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 The Practice of Voting 80
Voter Turnout in the United States and
in Texas 82
Reasons for Low Voter Turnout in Texas 85
Types of Elections in Texas 90
Primary Elections 90
Who Must Hold a Primary? 90
Financing Primaries 91
General Elections 93
Special Elections 96
The Conduct and Administration of
Elections 96
County-Level Administration 96
Ballot Construction 97
Counting and Recounting Ballots 100
Electronic Voting 101
Election Campaigns in Texas: Strategies,
Resources, and Results 101
The General Election Campaign 102
Money in Election Campaigns 104
Who Gets Elected 107
Applying What You Have Learned about
Voting and Elections in Texas 108
Everything’s Bigger in Texas, with a Twist of Red
by Luke Macias 108
CHAPTER 5
Political Parties 112
Characteristics of American Political
Parties 113
Two-Party System 113
Pragmatism 114
Decentralization 115
The Development of the Texas Party
System 115
The One-Party Tradition in Texas 115
Ideological Factions in America and Texas 116
Conservatives, Liberals, and Texas
Democrats 117
The Rise of the Republican Party 119
Conservatives and Moderates and Texas
Republicans 124
The Organization of Texas Political
Parties 127
Temporary Party Organization 128
Permanent Party Organization 130
The Functions of Political Parties 131
The Party in the Electorate 131
The Party as Organization 131
The Party in Government 131
Applying What You Have Learned about
Texas Political Parties 133
One Face of the Texas Tea Party
by Julie McCarty 133
CHAPTER 6
Interest Groups 138
Types of Interest Groups 139
Economic Groups 139
Noneconomic Groups 139
Mixed Groups 140
Interest Groups’ Targets and Tactics 141
Lobbying the Legislature 142
Influencing the Executive Branch 144
Targeting the Rule-Making Process 144
Targeting the Courts 147
Shaping the Political Environment 148
The Balance of Political Power 151
Texas’s Most Powerful Interest Groups 151
A Tale of Two Lobbying Efforts:
Tesla vs. TADA 152
Interest Group Alliances and the Dynamics
of Power 154
Sizing Up Interest Groups and Their
Influence 155
The Positive Role of Interest Groups 155
Criticisms and Reforms 156
The Regulation of Lobbying 159
Ethics and Lobbying Reform Efforts
in 2015 161
Applying What You Have Learned about
Interest Groups 162
The Practice of Environmental Lobbying
by Luke Metzger 162
CHAPTER 7
The Legislature 166
The Limited Legislature 167
Legislative Terms and Sessions 167
Legislative Salaries and Compensation 169
Legislative Staff 169
Detailed Contents vii
 Electing Legislators 171 Bureaucratic Accountability 229
Qualifications 171 Accountability to the People 229
Geographic Districting 174 Accountability to the Legislature 229
Powers of the Legislature and Its Accountability to the Chief Executive 230
Leaders 180 Bureaucratic Responsibility 230
Powers of the Presiding Officers 180 Applying What You Have Learned about
Powers of the Legislature 181 the Texas Executive Branch 231
The Legislative Process 184 The Texas Executive Branch: Does it run you,
The Legislative Committees 185 or do you run it? by Drew DeBerry 231
Scheduling 187
Floor Action 188 CHAPTER 9
Conference Committees 190 The Judiciary 236
How a Bill Becomes a Law 191 Legal Cases and Jurisdiction 237
Applying What You Have Learned about the Civil and Criminal Cases 237
Texas Legislature 193
Original and Appellate Jurisdiction 238
On Being a State Legislator: A View from the
Inside by José Rodríguez 194
Court Organization 239
Municipal Courts 239
Justices of the Peace 239
CHAPTER 8 County Courts 242
The Executive 198 District Courts 243
The Governor’s Office: Qualifications, Tenure, Courts of Appeals 244
and Staff 199
Court of Criminal Appeals 244
Qualifications and Elections 199
Supreme Court 246
Tenure, Removal, Succession, and
Juries 247
Compensation 200
Grand Jury 247
Staff 201
Petit (Trial) Jury 248
The Governor’s Powers of Persuasion 203
Selection of Judges 249
The Governor as Chief of State 203
The Politics of Judicial Selection
Governor as Party Chief 204
in Texas 251
Legislative Tools of Persuasion 204
Ethnic/Racial and Gender Diversity 255
The Governor as Chief Executive 208
Applying What You Have Learned about
The Texas Administration 212 Texas Courts 256
Elected Executives and the Plural Executive Choosing Judges: My View from the Inside
System 212 by Wallace B. Jefferson 256
Appointed Executives 215
Boards and Commissions 217
Characteristics of Bureaucracy 218
CHAPTER 10
The Bureaucracy, Politics, and Public Law and Due Process 260
Policy 225 Civil Law 261
Clientele Groups 225 Types of Civil Law 261
Public Policy and the Iron Texas Star 226 Issues in Civil Law 263
The Legislature, the Lieutenant Governor, The Elements of Crime 265
and the Speaker 228 The Crime 265
The Control of Information 228 The Criminal 266
Administration of the Law 228 The Victim 269

