USA > Texas > A comprehensive history of Texas, 1685-1897 > Part 47
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For the two years ending December 31, 1893. there were organized in Texas 6657 manufactories of all kinds, with a total capital of $50, 261,620, employing 37,763 operatives, handling $21, 927, 471 of raw material, and turning out $36, 950, 864 of finished products. The increase for the three succeeding years has been in still greater ratio, although the exact figures are not now obtainable.
EDUCATION, RELIGION, SOCIAL STATISTICS, AND GENERAL GROWTH.
The devotion of Texas to the cause of popular education is historic. The unfriendliness of Mexico to free public education was one of the emphatic griev- ances alleged in the Declaration of Texan Independence in 1836. By an act of the legislature of Coahuila and Texas of May 11, 1829, decree No. 92, the first law for the establishment of public schools was enacted. It provided for a system of schools for "mutual instruction on the Lancastrian plan" (monitorial schools) at the capital of cach department, and required free instruction for a limited number of poor children, enforcing compulsory education upon parents able to pay tuition. On May 2, 1833, we notice a decree granting four leagues of land to the munici- pality of Nacogdoches for public school purposes. These were the initiative acts towards public free schools, but evidently the Mexican government did not practi- cally satisfy the demands of the Texas colonists in this direction, as they made it the subject of specific complaint in their Revolution three years later.
After the republic was inaugurated, under the presidency of Lamar, the first general law for the establishment and maintenance of a system of public instruction was passed, which also contemplated the foundation of two universities. By the act of January 26, 1839, the Congress of the republic cnacted that each county should have surveyed and set apart to it three leagues ( 13,285 acres) of land, for the pur- pose of establishing and maintaining a primary school or academy in the county : and fifty leagues of public lands were required to be set apart to the founding of two universities. By the act of February 5, 1840, an additional league was granted to each county for the purpose of being sold to furnish equipment and apparatus for the schools. The same act provided for the organization of school districts and communities and the actual inauguration of the system contemplated.
After annexation, by the act of January 16, 1850, four leagues of land were appropriated to the new counties that had been formed since February 16, 1846, so as to put them on an equal footing with the old counties. On January 31, 1854, $2,000,000 of the bonds received from the United States in payment for the terri- tory of New Mexico were set apart to the public free schools, and the organization of a complete system of free public instruction was provided for. This fund was afterwards invested in railroad bonds to encourage railroad construction, and a great part of it was lost.
The alternate sections of lands surveyed by the railroads under the laws for
776
A COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF TEXAS.
railroad promotion were donated to the schools, and these added immensely to the landed endowment of the public school system. In 1856 the fifty leagues of univer- sity lands were authorized to be sold, the proceeds to constitute an available fund for the founding of the institution. In 1858 an act was passed to organize the University, but the approach of the war prevented its organization at that time. During the war a large sum of money belonging to that institution was diverted to other purposes. In 1866 an act was again passed contemplating the immediate organization of the University, but nothing came of it, and it was not until 1883, under the act of isSI, that it was finally opened, with its main branch at Austin and the medical school at Galveston.
In the mean while, by various legislative and constitutional provisions, large quantities of public domain have from time to time been appropriated to the public schools and University, amounting in the aggregate to nearly 40,000,000 acres. These lands and the proceeds of the sale and lease of the same constitute the per- manent fund of the educational system, while the interest thereon and moneys derived from other sources are the available fund.
The exact details of the school system of Texas and its endowment are shown by the following extract from the annual report of the Department of Agriculture, Insurance, Statistics, and History, for the year 1894, which are substantially correct for the current period :----
"Under this topic are included : 1. The common school systemn. 2. The normal schools. 3. The University of Texas.
" The Common School System .-- This system embraces : 1. Rural schools. 2. Independent school districts (cities and towns).
" The rural schools are organized in two ways : (A) Districts: (B) Com- munities.
"The districts are formed by the Commissioners' Court, have geographical boundaries, and may vote a levy of local school tax not exceeding two mills. One hundred and ninety-one counties are thus districted, and about 3 per cent. of the districts levy local taxes. The average school term for the year 1894-95 was 4.57 months in the districts ; the average salary paid teachers was $225, and So per cent. of the children within scholastic age were enrolled in school some time during the year.
