New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 1, Part 6

Author: Davis, Ellis A.
Publication date: 1926
Publisher: Dallas, Tex. : Texas development bureau, [1926?]
Number of Pages: 1416

USA > Texas > New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 1 > Part 6

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they were owned, this license being 50 cents to cover expense of clerical work. The owner of the car was privileged to buy any sort of number that he chose.

In 1908 the first real salesroom and service sta- tion was opened in Dallas by the Buick Automobile Company, the first well equipped place of the kind in the entire Southwest.

Beginning with 1908 many distributing agencies and branch houses were opened in the five larger cities of Texas, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Fort Worth and El Paso and from that time until 1914 when the war broke out in Europe many new agencies were established each year. Cars were im- proved and trucks came into existence. The first trucks were made by putting special bodies on the regular automobile chassis, many times using old chassis that had been taken in by the dealer in trades.

In the fall of 1908, during the Texas State Fair, there was run between Dallas and Fort Worth an economic and endurance contest, in which fifteen cars were entered. This contest created great in- terest and each of the three following years similar affairs were pulled off to Mineral Wells, Waco and San Antonio. In 1909 R. L. Cameron sold his busi- ness to Roy Munger, including the agencies for Cadillac, Ford, Stevens Duryea, Jackson and Frank- lin. The first work of the Munger Company was to get rid of the Ford cars taken over in this deal. This they accomplished after considerable effort. Ford cars at that time listed for $900 to $1,000. To use the expression of the Munger Company they cheerfully and gladly surrendered what later proved to be the greatest profit maker in the industry. Beginning with 1909 rubber tire concerns established their first branches in all the distributing centers of the state, then came the large accessory houses supplying equipment that many buyers liked to add to their cars.

NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

In the early days automobiles came without tops, windshields, in fact with no more of the later re- finements in equipment than the farm wagon possessed, and it was not until about 1914 that they came equipped with these essentials, providing for extra tire, etc.

During 1909 the Buick Automobile Company sold

Wilson Building, the First Large Office Building of Dallas. Erected by the Late J. B. Wilson

to the Dallas Fire Department one of their Model 17s, which was the first automobile fire fighting apparatus in the state. This car was used for four years in the service of Chief H. F. McGee. Be- tween 1909 and 1921 practically every department in all the larger cities and many of the small towns of Texas became motorized and many factories have been built in the North and East for the especial production of this class of ap- paratus.

In 1910 the first hearses on motor trucks were bought by the undertakers of the larger cities of Texas, the number increasing slowly on account of prejudice for the motor car. Popular opinion was changed to the extent that all well equipped undertaking estab- lishments have been motorized 100 per cent by 1920.

The first motor factory in the state of Texas was that of the Wichita Truck Company, at Wich- ita Falls, Texas, which began in a small way in 1911 and expanded rapidly until Wichita Trucks have been in use for several years in all parts of the world.

The Ford Motor Company estab- lished an assembly plant in Dallas in 1914. Also one in Houston in July, 1914, which in 1922 had a

capacity of 150 cars per day. However the Houston branch was established in 1910 as a sales and service branch only.

In 1917 the Texas legislature passed a bill creating a highway commission authorizing same to license automobiles, trucks, motor cycles, etc., and in 1920 the number of such licenses issued was 427,693, in 1921 approximately 475,000. During the period be- tween 1914 and 1920 there were approximately 1,500 automobile dealers in the state. In 1920 the volume of business was tremendous, amounting with the allied lines to $350,000,000 in the state. In 1918 many motor truck lines were established for trans- portation of supplies and produce between the large centers and the small towns throughout the state.

In 1918 the Texas Motor Car Association opened a manufacturing plant in Fort Worth for the pro- duction of Texan passenger cars.

During the world war and the year following the signing of the armistice the automobile industry, together with allied lines, prospered beyond expecta- tions in Texas, small towns as well as the large cities of the state taking on great activity. Many tourists remarked the fact that the greater number of better class buildings in even the smaller towns were erected and used by automobile concerns, hand- some salesrooms as well as well equipped service stations and garages.

