Farmers’ Alliance Takes the place of the Grange in the mid 1880s Grass-roots organization originating from the Cross Timbers region Based on voluntary associations Never denied that it was a political organization By 1886, it claimed 100,000 members, making it a viable potential for a third party As depression set in the early 1890s, members readily joined the Populist party Populism “The People’s Party”
48. The Subtreasury Plan National legislation that would have allowed farmers to store staple crops in gov’t storage Farmers could receive loans against the market value of crops Gov’t notes could be used as currency Conservative Democrats saw this as an excess of federal gov’t control The plan was also a direct attack on national banks However, this plan fell in line with Greenback ideology Democrats and members of the Texas Farmers’ Alliance split primarily over this issue The Subtreasury Plan becomes a symbol for the Populist Party Populism “The People’s Party”
49. Populist Concepts Crusade of rural Americans attempting to raise awareness of economic failure for the rural class Believed they were being true to Jacksonian ideals Promoting the “common man” Fit well with Texas republicanism Denounced monopolistic corporations and banks Essentially a reaction to the Gilded Age Was Populism a liberal or conservative movement? Populism “The People’s Party”
50. Conservatism Jeffersonian and Jacksonian ideals of democracy Denouncing large banks, railroads, and corporations Conservative Protestantism used in stump speeches and organization of camp-style meetings Changing hymns to fit their political cause Liberalism Big business grew so fast that the common man could not fight back by himself The federal government was needed to help Create credit Inflate the currency Stave off abuses of big business on the common man Populism “The People’s Party”
51. A bi-racial party For Populism to succeed in Texas, the party had to appeal to both whites and blacks John B. Rayner was the most prominent black Texan to support Populism Democrats were forced to appeal to black voters to keep control of the state They often used violence and intimidation to keep blacks from voting for the Populist party By 1894, the Texas Farmers’ Alliance had recruited close to 200,000 members Populism “The People’s Party”
53. The Campaign of 1896 Very bitter election on the state level Democrats readily used violence to intimidate Populist voters Also charged racial betrayal and attempting to reinstate Reconstruction against the Populists National level William Jennings Bryan is selected to run for president Did not endorse the Subtreasury Plan More focused on free silver and low tariffs Populists and Democrats fuse to endorse him Texan Populists did not care for the fusion Bryan loses to William McKinley The Populist movement quickly loses momentum with Bryan’s failed campaign Populism “The People’s Party”
54. Populists are temporarily alienated from politics after the Campaign of 1896 Many Populists return to the Democratic party as “reform Democrats” at the turn of the century Populists on the state level that refused to join the Democratic party later join the Socialist movement This unique fusion of Populist and reform agendas pave the way for the Progressive era of the early 20th century Legacy of the Populist Party
55. White Populists sided with black Populists under an alliance of convenience for the party After the Campaign of 1896, racial discrimination in Texas politics become more entrenched Democrats resolve to remove black voters from local and county elections Populists had the most success on these levels Terrell Election Laws The Democratic party institutes a white primary Blacks could still vote in the general election though Meaningless in a one-party state Poll Taxes Another means to disenfranchise blacks and poor whites Democrats believed this would end future third-party challenges The Dark Side of Populism