viii Detailed Contents

The Due Process of Law 270
The Search 270
The Arrest 272
The Arraignment 272
The Grand Jury and Pretrial Activity 274
The Trial 275
The Post-Trial Proceedings 277
The Special Case of Juveniles 278
Rehabilitation and Punishment 278
Felony Punishment 278
Misdemeanor Punishment 279
Evaluating Punishment and Rehabilitation
Policies 280
Sizing Up the Death Penalty
Debate 282
Applying What You Have Learned about
Law and Due Process 283
Marijuana Policy Reform in Texas
by Phillip Martin 284
CHAPTER 11
Local Government 288
Municipalities 289
General Law and Home Rule Cities 290
Forms of Municipal Government 291
Municipal Election Systems 294
Revenue Sources and Limitations 296
Municipalities: Issues, Trends, and
Controversies 298
Counties 301
Functions of Counties 302
Counties: Issues, Trends, and
Controversies 304
Special District Governments 306
Reasons for Creating Special District
Governments 307
Special Districts: Issues, Trends, and
Controversies 308
Councils of Governments 309
Councils of Governments (COGs) 309
Applying What You Have Learned about
Local Government 309
A View from Inside County Government
by Veronica Escobar 310
CHAPTER 12
Public Policy in Texas 314
Revenues 315
Taxation 316
The Politics of Taxation 317
Other Revenues 323
State Spending 325
The Appropriations Process 325
The Politics of State Spending 325
Education 326
Elementary and Secondary Schools 326
The Politics of Public Education 329
Higher Education 333
The Politics of Higher Education 334
Health and Human Services 338
Health Programs 338
Income Support Programs 342
The Politics of Welfare and Income
Redistribution 343
Transportation 344
Highway Programs 345
The Politics of Transportation 345
Applying What You Have Learned about
Public Policy Issues 347
The Practical Politics of Texas’s Budget
by Eva DeLuna Castro 348
Notes 353
Glossary 363
Index 371
Detailed Contents ix
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State Learning Outcomes
Texas Politics Today helps you meet the State Learning Outcomes for GOVT2306:
1. Explain the origin and development of the Texas
constitution.
2. Demonstrate an understanding of state and local
political systems and their relationship with the
federal government.
3. Describe separation of powers and checks and
balances in both theory and practice in Texas.
4. Demonstrate knowledge of the legislative, executive,
and judicial branches of Texas government.
5. Evaluate the role of public opinion, interest groups,
and political parties in Texas.
6. Analyze the state and local election process.
7. Describe the rights and responsibilities of citizens.
8. Analyze issues, policies, and political culture of Texas.

Chapter GOVT 2306 State Learning Outcomes (SLO)

1: Texas Culture SLO 8 Analyze issues, policies, and political culture of Texas.
and Diversity SLO 7 Describe the rights and responsibilities of citizens.
SLO 5 Evaluate the role of public opinion, interest groups, and political parties in Texas.

2: Texas in the SLO 2 Demonstrate an understanding of state and local political systems and their relationship
Federal System with the federal government.
SLO 7 Describe the rights and responsibilities of citizens.

3: The Texas SLO 1 Explain the origin and development of the Texas constitution.
Constitution SLO 3 Describe separation of powers and checks and balances in both theory and practice
in Perspective in Texas.
SLO 7 Describe the rights and responsibilities of citizens.