"In thirty-five counties the schools are operated on a peculiar plan called the Community system. The community has no geographical boundaries, and enrol- ment on the community list is a matter of local enterprise. Local taxes can be levied in community counties, but the plan is cumbrous and rather inefficient. The average school term in these counties for 1894-95 was 4.16 months ; the average salary of teachers was $218, and the percentage of enrolment on the scholastic population was 83.
" The cities and towns of the State may be constituted independent districts on a majority vote of the people of the municipality. Independent districts may vote a levy of local school tax not exceeding five mills. There are two hundred of these districts in the State, including all the larger and many of the smaller towns. The average school term in these districts in 1894-95 was 8.51 months : the average annual salary of teachers $409. So, and the percentage of enrolment 85. These dis- tricts are independent of the county school officers, and receive the State apportion- ment direct from the State Treasurer.
" The State endowment of the common schools is large. About $7.484.598 in interest-bearing bonds, more than $14,000,000 in interest-bearing land notes, and
777
WOOTEN-RESULTS OF FIFTY YEARS OF PROGRESS.
about 23,000,000 acres of unsold lands constitute the State endowment. Of the unsold school lands 20,000,000 acres are leased at 4 cents per acre, and the funds thus derived added to the annual available school fund. Total State and county permanent fund $73,454, 869.
" Besides the State endowment fund each county has been granted by the State four leagues of land, which constitute county endowment. As these lands are sold the funds received are invested under the authority of the county Commissioners' Court, and the interest on the investment is annually applied to the support of the schools. A considerable portion of these lands is leased for varying terms of years, and the rental applied as the rental of the State school lands. These lands are under the exclusive control of the county authorities ; 5,756,400 acres have been thus granted to counties, and a reservation has been made from the public domain for the unorganized counties.
" In addition to the interest on bonds and land notes and rental from leases, the State levies an annual ad valorem school tax of two mills, devotes one-fourth of the occupation taxes, and an annual poll tax of $t to the available school fund. The entire amount of available apportioned school fund for the years 1894-95 was $2,836,363.50, and the total receipts by local treasurers, including balances from the previous year, were $3,962,637.51. The disbursements for the same year amounted to $3,675,501.62. Balance on hand, $287, 135.89."
From the report of the same department of the State government for 1891-92 we quote the following in regard to the University, the main facts being applicable to existing conditions :--
"The buildings are situated about three-quarters of a mile north of the State capitol, on an imposing site in the centre of a forty-acre traet of land set apart by the Third Congress of the republic of Texas for that purpose, and were opened for the reception of students September 15, .1SS3. Thus was the long-cherished desire of the fathers of Texas and the wishes of the people so often expressed in the various State Constitutions at last attained.
"The University is governed by a Board of Regents composed of eight citi- zens, residents of different sections of the State, who are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate. By an act of the Legislature approved April 10, 1883, 1,000,000 acres of the public-debt land were added to the permanent Univer- sity fund.
"Of the various land-grants made to the University there remained unsold 2,020,049 acres on December 31, 1891.
"The permanent fund consists of :-
State bonds
$571,340.00
Cash .
1,327.21
Total
$572,667.21
"The interest on the above sum, rental on leased lands, and matriculation fees, amounting to $53, 831.87 per annum, constitute the available University fund. "System of Instruction .- The system of instruction adopted by the University is a combination of what is known as the elective system and what is known as the class system. The four classes -- freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior-are retained, and serve to articulate the four years devoted to the completion of any full course in the academic department. The studies, however, are grouped into three general courses, designated, respectively, the Course in Arts, the Course in Letters, and the Course in Science. A student upon matriculation is allowed to elect any
778
A COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF TEXAS.
one of these courses, and upon its completion he is entitled to a diploma of the University.
" Academic Degrees .- The three general courses of arts, letters, and science lead respectively to the three following degrees : Bachelor of Arts (B. A. ); Bache- lor of Letters (B. Lit. ); Bachelor of Science (B. Sc.). Each special course leads to the same degree as the general course to which it is related."