In the beginning the automobile was looked upon as a plaything for the rich and considered an ex- pensive luxury and the citizenship of Texas did not dream that within a few years an automobile would be an essential and ordinary possession of the aver- age family. In the year of 1922 there is an average in Texas of one car to every ten persons.

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PUBLIC HEALTH IN TEXAS By DR. C. W.[GODDARD Ex-State Health Officer

T HE discussion of public health can not be brought to our atten- tion but that the first and foremost thought that comes to our minds is: There should be no preventable diseases and no preventable deaths. Therefore, we shall deal with these groups alone:

Typhoid fever is endemic in Texas at all times, to the extent of about five thousand cases a year, resulting in nearly five thousand deaths. Tuberculosis in some form or other effects some 30,000 people, and was responsible for the death of over five thousand people last year. Pneumonia in all its forms kills on an average of 3,000 people a year, or about one in six of those who have this disease. Smallpox, which is so easily prevented, was in evi- dence in 154 counties of the state in 1919, there having been reported some 2,600 cases, and of scarlet fever, 12,500 cases. Diphtheria is one of the diseases which has lost some of its prestige in the last few years but was responsible for about 250 deaths last year, out of a total of 3,200 cases. Mumps, measles and whooping cough have also been reported and measles alone was responsible for nearly one thou- sand deaths. Anthrax has been found in six human beings in the last few months, no fatalities.

Pellegra took a total from Texas of over five hun- dred people last year.

The greatest reaper health authorities have had to contend with has been influenza, which was re- sponsible for so many people dying in the winter of 1918-19. Only about 2,500 cases have been reported this winter, and the death rate for 1920 had de- creased. Other diseases that have been reported in varying numbers during the past year are epidemic meningitis, "infantile paralysis," rabies, leprosy, beri beri and dengus fever. Venereal diseases were found to be more prevalent than all other com- municable diseases combined, there being 58,000 of which practically all were preventable.

The saving of forty thousand persons a year who die of these unnecessary and preventable diseases, would, if calculated in dollars and cents, amount into millions, to say nothing of the increase of human life that would spring from the neglected infants who are destroyed before they become of value to society from a financial standpoint.

The indexical health survey which has just been finished shows among other valuable facts that on account of sickness during one year, school children lost 4,790,901 days from school; also that there were lost 17,356,771 days from labor, which counted in day's work alone, giving no consideration to the suffering and expense of caring for patients, cost Texas the enormous sum of $52,070,315 in one year's time.

Thus, the above figures show that with a popula- tion of more than five million of people, the per- centage of deaths from these preventable diseases

is only thirteen. And the percentage of diseases is only fourteen and six-tenths.

Texas, with her broad plains, her balmy gulf breezes, her productive fields, her grazing grounds, her mineral resources, her congenial citizenship, a progressive race, touched with a climate that pro- duces anything that the heart could desire, a climate condition that from its very beginning has produced and continues to produce such wonderful surprises has within her borders everything that can be desired both as a winter resort, for persons seeking relief from the continued and extreme cold of the northern states, and the cooling summer winds that furnish relaxation, a refreshing sleep for the tired and weary, and never a doubt but that somewhere in this vast tract of land, a condition that is suited to any purpose that may be desired by an ever progressing civilization.

With more than 256,000 square miles of territory she is a state that you might surround with an im- pregnable wall and there would be produced within her borders anything that her citizenship would desire, not only for his comfort and well being, but for luxurious enjoyment of his leisure time. Her coastal cities furnish a decided advantage over other pleasure resorts for summer enjoyments and pleas- ures; her southern inland cities furnish a retreat from the cold of the northern states, so that the person who is seeking a retreat from extreme cli- matic conditions in order to nurse himself back to health and happiness finds that which he most de- sires and needs within her borders.