4: Voting and SLO 6 Analyze the state and local election process.
Elections SLO 7 Describe the rights and responsibilities of citizens.

5: Political Parties SLO 5 Evaluate the role of public opinion, interest groups, and political parties in Texas.

6: Interest Groups SLO 5 Evaluate the role of public opinion, interest groups, and political parties in Texas.

7: The Legislature SLO 4 Demonstrate knowledge of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of Texas
government.

8: The Executive SLO 4 Demonstrate knowledge of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of Texas
government.

9: The Judiciary SLO 4 Demonstrate knowledge of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of Texas
government.

10: Law and Due SLO 7 Describe the rights and responsibilities of citizens.
Process SLO 4 Demonstrate knowledge of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of Texas
government.
SLO 8 Analyze issues, policies, and political culture of Texas.

11: Local SLO 2 Demonstrate an understanding of state and local political systems and their relationship
Government with the federal government.
SLO 6 Analyze the state and local election process.
SLO 8 Analyze issues, policies, and political culture of Texas.

12: Public Policy SLO 8 Analyze issues, policies, and political culture of Texas.

xi
 Letter to Instructors
Dear Texas Government Instructors:
You may be familiar with previous editions of Texas Politics Today, as it has served as the stan-
dard text for the introductory Texas government course for many years. As in the past, we have
focused exclusively on state learning outcomes and core objectives. Each chapter learning
objective is targeted to help students achieve one or more of these learning outcomes, and
we have explicitly organized each chapter to help students use higher-order thinking to master
these objectives. We link each major chapter heading to one of the chapter objectives and
recap how the student should achieve those objectives in both the new chapter summaries and
review questions.
We have put together a strategy for meeting core objectives—each photo, figure, screen-
shot, boxed feature, essay, and project-centered Get Active feature prompts students to
engage in critical thinking, develop communication skills, evaluate social responsibility, and
reflect on their own sense of personal responsibility. Each of these exercises is designated by
icons throughout the text:

★ CTQ Critical Thinking Questions

★ CSQ Communications Skills Questions

★ SRQ Social Responsibility Questions

★ PRQ Personal Responsibility Questions

New to This Edition

• Chapters about elections, parties, and interest groups focus on the ideals of democracy and
challenge students to evaluate whether these ideals are realized in practice.
• A streamlined chapter about the Texas Legislature invites students to evaluate the role
legislators play in representing Texans inside and outside of the State Capitol.
• We have provided expanded coverage of ideology and social policies related to marijuana,
abortion, immigration, and firearms, among others.
• We have included expanded coverage of tea party politics and Republican Party factionalism
as well as the latest 2016 election data throughout.
• Chapters 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, and 11 feature expanded coverage of the effects of the state’s
demographic changes and the rising importance of Latinos in the future of Texas politics.
• Enhanced visuals include new intuitive graphics to illustrate federalism, ballot organization,
political party structures, interest group tactics, the plural executive system, the governor’s
appointive powers, and the forms of municipal government. New easy-to-follow process-
oriented charts take students step by step through the dynamics of the constitutional
amendment, legislative, electoral, and criminal justice processes.
• The role of social and digital media in Texas politics is discussed and illustrated in every
chapter throughout the text.
• We have called upon our resources among a wide range of officeholders and political
activists to write exclusive new Politics in Practice features. These features conclude each
chapter with a specific and fully developed exercise to close the gap between the theoretical
xii
 themes and the actual practice of Texas politics; they put a face on the political system
and give students a glimpse of how it operates from an insider’s viewpoint. Because our
essayists are political practitioners who often view their role in the political system from a
policy perspective, we have balanced the liberal and conservative viewpoints and developed
critical thinking questions to prompt students to probe political and policy alternatives.
We have included essays from the governor and his staff, legislators, lobbyists, analysts,
campaign consultants, political activists, and local officials.
• Updated and targeted Texas Insiders and How Does Texas Compare boxes are visually
distinct and provide the reader with an uninterrupted flow through the text.
• Each chapter ends with new Think Critically and Get Active projects that support purpose-
driven activities and introspection to close the gap between theory and practice in the state
and local political systems.
• Pedagogy links to targeted objectives throughout the chapter and delivers to students a
cohesive learning experience.