Attendance at the University has steadily increased in all the departments, and during the college year beginning in September, 1896, there were about 450 matric- ulates in the main branch at Austin and about 200 in the medical department at Galveston. The institution now has a president, after the manner of the older universities of the country, the first selection to that office being Dr. George T. Winston, late of the University of North Carolina, appointed in June, 1896.
As important parts of the educational system of Texas are also two large normal schools at Huntsville and Prairie View, -the former for whites and the latter for colored teachers, -the Agricultural and Mechanical College near Bryan, and the Deaf and Dumb and Blind Institutes at Austin, the latter being, in part at least, in the nature of public charities.
There are very many excellent private schools and colleges in the State, most of them under denominational religious patronage or control. Some of these date from pioneer days, and they are all valuable and potent factors in the intellectual, moral, and social evolution of Texan civilization.
The detailed operations of the public-school system will be more fully seen in the appended tables of educational statistics.
Side by side with intellectual culture and enterprise, religious faith and zeal have attended the progress of Texas. In fact, religion began its ministrations in the wilderness of Mexican Texas before education was much thought of by the struggling colonists. The Methodists and Baptists were the pioneers in the mission field, always excepting those first Catholic missionaries whose silent sacrifices and heroic courage planted the Cross from the Sabine to the Rio Grande before yet the Anglo-American had set foot west of the Alleghanies. In 1824-25 the first Protestant Church services were held among the settlements of Austin's colony, and from that time the advance in religious thought and labor has kept pare with every forward movement in the development of Texas. The results of these years of prayer and preaching, as shown in the present condition of church affairs in the State, may be partially seen in the short table of church statistics appended to this chapter.
TAXABLE WEALTH, STATE FINANCES, PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND INSTITUTIONS.
The taxable values of property of all kinds in Texas, as shown by the assess- ment rolls, for the past five decades were as follows : 1850, 551, 814,615 ; 1860, $294.315.659 ; 1870, $170,473.778 : 1880, $311,470.736 ; 1890, $;82, 111,883. For the five years following 1890 the assessed values were as follows : 1891, $856, - 202,283 : 1892, $856,528,600 ; 1893, $886, 175, 395 ; 1894, $865, 120,989 ; 1895. $860,910,567.
These figures show a constantly increasing wealth until within the last three years, except for the decade ending in 1870, which was due to the devastating
779
WOOTEN-RESULTS OF FIFTY YEARS OF PROGRESS.
effects of the war and the ravages of reconstruction, coupled with the destruction of the property in slaves which was enumerated prior to 1864. The years 1894 and 1895 show a net decrease respectively of $21,054,406 and $4, 210,422, as compared with preceding years and with each other. It is understood that the year 1896 shows a corresponding decrease as compared with the preceding two years. How far this is due to a real falling off in the property values of the State, and how far it is attributable to a vieious system of finances now prevailing in the United States, under which the purchasing power of money is constantly appreciating at the expense of human labor and enterprise, is a problem the economists will have to solve, and which the people of this country will themselves solve in the near future. There is certainly no specific cause for the apparent reversal in the tide of prosperity and wealth in Texas, and the like condition prevailing throughout the Union would appear to indicate a common source for so universal an economie symptom.
The tables of financial and economic statisties annexed were compiled from the reports of the several departments of the State government whose functions are concerned with the financial affairs of the State, and their details will be found to embrace"nearly all items of general interest.
