Mr. Greeley's Letters from Texas and the Lower Mississippi by Horace Greeley - 1871: to which are added his address to the farmers of Texas

Horace Greeley. Mr. Greeley's Letters from Texas and the Lower Mississippi; to which are added his address to the farmers of Texas, and his speech on his return to New York, etc. New York: Tribune Office. 1871. First edition. Original printed wraps. 23 cm. 56 pp. Very good.

OCLC shows 39 holdings, 12 in Texas (Dallas Pub. Lib.; SMU; Baylor; Sam Houston St.; UT-Austin; Texas St. Lib. & Arch.; Houston Pub. Lib.; Rice Univ.; Univ. of Houston; UT-SA; San Antonio Pub. Lib.; & Corpus Christi Pub. Lib.) Rare today. Rare Book Hub shows no auction or catalog listings since 1959. Morrison, Nineteenth Century Texana shows one listing. Greeley, the editor, and supposed source of "Go West young man" quote, visited Texas and this promotional effort has a number of articles or speeches with his observations on the state, which include the following, for example:

"Whether it be a recommendation or not, I judge that it has required less effort to live in Texas than in any other State of the Union. The common saying, "It costs no more to rear a cow here than a hen at the North," is literally true. The cow was never fed, never sheltered, no matter how cold or stormy the weather; and you might have ten thousand head of cattle ranging the prairies and openings without owning an acre of land on earth. Many a man has grown rich without effort and almost without thought."

Working cowboys might question this assessment of the ease of making money "without effort" in the range cattle business. He does discuss some of the drawbacks of frontier life, especially for ranch women:

"His children grew up unschooled and rude-mannered. His wife was slatternly, deprived of society, and rendered unhappy by memories of better times and more congenial associations. … Woman, being confined to her small, rough cabin, found no solace, no comfort, but in her children. … There are proud and happy wives in Texas, as elsewhere, but the rancher's life has not tended to make them so."

It also has a section on the bright future that will be brought by the extension of the railroads to the state. A great Texas booster production, seldom seen in commerce.