MindTap: Your Course Stimulus Package

For the instructor, MindTap is here to simplify your workload, organize and immediately grade
your students’ assignments, and allow you to customize your course as you see fit. Through
deep-seated integration with your Learning Management System, grades are easily exported
and analytics are pulled with just the click of a button. MindTap provides you with a platform to
easily add in current events videos and RSS feeds from national or local news sources. Looking
to include more currency in the course? Add in our KnowNow American Government Blog link
for weekly updated news coverage and pedagogy. We hope these compelling new features will
benefit your students as they experience Texas politics today. Please contact us personally to
let us know how this text works for you.

Sincerely,
Mark P. Jones: mpjones@rice.edu
William E. Maxwell: willmaxwell@att.net
Ernest Crain: ernestcrain@hotmail.com
Morhea Lynn Davis: salas15@epcc.edu
Christopher Wlezien: wlezien@austin.utexas.edu
Elizabeth N. Flores: eflores@delmar.edu

Letter to Instructors xiii

 Letter to Our Students
Dear Student:
Americans in general, and perhaps Texans more than most, are apathetic and disillusioned
about politics. Government seems so big, so remote, so baffling that many people have a sense
of powerlessness. Now you have an opportunity to do something about this. Texas Politics
Today explores Texas government, its background, the rules of the political game, and the
political players who make the most important decisions in Texas. The text plainly explains
public policy, why it is made, and who benefits from it. The book shows you how to think about
yourself in the political universe, how to explore your own political values and ethics, and how
to make a difference.
However, we know that you probably did not enroll in this course to achieve some kind of
altruistic or idealistic goal, but to get credit for a course required for your degree plan. And
we know that most of you are not political science majors. So we have written this book to be
a reader-friendly guide to passing your tests and a hassle-free tool for learning about Texas
government and politics.
Here are some tips on how you can exploit student-centered learning aids to help you make
the grade:
• Target your focus on the learning objectives that open each chapter. Each chapter is
organized around them, and your instructor will use them to track your progress in the
course. Bulleted chapter summaries give you a recap of how the chapter handles these
objectives, and review questions help you break the larger chapter objectives into
manageable themes that you should understand as you prepare for exams.
• Zero in on the key terms defined in the margins and listed at the end of each chapter. These
are the basic concepts that you need to use to understand Texas politics today.
• Go behind the scenes with the Texas Insiders features to see who influences policy making
in Texas. These features put a face on the most powerful Texans and help you close the gap
between theory and practice in Texas politics.
• Put Texas in perspective with the How Does Texas Compare? features. These features invite
you to engage in critical thinking and to debate the pros and cons of the distinct political
institutions and public policies in force across the 50 states.
• View Texas politics from the inside with the Politics in Practice features, and compare the
theory and reality of the state political system.
• Link to the websites in the Think Critically and Get Active! features to explore current
issues, evaluate data, and draw your own conclusions about the Texas political scene.
• Take advantage of carefully written photo, figure, and table captions that point you to major
takeaways from the visuals. These visuals provide you with critical analysis questions to help
you get started thinking about Texas politics.
• Use the digital media highlights to become an active part of the Texas political scene and
help define the state’s political future.

The Benefits of Using MindTap as a Student

For the student, the benefits of using MindTap with this book are endless. With automati-
cally graded practice quizzes and activities, an easily navigated learning path, and an interac-
tive ebook, you will be able to test yourself inside and outside of the classroom with ease.
The accessibility of current events coupled with interactive media makes the content fun and
xiv
engaging. On your computer, phone, or tablet, MindTap is there when you need it, giving you
easy access to flashcards, quizzes, readings, and assignments.
You are a political animal—human beings are political by their very nature. You and other
intelligent, well-meaning Texans may strongly disagree about public policies, and Texas Politics
Today is your invitation to join the dynamic conversation about politics in the Lone Star State.
We hope that this book’s fact-based discussion of recent high-profile, and often controversial,
issues will engage your interest and that its explanation of the ongoing principles of Texas poli-
tics will help you understand the role you can play in the Texas political system.