As an agricultural state she is unsurpassed. Her mineral resources have not yet been developed to the limit of their capacity. New oil fields are being opened almost daily, and with this discovery of oil in regions that were once thought to be worthless, her riches have increased one hundred per cent dur- ing the past three years. With iron ore, and coal fields, there is nothing to prevent the production of enough iron to supply her own needs. Her pro- ductive cotton fields, the sheep from her grazing grounds, can more than supply the needed clothing for her inhabitants. Her rice farms, her wheat fields, her cattle ranges, with chicken ranches, in fact anything in the supply of food for sick or well, her fruit regions of East Texas, the timber lands of the same region, her building stone, with all of this, an impregnable wall could be constructed en- closing her from the outside world and her residents would never know the difference.

But with new people come new ideas, and with new ideas come progress, thus civilization develops, and with that hospitality that has won fame abroad as southern hospitality, the hearty handclasp of the native born Texan for the stranger within her midst, has shown that her citizenship is ever ready to divide that which is good, and for which he holds the key, is ever ready to welcome the stranger within her borders bidding him enter, select his stamping ground, and produce that which will bring happiness to him and to his neighbor.

In time of distress, in one region, another is pros- perous beyond its own needs, while possibly a neigh- boring region may fall heir to some misfortune, and in this instant there is ever a helping hand from one

NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

section to another, and no sooner has the disaster befallen, than the one extends a helping hand to the other, it is righted and all is well for a pros- perous and progressive future.

It is through the activity of the Health Depart- ment of Texas, that plans are made and carried out to prevent contagious diseases from becoming rooted in many localties and being a menace to the citizens. The Health Department of this state is equipped with laboratory for research work and for the preparation of chemicals to exterminate the germs of disease. By co-operating with the Health De- partment in the various counties throughout the state, giving the constitutors and authorities proper assistance, they are able to have an important part to play in the bettering of the health conditions in the various communities. It is by the co-operation of this department with the authorities in various sections, that epidemics may be prevented.

The Health Department of Texas has spent large sums of money, long and careful research in all sections of the state, in order to have at hand full information in which sections contagious diseases are most prevalent, and which counties are most free from contagion. Probably the greatest work of the department is that devoted to education. There is no limit to the extent of good that can be accomplished in this particular department of the work, for the education of many people or com- munities to use hygienic methods will be the greatest asset to the promotion of health.

There is nothing more essential to the happiness or prosperity of the individual or community as that of good health, for wealth and prosperity availeth little without good health. In the extent to which this department succeeds in educating the citizens up to methods which prevent diseases, just that much is the department a success.

The Medical and Health Authorities in the various sections of Texas, find this department a very helpful refuge in any time of need.

Thus it is that her citizenship through a desire to build up a system that none might equal has seen fit through her law makers to provide means for a continual warfare upon preventable disease and by preventable the other meaning of the word might be substituted, unnecessary disease, and this unneces- sary prevalence of disease the State Board of Health is helping every section of the state to overcome. First remove the cause, thus removing the disease and this plan is succeeding in no small measure. For that purpose the Board of Health was formed, and its work is being pursued with all the skill that modern science lends to the aid of mankind so that there is noticeable a decreasing number of the dis- eases from year to year, and which will continue through the time the state with her millions of peo- ple shall last.

To combat this unnecessary loss of life, there have been established four new bureaus, in addition to the original bureaus established as follows:

1 .. Bureau of Child Hygiene, which is to provide county public health nurses, in co-operation with the Red Cross; to establish child health centers; to give pre-natal and anstetrical care and advice concern- ing infants and young children; to give bedside care to the sick in their own homes by public health nurses, under regulations adopted by the State Board of Health and approved by the County Medical So- ciety; to distribute leaflets on pre-natal, infant and

child care; to arrange child health conferences in co-operation with the Child Welfare Division of the Home Economics Department of the University of Texas; education and training. Supervision, in- struction in ophthalmia neonatorum and infant hy- giene. Investigation of unlicensed midwives; to urge complete registration of births; to establish the following clinics: Pre-natal, well baby, sick baby, pre-school child; to make physical inspection of school children.

