Texas Almanac, 1941-1942 Page: 94

94 TEXAS ALMANAC -1941-42.

Army. In the Reconstruction period, the
Rangers were reorganized as the state police
during the administration of Gov. E J Davis,
and were used to enforce carpet-bagger laws
many of which were unpopular with Texas
citizens. The state police was abandoned
with the overthrow of the Reconstruction
government.
Davis' State Police.
In 1874, the state police body was succeed-
ed by two organizations of Rangers. One.
known as the Special Force of Rangers put
down banditry on the Rio Grande. A larger
body, officially called for some time the
Frontier Battalion, was made up of mobile
companies used wherever needed Indian
raiders in Northwest Texas, cattle thieves
on the Rio Grande and train robbers oper-
ating out of Denton County kept these Rang-
ers especially busy during the remainder of
the decade.
In 1877, the Rangers restored order in the
westernmost part of Texas after the El Paso
Salt War-resulting from a dispute over the
removal of salt from salt lakes near the
Guadalupe Mountains-had led to the killing
of a number of citizens. One of the most
celebrated exploits of the Rangers came in
the following year, with the killing of Sam
Bass and several members of his train rob-
ber band at Round Rock.
After Passing of Frontier.
In the following decade, the Rangers con-
tinued to catch cattle thieves and also oper-

ated against fence-cutters, in the conflict
between cattlemen and farmers.
By this time, the frontier had almost dis-
appeared, and the activities of the Rangers
were directed not so much against Indians
and Mexicans as against outlaws of their own
race. This gradual change made the service
distasteful to many who had fought courage-
ously on the frontier. It also tended to lessen
the popularity of the Rangers, especially
since more and more of the counties were
organized and many Sheriffs resented the
invasion of their territory by outside--and
sometimes uninvited-forces. Following the
World War, use of the Rangers to enforce
liquor prohibition also made the organization
less popular in some quarters.
Following the World War, the Ranger
force was allowed to dwindle and often was
tampered with by politics. In 1935, however,
the Rangers were reorganized and, with the
State Highway Patrol, were placed under a
new Department of Public Safety. Provision
was made for the adoption of modern meth-
ods of detecting crime.
The Texas Rangers today comprise one di-
vision of the State Department of Public
Safety. The present force consists of four
captains, one sergeant, twenty-five privates
and five investigators. The Texas Rangers
are charged with the enforcement of laws
governing major crimes, riots and insurrec-
tions, while the Highway Patrol, another di-
vision of the department, has as its primary
function, the enforcement of traffic and
safety laws.

POPULATION OF TEXAS.

The population of Texas was 6,414,824
on April 1, 1940, date of the sixteenth
decennial census of the Federal Govern-
ment. This represented an increase of
590,109, or 10.1 per cent, over the popu-
lation of 5,824,715 in 1930. At the same
time, the United States (continental)
had a population of 131,669,275 which
was an increase of 8,894,229, or 7.2 per
cent, over the population of 122,775,046
in 1930. Thus, Texas showed a greater
percentage of gain in population in 1940
than the country as a whole, though it
was the smallest percentage in the his-
tory of the state. (See table, Texas
Population 1744-1940.) Texas has 4.87
per cent of the population of continental
United States.
Texas dropped from fifth to sixth rank
in population between 1930 and 1940 cen-
sus enumerations, being passed by Cali-
fornia which rose from sixth to fifth.
Other states ahead of Texas in order of
rank in 1940 were New York, Pennsyl-
vania, Illinois and Ohio.
Of the 254 counties of Texas, 134
gained in population during the 1930-
1940 interval, 119 counties lost, and one
county (San Augustine) had the same
population in 1940 that it had in 1930.
ere were forty-four cities of 10,000 or
more population each, as against only
thirty-five in 1930. Of these forty-four
cities, thirty-eight increased in popula-
tion.
Outlook for Future Expansion.
While the population increase of Texas
during the 1930-1940 decennium was the
smallest in history, it does not mean that

Texas has passed the peak of its popula-
tion expansion. The nation-wide and
world-wide economic and social disturb-
ances of the period profoundly affected
Texas' development, as it did practically
all states and nations. The huge sur-
pluses of agricultural products and stag-
nant markets that existed during most
of this period stopped the expansion of
most of the agricultural industries which
had contributed materially to the in-
crease in Texas' population during each
preceding census interval. By causing
stagnation in the industrial centers of
the North and East, the economic de-
pression partly stopped the decentraliza-
tion of the nation's industries that, dur-
ing the preceding decade, had contrib-
uted to Texas' development. As else-
where, the depression causd a decline in
the birth rate.
During the preceding census interval,
there had been a large movement of
Mexican population into Texas to meet
the labor demands of an expanding agri-
cultural industry in West and South
Texas. Contraction of cotton acreage
during 1930-1940 stopped this immigra-
tion. While this immigration of 1920-
1930 (legal and illegal) probably repre-
sented an accumulation of a social prob-
lem more than anything else, it did nev-
ertheless add appreciably to the statisti-
cal record of Texas' population increase.
However, there are no good reasons
for assuming that the slow population
growth of Texas during 1930-1940 was
due to no other than temporary causes.
While it is predicted by some authorities
that the population of the United States