Texas

Forest Products.

In 1932 Texas ranked sixth among the States in lumber production. Between 1922-27 production varied between 1,500,000,00o and 1,600,000,00o bd.ft. annually and the annual value of output was between $50,000,000 and $55,000, 000. In addition to the regular lumber cut an additional 400,000, 000 ft. was annually taken for railway ties, telephone and tele graph poles, fence posts, etc. Beginning in 1930, the lumber cut slumped sharply; it was 405,000,000 bd.ft. in 1932. The commer cial lumber output comes almost entirely from the heavier for ested areas in the eastern 25 or 3o counties. About 90% is yellow pine. The only other soft wood of importance was cypress. About 200,000,000 bd.ft. of hardwood lumber is cut annually, the chief varieties being oak and tupelo. There is some turpentine and rosin production from the long-leaf pine section in the south-east. The rate of cut in Texas was very heavy compared with the total timber resources of the State. Surveys estimated about 14,020, 000,00o bd.ft. of pine and about 2,790,000,000 bd.ft. of hardwood still standing in 1932, compared with 17,000,000,000 and 7,500, 000,000 bd.ft., respectively, in 1927. The area of virgin pine was but 500,00o ac. compared with an original area of 14,000,00o acres. There are no national forests in the State, and State action toward conservation was slow in commencing, the first purchase of tracts for reforestation taking place in 1923.

Manufactures.

The gross values of Texas manufactures reached $1,450,246,000 in 1929, but declined to $845,217,000 in 1931. The value actually added by the various manufacturing processes was $331,740,000 in in 1929, and in 1931. In 1931 there were 4,326 establishments employing an average of 94,867 wage-earners and paying $99,061, 000 in wages. The industries are almost entirely those which use as raw material the mineral, agricultural and forest products of the State. The advantages of Texas for manufacturing are that an abundance of raw materials exists at hand, petroleum, natural gas and coal furnish cheap and unlimited fuel, and living costs are low. Lack of capital has been the chief deterrent. The leading indus tries in 1931 follow:— Manufacturing cities of the first class were Dallas, Houston, Fort Worth and San Antonio. Those of the second class were El Paso, Texarkana, Beaumont and Galveston.

Commerce and Transportation.

Texas ranked as the chief exporting State in the Union on a tonnage basis in 1934. In that year exports from Texas Gulf and Mexican border ports ac counted for over 18-5% by weight and 18% by value of the total exports of the United States. The total tonnage handled by Texas Gulf ports in 1920, including foreign, coastwise, intracoastal, and local, amounted to 23,922,000 short tons. In 1926 this tonnage had increased to 39,253,000 and in 1934 to 55,032,997. Cotton has traditionally held first place in Texas exports, amounting in value to more than half of the total shipments. In 1934 cotton exports

through the Texas Gulf ports were valued at $222,793,000; petroleum and petroleum products, $75,424,892. Exports of all other commodities amounted to $86,311,062, the most important items being oil-well supplies, wheat and wheat flour, lard, rice flour and broken rice, cottonseed meal and cake, scrap iron, as phalt, carbon black, canned goods, fresh fruits, etc. In also, the Texas ports exported 78.3%, by weight, of all the sul phur exported from the United States; 60-7% of the cotton; 56.3% of the ores, metals and their manufactures; 39.9% of the petroleum and petroleum products; and 16.2% of the rice. About 9o% of Texas exports represent commodities produced or manufactured in the State. The interior harbours of the Texas coast line offer excellent advantages once the outlying bars are penetrated. It is usually necessary to dredge through the bars and often in the harbours themselves to make them deep enough for ocean vessels. Galveston is the oldest and the chief port. Its dock and terminal facilities are well built up. In 1934 it exported 726,812 tons, valued at $111,687,632. The port of Houston has shown more rapid development than any other in recent years. It is situated about 6o m. from the Gulf but is served by the Hous ton ship canal, large enough for ocean vessels, which was opened in 1920. The total tonnage of this port increased from in 1920 to 55,032,997 in 1934. The value of overseas exports fell from $337,906,140 in 1928 to $142,373,915 in 1934. Corpus Christi is the latest addition to the deep water ports of Texas, the year 1927 witnessing the first heavy traffic since the completion of a channel through Corpus Christi bay and Aransas pass to the Gulf. It is the chief port for all of southern Texas. In 1934 ex ports through Corpus Christi were 224,342 tons, valued at $27, 773,626. The other important ports are Texas City, Port Arthur, Beaumont, Orange and Freeport. There is some trade across the Mexican border, principally at Brownsville, Laredo, Eagle Pass, Presidio and El Paso.

There were 17,198 m. of main line railway track in Texas at the opening of the year 1933. From 1915 to 1924 there was almost no construction, due first to the World War and afterwards to the general depression which prevailed in all industries. From 1925 to the end of 1931 there was considerable construction amounting to nearly 20o m. annually, more than in any other State. A part of the construction was into new oil-fields, especially north of Ama rillo, but the greater part was but a carrying on of programmes of development by the larger railways which had been interrupted by the World War. Most of the construction was in the northern. Panhandle, in the region bordering New Mexico, in the Trans Pecos province and in the lower valley of the Rio Grande.