Aside from its administration of educational affairs and its strictly governmental functions, the State has been most liberal in providing and maintaining all those publie institutions of charity, benevolence, and humanity the existence of which is so characteristic a feature of Christian civilization. From the foundation of the State government specific funds were provided for the establishment of the principal eleemosynary institutions for the care of the afflicted and destitute members of society, and as the increasing population of the State has rendered these establish- ments necessary to be extended, the liberality of the people through their legislatures has kept pace with the demands of the occasion. A brief mention and deseription of the several charitable foundations maintained by the State are worthy of a place in the outline of her growth. The following sketches of these institutions are taken from the annual report of the Department of Agriculture, Insurance, Statistics, and History, for the year 1892-93, and present succinetly the methods, objeets, and operations of the State charities mentioned :--
" The State Lunatic Asylum is situated about two miles north of .Austin, on a beautiful plateau of ground adorned and beautified by flowers, plants, summer- houses, and forest-trees, the latter constituting a splendid park, upon whose grassy lawn the patients are permitted to take exercise and get fresh air and sunshine. The buildings are eapacious and elegant. though somewhat crowded owing to the rapidity with which the insane population increases.
"There are ninety-five employés in the institution.
"The estimated value of the buildings and grounds is $544, 239, that of all other property belonging to the institution $50,969.83.
"In connection with the institution there is a large farm and garden where patients are permitted to work with a view of diverting the mind and affording exercise for the body. For the same purpose concerts, musie, dancing, and other amusements are indulged in once each week. Most of the patients enjoy the farm- work very much, and look forward with great interest for the return of the day appointed for the weekly entertainment. In this way their minds are pleasantly occupied with new subjects, and in many cases ultimate recovery thereby made possible.
780
A COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF TEXAS.
"From the report of the superintendent for the year ending November 1, 1892, the following data has been obtained :--
"Number of patients admitted during the year, 121; discharged restored, 45 ; discharged improved, 3 ; discharged unimproved, 3; total discharged, 49 ; died, 27 ; discharged (escaped), I male. Total treated during the year, 731. Number in asylum October 31, 1893, 65.4.
"The per cent. of deaths is 4.40 ; the per cent. of the recoveries on whole number treated is 6. 19, and on admissions 46.87. Total expenditures for the year, $167,432.70, of which $68, 880. 84 was for permanent improvements, repairs, stock on hand, etc.
"The total number of patients admitted from the beginning of the hospital is 3380, of which number 725 died and 1944 were discharged.
"North Texas Hospital for the Insane is located at Terrell, in Kaufman County, and was first opened for the reception of patients July 15, 1885. It was established in obedience to a general demand for additional asylum room for the accommodation of the hundreds of insane persons then confined in jails and on poor- farms throughout the State.
"The buildings are constructed on the latest and most improved plan of hos- pitals for the insane, and contain all modern conveniences for the treatment of the insane.
"The following facts in relation to the operations of the institution for the year ending October 31, 1892, are from the superintendent's annual report : Number of patients on hand at the beginning of year, 606 ; received during the year, 388 ; dis- charged restored, 158 ; discharged improved, 29 ; total number discharged, 194 ; died, 71 ; on hand November 1, 1892, 729.
General Statement of the Operations of the North Texas Hospital for the Insane for the Eight Years ending October 31, 1892.
YEARS.
NUMHER
ADMITTED.
NUMBER
DISCHARGED.
NUMBER
TREATED.
DISCHARGED
RECOVERED.
DISCHARGED
IMPROVED.
DISCHARGED
UNIMPROVED.
DISCHARGED
NOT INSANE.
ELOPED.
DIED.
1585
130
17
130
15
I
I --
I
1556
330
4.12
119
8
-
37
ISS7
343
184
610
152
23
7
1.555
259
102
631
15
7
I
ISSO
230
IS6
042
tn)
14
254
154
626
13;
12
5
2
2
50
15,2
355
19.4
994
158
29
7
" The actual running expenses for the year were $111, 758. 31 ; cost of main- taining inmates per capita per year, $170 : per week, SS.
"The estimated value of the buildings, grounds. furniture, and other appur- tenances is $267,760.48.
"Number of officers connected with the institution, 5 : employes, 42.
" The Southwestern Insane Asylum is situated four miles south of San Antonio, on an eminence near the San Antonio River, opposite the historic Franciscan Mission of San José.
"The location is healthy, and the surrounding country beautiful and pictur- csque. The grounds surrounding the building are naturally attractive, and in time can be made more so.
