The Texas Almanac for 1873, and Emigrant's Guide to Texas Page: 105
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TEXAS BUREAU OF IMMIGRATION. 105
Nor is this the only way in which they perform the duties demanded from
them by the people. Several organizations for the purpose of settling in
colonies in our State have been formed, under the auspices and by the direct
efforts and aid of the Commissioners. Col. Lippard has given much of his
time and valuable aid for colonists to Texas, that have formed in Missouri,
Ohio, Indiana. Illinois, and other southwestern States, as well as General W.
H. Parsons in New York and vicinity. Several of these colonies are already
located and have formed flourihing little villages, among which I name
only one, called Phillipsburg, in Robertson county, along the line of the In-
ternational railway. Other colonists are now on their way to Texas, "the
land of promise," and the journals of the northeastern portion of our State
speak almost every week of trains of immigrants, some comprising three
hundred wagons each, that enter our State through the Indian Territory, and
settle along the surveyed route of the Texas Pacific railway.
Believing in the words "by their fruits shall ye know them," Col. J. H.
Lippard has on several occasions shown in St. Louis, where he has his head-
quarters, both "on 'change" and at the Chamber of Commerce, produce
grain, fruits, etc., raised in Texas; also minerals from the Lone Star State,
and created an immense interest among men of means in favor of our State,
and opened the eyes of many who formerly turned their heads whenever
Texas was the topic of conversation.
If our Texans could only see one half of the letters received by this Bureau
and look into the answers given to them, I assure them that the greater por-
tion would be dumbfounded to remark how circumspect the answers have
to be to some. If ever a State came close to the land described in Gulliver's
Travels, it must be Texas, such are the ideas about her. To some it swarmed
with ferocious Indians; to others it was a waste, insecure country, where
mob rule and lawlessness were the order; and again others asked if we had
any schools, churches, or even dwelling houses, etc. All these erroneous
ideas, based upon false, insufficient, or malicious and intentional misrepre-
sentations, had to be refuted and corrected by logical explanations and proofs,
and at the same time a strict adherence to the truth and actual facts had to
be observed. From a letter of the agent in England, it appears that the
rural population of that chalky country had some original ideas in regard to
Texas, for he says "that people there are told that Texas is an awful place,
the people have to work at night on account of the excessive heat in day
time, and the flying snakes, which have a special liking to bite Englishmen."
Now this would really be laughable for all well informed persons who know
very well that Texas is really healthier than New York State, and that a
death from sunstroke is one of the seven wonders in Texas, while the same
fatality from excessive heat often swells the mortuary report of our Ameri-
can metropolis, New York city, by hundreds every summer, and that we have
but few poisonous snakes or dangerous reptiles of any kind, and none at all
that can fly. But the simple fact of such stories being circulated shows with
what sort of prejudice and stupidity, and with what gross falsehoods of evil
disposed persons this Bureau has to battle. Our progress, therefore, must
necessarily be slow. To eradicate a false impression is harder than to make
a correct one, and when we reflect upon the condition of the European laborer
at the present date, and the anxiety of their employers to retain them in their
service, it will become evident that we have in fact to educate the European
laborer to make him feel his present dependent condition and sufferings in
his old home, in order to awaken a desire to change it for one better adapted
to secure his happiness. The daily increasing facilities for fast and cheap
transportation by rail in our State; the discovery of boundless acres under
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The Texas Almanac for 1873, and Emigrant's Guide to Texas, book, 1873~; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth123778/m1/107/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.