Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 09.djvu/378

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TEXAS
324
TEXTILE MANUFACTURING

Presbyterian; Presbyterian, South; Lutheran, General Council; Protestant Episcopal; and Primitive Baptist.

State Government.—The Governor is elected for a term of two years. Legislative sessions are held biennially and are unlimited in length. The Legislature consists of two houses, the Senate composed of 31 members and the House of 142 members. There are 18 Representatives in Congress.

History.—The first settlement in Texas was made at Taleta by the Spanish in 1682, 12 miles north of the present El Paso. It afterward in conjunction with Coahuila became one of the States of the Mexican Confederation. Several colonies of American citizens, invited by the Mexicans, settled in the central and E. section, and gradually increased in numbers. When Santa Ana overthrew the federal system Zacatecas rebelled but was soon subdued. Texas then revolted from the Mexican government, and in 1836 declared itself independent. Santa Ana attempted to reduce it, but failed, being himself beaten and taken prisoner at the battle of San Jacinto by General Houston. Texas now managed its own affairs as an independent republic, till 1845, when it became one of the United States, and thus gave rise to the war which proved disastrous to Mexico. It joined the Confederates during the Civil War, and was the last to submit. It was under military control till 1870, when it was restored to the Union.

TEXAS, UNIVERSITY OF, a coeducational non-sectarian institution in Austin, Tex.; founded in 1883; reported at the close of 1920: Professors and instructors, 250; students, 4,478; volumes in the library, 35,000; president, R. E. Vinson.

TEXEL, an island belonging to the province of North Holland, at the entrance to the Zuider Zee. It is separated from the mainland by a narrow strait, called the Marsdiep, contains about 35,000 acres of arable and pasture lands, and has a population of about 6,500 inhabitants, who keep some 35,000 sheep, famous both for their wool and their cheese. The Marsdiep channel or part of it is also often called the Texel; and here or hereabouts many important naval battles have been fought. Blake defeated Tromp and De Ruyter in 1653; Prince Rupert fought De Ruyter in 1673; Duncan blockaded the Texel (for a time with a single ship) in 1797; and a Dutch fleet of 12 ships of war and 13 Indiamen surrendered to Admiral Mitchell in 1794.

TEXTILE MANUFACTURING. Those manufactures in the industrial field comprise the production from raw materials of silk, cotton, wool, flax, jute and hemp, as well as knit goods, including hosiery, with laces, embroideries and braids, with their accessories. The industry has grown in recent times to enormous dimensions. The Census Reports of 1910 show an increase of 74.4 per cent in the capital invested in the first decade of the present century, over the last decade of the last century; and 79.2 per cent increase in the annual value of the products manufactured. It is shown moreover that despite the increased quantitative production by improved machinery the increase in the number of workers in the textile industries in each decade has exceeded the growth in population since 1860. An idea of the growth of the several industries forming parts of the group is also conveyed by the statistics relating to the consumption of raw materials. Except during the decade in the southern states in which the Civil War was fought there has been a steady increase in the amount of cotton used. The amount of wool used during the two decades preceding 1880 showed an increase of 300 per cent. A like increase would probably have had to be recorded in respect to cotton during the same period had the conditions been unsettled. But no sooner had the effects of the Civil War begun to be dissolved than cotton took an upward trend. During the three decades preceding 1910 the consumption of cotton steadily increased and the figures point to a striking development in the cotton manufacturing industry of the South. The Crop Estimating Board of the United States Department of Agriculture on December 11, 1919, estimated the cotton crop of the United States for 1919 at 11,030,000 bales of 500 pounds each. This estimate indicated a small crop, representing a reduction of nearly 15 per cent from the five-year average of 1913-1917. The area planted was 32,390,000 acres, a reduction of 2,940,000 acres below the average of 1910-1914. The farm value of the crop and lint was estimated at $2,332,913,000, based on the prices prevailing on Dec. 1, 1919, which is perhaps the most valuable crop produced in the United States. The world's production of cotton exclusive of linters in 1918 was, according to the Bureau of Census, 17,769,000 bales of 500 pounds net, and the consumption for the year ending July 31, 1919, was approximately 15,970,000 bales. In 1919 the resources of the textile industries were called upon to meet unprecedented demands owing to the shortage produced