2. Bureau of Communicable Diseases, whose pro- gram is as follows: To supply the City and County Health officers with information about communicable diseases; instructing and directing such officers in carrying out the laws regarding reportable and qaurantinable diseases; enforcing the above men- tioned laws and establishing general quarantine when necessary; receiving, tabulating and recording all re- ports on communicable diseases; formulating plans for the prevention of epidemics and the eradication of preventable diseases; investigating and assisting in the control of epidemics; preparing and supplying literature on the following subjects: List of com- municable diseases, list of "Reportable" diseases, im- portance of promptly reporting communicable dis- eases, disease "carriers," what they are and how controlled, vaccination-the importance and tech- nique, immunity-what it is and how acquired, ad- vantages of immunity-to the individual and the public, and the duty of local health officers, county and city officials, the community, and the individual in the prevention and control of communicable dis- eases.

3. Bureau of Public Health Education, whose purpose it is to carry on the educational work of all the bureaus of the State Health Department; get- ting out pamphlets and literature for the various phases of public health work; keeping informed upon the latest public health literature on public health matters, and giving advice to the other bureaus; arranging and giving public lectures; sup- plying articles for the press on various activities of the Health Department; arranging public health ex- hibitions; organizing public health societies and the medium through which the activities of all the bureaus will be reduced to writing and disseminated to the public.

4. Bureau of Public Health Nursing, which is to keep in touch with public health nursing in the state; to act in advisory capacity to any organiza- tions contemplating establishing such service; to interest suitable nurses in public health nursing with the object of increasing the supply; to properly place before city and county officials and the medical profession the importance of public health nursing and the functions of the public health nurse; to stimulate public health nursing education among nurses in co-operation with the State Nurse's Asso- ciation and State League for Nursing Education; to support and co-operate with the School of Public Health Nursing, University of Texas; through a plan of co-operation with the American Red Cross the Director of the Bureau of Public Health Nursing of the State Board of Health is also Director of Public Health Nursing for the American Red Cross in Texas; nurses employed by Red Cross Chapters carry out the public program of the State Board of Health in their several communities in con- junction with the local health officers and local physicians.

HISTORY OF THE TEXAS MEDICAL PROFESSION By R. W. KNOX M. D. Ex-President State Medical Association of Texas

J UST as Texas had men of the first magnitude in her earliest military and civil affairs, the mere men- tion of whose names recall days of achievement of which the world is proud to this day, so the pioneer predeces- sors of the Medical Profes- sion of today had a standard at the outset which compared favorably with that of any state in the Union. Among those early physicians were such men as Ashbel Smith, physician, surgeon, scientist, statesman and scholar, Phil- lips Anderson, Chief Surgeon of the Texas Navy and Alex- ander Ewing, Chief Surgeon of the Texas Army. These names merely mentioned prove the high stand- ard when Texas began as a Republic. But with the winning of freedom and the establishment of safety within the Texas borders, multitudes flocked into the Republic from varying quarters, the scarcity of physicians was felt, and finally necessity demanded volunteers who had had experience in hospital work, nursing, the drug business or who were simply par- ticularly gifted in their ministrations for the sick to join the regular practitioners in their service for their country. About 1845 to 1850, the first few years after the Republic became a state, the medical profession was greatly strengthened by young men coming from other states, graduates of the best literary and medical colleges in the land, cultured and refined. The high standard of the earliest days began to be approached again, and in 1857 the first attempt was made to organize the Texas physicians when, on March 11th, the Houston physicians ef- fected an organization. In 1859 these men issued a call to all Texas physicians and surgeons to organ- ize but no record was kept of the meeting that re- sulted from that call. However, it is evident that the Texas physicians and surgeons first organized in that year for, after the Civil War days and with reconstruction under way, in 1869 the Houston phy- sicians issued a state call for "re-organization." On April 15, 1869, twenty-eight physicians responded and as a result the first state meeting whose records have been preserved was held. Dr. T. J. Heard, of Galveston, was chosen president Dr. R. H. Jones, of Washington County, first vice-president; Dr. D. R. Wallace, of Waco, second vice-president; Dr. A. A. Connell, of Houston, recording secretary; Dr. W. P. Riddle, of Houston, corresponding secretary, and Dr. F. Hassenberg, of Houston, treasurer. Two days were consumed in these details of organization. At the second meeting, at Houston, Dr. R. T. Flewellen, of Houston, was chosen president, and Dr. D. R. Wallace became first vice-president. The third ses- sion, also at Houston, found an increased attendance and interest. Dr. Wallace, of Waco, was made presi- dent; he was a man of unusual executive ability and at once his influence for good was felt. Through him, the association was brought into closer relations

