Dallas, Texas, Wednesday.—Much serious thought has been given to the question of the future of Galveston by the best informed men of Dallas since the calamity of last Saturday and Sunday. The outlook, to their minds, is not a bright one. The expression of judgment most frequently heard is “Galveston is doomed.” Men reason that to the perils the population have ever to face from nature’s elements the timidity of capital must now be added.
In the great storm of 1875 little of private or public capital ran the risk of destruction. The great wharves, elevators, compresses and railway and steamship systems had taken but slight foothold in the island city. The federal government had built jetties and general harbor improvements and coast defences, at a cost of more than $10,000,000 of public money. All these millions of public and private wealth have been put into Galveston enterprises since 1875.
CAPITAL WILL BE SHY HEREAFTER.
Capitalists will scarcely venture again in the near future to invest their money in a place where it is likely to be wiped out at a ratio of from $5,000,000 to $10,000,000 to one equinoctial storm. And when the Federal Government contemplates costly brand new coast defence fortifications, such as Fort Sam Houston, shattered by wind and waves, and ninety per cent. of the garrison killed, it will not consider the place where these ventures were made a safe one for their duplication. A harbor to be safe must be land locked.
These are the views of thinking men who have studied the situation. The question then arises, What will supersede Galveston? Some predict that Houston, fifty miles in the interior, on Buffalo Bayou, through the agency of a ship canal built at the expense of the federal government, is the coming metropolis of the Gulf.
Others say Texas City, ten miles from Galveston, will now be developed as a grand maritime successor to the unfortunate island city. Others say Clinton, on Buffalo Bayou, six miles below Houston, because of its facilities to furnish water and rail terminals, will be the Texas seaport of the near future.
Very few expect unfortunate Galveston to rise again and reassert herself the mistress of the Gulf. A Galveston man illustrated the problem very aptly to-night, when he said:
“Fully one-half of the population of Galveston will never go back there to live if they be got off the island alive this time. My opinion is that Galveston has had her rise and fall.”
AUSTIN PREDICTS NO DESERTION OF THE CITY.
Austin, Texas, Wednesday.—In the first shadow of the awful calamity which has befallen Galveston the thought of many is that Galveston City will have to be removed to the mainland or deserted. Nevertheless, calmer opinion is that the city will not be moved. There are too many interests concerned, too much money invested and too many possibilities to think of moving the city.