Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Texas Rangers are a small body of special State police, consisting of a very reduced
number of men who are picked for their upright character and bravery, and the spotless record
and the tradition of this small but highly-efficient force has been kept up to this day.
In former days the Texas Rangers were a mounted force, as the 'Red Police' or the Ca-
nadian Mounted is still today, but with the fencing in of fields and the coming of concrete
highways, automobiles are now used to 'range' about. I had the pleasure of covering many
miles in their company, all the rangers being dressed like any other citizens. They are fre-
quently represented as men wearing the traditional cowboy costume, and who are supposed to
be mounted on circus-trained bucking horses, but he who expects to find them so would be
rather disappointed, for I doubt as to whether all of them are at home in the saddle today.
San Antonio, Fort Worth and Dallas are the largest cities I visited in Texas, and there for
thefirsttimeIreallyfeltthedynamicandassimilating spiritofAmerica.Architectural masses
risehighintotheskywhereonlyyesterdayIndianscamped,andbeautifulcountryhomesstand
among carefully and scientifically cultivated fields that a few generations back were the graz-
ing grounds of herds of scraggy long-horned cattle.
I had a glaring example of how the prohibition law is not enforced in some cases, when a
certain wealthy landowner, and well-known figure in athletic-promoting circles turned up at a
public show very drunk, and sitting where the enormous crowd could see him, pulled a bottle
ofwhiskyoutofhisovercoat,anddrankuntilhefelloffhisseat.Theauthoritieswhosawhim
did not move until he had whipped out a revolver and fired two shots that might have hit any-
body. Even when he was disarmed he continued the public scandal and threatened the police,
andafterhehadignoredtwosummonsestoappearatcourt,hewasfinallyfinedtothecolossal
tune of $1! I wonder what would have happened if any other man had been discovered taking
a quick drink out of his hip flask?
Some of the country stores in Texas bear strange and humorous advertising inscriptions,
among the best I have seen being:
BROWN'S STORE - 'Anything from a rat-skin to a ranch' and,
JONES' STORE - 'Anything from a cradle to a tomb stone,'
and I believe they were not exaggerating. These country stores much resemble the Argen-
tine almacenes, where almost anything from white elephants to guitar strings can be obtained.
The Southern accent is as different from the northern as a Scotch 'hielander's' is to a Lon-
don cockney's, and I noticed that no love is lost between the North and the South. In a mule
barn where I had stabled the horses I heard an argument between some old Texans and a New
Yorker who was touring the South.
Although it was cold at the time the latter wore a kind of Harold Lloyd straw hat, horn-
rimmed spectacles, and bell-bottomed trousers. He was criticising the Texans' way of dress-
ing, their bad English, etc., and when the argument became so heated that I thought they were