with the American Medical Association and Dr. S. O. Young was chosen as the first Texas delegate to the national body. He appointed various committees to do special work and report at the next annual con- vention.

The fourth session of the Texas Medical Associa- tion, meeting at Houston, elected Dr. D. F. Stuart, of Houston, as president; Dr. S. O. Young as record- ing secretary, and Dr. J. Larendon, also of Houston, as treasurer and this position Dr. Larendon retained for a quarter of a century. This meeting was April 15, 1872. It was then decided to abandon Houston as the permanent quarters. Waco was designated as the next meeting place. It has already been noted by the reader, perhaps, that the Texas Medical Association began as a Houston idea and was chiefly maintained by physicians and surgeons of that city and its immediate territory until its final success.

A great deal has been accomplished through the activities of the Medical Association. It has in many cases acted as a law making body for its own members, prescribing certain rules of ethics and standards of practise which its members were re- quired to adopt. Through the work of the Associa- tion many evils of the practise have been eliminated and evil practitioners barred from practising.

To trace the history of the Association from that fourth meeting to its present, would be to catalogue the accomplishment of much good for the people of Texas that could not have been achieved in any other form. Before the association was organized the state at one time came to be overrun with medi- cal quacks of every kind; there were no laws to re- strain them nor laws to protect the public and reput- able physicians. In 1871 the association began a crusade for laws of protection, first meeting with meager results but finally calling forth a state law, requiring every physician to register statement of where, when and at what school he graduated and to register his actual diploma. This shut out some but not all quacks as there were bogus schools just as bogus graduates. Finally the Texas Medical Association secured a law calling for a state board of examiners before which every physician then practicing had to appear for an examination. An- other noteworthy accomplishment was the law creat- ing the State Board of Health. The general state work of the association is greatly furthered and given dispatch by a division of the state into sub- divisions, as the East Texas Medical Association, the West Texas Association. Then, too, special in- terests have come to have their own organization, as the Railroad Surgeons' Association, etc. Space fails us to permit of mention of how disease epidemics of every kind have been eliminated, health departments established, even in county and city forms for the entire state, which in turn have aided materially in establishment of pure water supplies, special labora- tories over the country, etc.,-all of which have greatly reduced death rates and given a state-wide health. There are at present approximately 7,000 physicians and surgeons in the state of Texas, and 90 sanitariums with 125 hospitals and homes, and the Texas Medical Association never in so flourishing a condition.

HISTORY OF THE TEXAS BAR ASSOCIATION By CLAUDE POLLARD Ex-President

S INCE the dawn of civili- zation the government of the tribe, state, na- tion and empire has been di- rected and largely controlled through particular elements of society. Early Rome was effectively governed by the powerful patrician families, later fell under the rule of the emperors, and finally under the dominant spirit of militarism. Early England was governed by the feudal lords, later came under the domination of the House of Lords and is now controlled by the lower house of Parlia- ment. In the United States s.nce the Declaration of Independence, the lawyers have been the great controlling and directing in- fluence of the government. In Texas to the lawyers and to their organization, the Texas Bar Association is particularly deserving that tribute of Daniel Webster:

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New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 1, Part 6

Author: Davis, Ellis A. Publication date: 1926 Publisher: Dallas, Tex. : Texas development bureau, [1926?] Number of Pages: 1416

Author: Davis, Ellis A.
Publication date: 1926
Publisher: Dallas, Tex. : Texas development bureau, [1926?]
Number of Pages: 1416