"The State owns 640 acres of good farming and pasture lands adjoining the asylum, donated by the citizens of San Antonio. Over too acres are in cultivation. "The buildings are imposing, substantial, and comfortable, and are well adapted to the purposes for which they were erected. They are nearly fire-proof,
1
1
30
2
54
781
WOOTEN-RESULTS OF FIFTY YEARS OF PROGRESS.
and are supplied with modern appliances for steam heating, electric lighting, etc. ' The capacity of the present buildings is about 200 patients. The buildings and other improvements have cost the State about $220,000 to this time.
"The asylum was opened for the reception of patients on April 6, 1892.
Admitted from April 6 to October 31, 1892, males 93 Admitted from April 6 to October 31, 1892, females 49
Total 142
Discharged restored 13
Discharged improved 1 Escaped 2 Died I
I7
Total on hand October 31, 1892 125
"There are 4 officers and 36 employés connected with the institution.
" The creation of an Orphan Asylum was contemplated and provided for by the founders of our State government, who gave it the same land endowment bestowed on other charitable institutions.
" This institution was required to be established by an act of the twentieth legislature, approved April 4, 1887. The governor was required to appoint three commissioners to select a site for the asylum. Competition between the various towns in the State for the location of the institution was invited, which resulted in the selection of Corsicana, in Navarro County.
"The sum of $5700 was appropriated out of the available Orphan Asylum fund for the establishment of the institution. Subsequently at the special session of the twentieth legislature $15,000 and the available lund to the credit of the asylum in the State treasury was appropriated for the erection of buildings and other improve- ments.
"The site on which the asylum is located and the surrounding scenery are unsurpassed by any place in the State for their beauty and adaptability for such an institution.
"The buildings, which are constructed on the cottage plan, and have a capacity of about 200 inmates, were completed and the institution formally opened July 15, 1889.
"From the date of the opening of the institution, November 1, 1890, 60 children-23 girls and 31 boys-had been received into the home. Of those 2 ran away and 4 were returned to friends, leaving 54 in the institution.
" The expenses of the asylum for the seventeen months ending October 31, 1890, amounted to 513,993.63.
"The asylum is governed by a board of managers who are appointed by the governor, and have power to prescribe rules and regulations for the admission of inmates and control of the institution.
"All orphan children under the age of 14 years shall be admitted, subject only to such restrictions as the board deem necessary to the welfare and good government of the asylum.
"The superintendent is required to keep a list of the names and ages of all children. with such data as may be obtainable concerning their history, subject at all times to public inspection. He is also required to see that their pro rata of the pub- lic school fund is set aside, and to provide them with proper educational facilities.
" By act of the twentieth legislature, approved March 29. 1887, a State House of Correction and Reformatory for youthful convicts was provided for, and the gov- ernor required to appoint a commission to locate the same.
" The institution was located two and one-fourth miles northeast of Gatesville, Coryell County, and the necessary buildings erected there during the summer of ISSS.
i
--
782
A COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF TEXAS.
"Up to date of the last report of the superintendent $81,619 had been expended in the purchase of land, erection of buildings, and equipping the institution.
"The institution has a capacity of about 100, and was opened January 3, 1889. Up to October 31, 1890, 136 persons had been received at the institution, as follows :-
White males 57
Colored males 55
Mulattos . 15
Colored females 2
Mexican males 7
Total 136
Number on hand March 1, 1891 126
Received since March 1, 1891, to November 20, 1892 16S
Total
294
Discharged from March 1, 1891, to November 20, 1892.
Pardoned by governor
34
Escaped .
4
Expiration of sentence
69
Total
107
Leaving on hand November 20, IS92 IS7
"All persons under 16 years of age convicted of any felony, the punishment for which does not exceed five years' confinement, are sentenced to the Reformatory.
"The trustees are required 'to see that the inmates are taught habits of indus- try and sobriety, some useful trade, and to read and write, and also supplied with suitable books.' The white and colored inmates of the institution are required to be kept, worked, and educated separately.
"The institution is conducted on the 'cottage' or family plan. The buildings are heated by stean and lighted by clectricity. Since the institution was opened a farm of 200 acres and a garden and orchard-about 600 acres-have been put in cultivation.
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