Sincerely,
Mark P. Jones: mpjones@rice.edu
William E. Maxwell: willmaxwell@att.net
Ernest Crain: ernestcrain@hotmail.com
Morhea Lynn Davis: lsalas15@epcc.edu
Christopher Wlezien: wlezien@austin.utexas.edu
Elizabeth N. Flores: eflores@delmar.edu

Letter to Our Students xv

 Resources
STUDENTS
Access your Texas Politics Today resources by visiting
www.cengagebrain.com/shop/isbn/9781305952188.
If you purchased MindTap access with your book, click on “Register a Product” and then enter
your access code.

Instructors
Access your Texas Politics Today resources via
www.cengage.com/login.
Log in using your Cengage Learning single sign-on user name and password, or create a new
instructor account by clicking on “New Faculty User” and following the instructions.

Texas Politics Today, 2017–2018 Edition—Text Only

Edition
ISBN: 9781305952188
This copy of the book does not come bundled with MindTap.

MindTap for Texas Politics Today, 2017–2018 Edition

ISBN for Instant Access Code: 9781305952225 | ISBN for Printed Access Card: 9781305952232
MindTap for Texas Politics Today, 2017–2018 Edition is a highly personalized, fully online
learning experience built upon Cengage Learning content and correlating to a core set of
learning outcomes. MindTap guides students through the course curriculum via an innovative
Learning Path Navigator where they will complete reading assignments, challenge themselves
with focus activities, and engage with interactive quizzes. Through a variety of gradable activi-
ties, MindTap provides students with opportunities to check themselves for where they need
extra help, as well as allowing faculty to measure and assess student progress. Integration with
programs like YouTube and Google Drive allows instructors to add and remove content of their
choosing with ease, keeping their course current while tracking local and global events through
RSS feeds. The product can be used fully online with its interactive ebook for Texas Politics
Today, 2017–2018 Edition, or in conjunction with the printed text.
Course Reader for MindTap is now available for every political science MindTap through
the MindTap Instructor’s Resource Center. This new feature provides access to Gale’s authori-
tative library reference content to aid in the development of important supplemental readers
for political science courses. Gale, a part of Cengage Learning, has been providing research
and education resources for libraries for more than 60 years. This new feature capitalizes on
Cengage Learning’s unique ability to bring Gale’s authoritative library content into the class-
room. Instructors have the option to choose from thousands of primary and secondary sources,
images, and videos to enhance their course. This capability can replace a separate reader and
conveniently keeps all course materials in one place within a single MindTap. The selections
within Course Reader are curated by experts and designed specifically for introductory courses.
xvi
Instructor Companion Website for Texas Politics Today
ISBN: 9781305952195
This Instructor Companion Website is an all-in-one multimedia online resource for class prep-
aration, presentation, and testing. Accessible through Cengage.com/login with your faculty
account, you will find available for download: book-specific Microsoft ® PowerPoint ® presen-
tations; a Test Bank compatible with multiple learning management systems; an Instructor’s
Manual; Microsoft ® PowerPoint ® Image Slides; and a JPEG Image Library.
The Test Bank, offered in Blackboard, Moodle, Desire2Learn, Canvas, and Angel formats,
contains learning objective–specific multiple-choice and essay questions for each chapter.
Import the Test Bank into your LMS to edit and manage questions, and to create tests.
The Instructor’s Manual contains chapter-specific learning objectives, an outline, key terms
with definitions, and a chapter summary. Additionally, the Instructor’s Manual features a criti-
cal thinking question, a lecture launching suggestion, and an in-class activity for each learning
objective.
The Microsoft ® PowerPoint ® presentations are ready-to-use, visual outlines of each chapter.
These presentations are easily customized for your lectures and offered along with chapter-
specific Microsoft ® PowerPoint ® Image Slides and JPEG Image Libraries. Access the Instructor
Companion Website at www.cengage.com/login.

Cognero for Texas Politics Today, 2017–2018 Edition

ISBN: 9781305952249
Cengage Learning Testing Powered by Cognero is a flexible, online system that allows you to
author, edit, and manage test bank content from multiple Cengage Learning solutions, cre-
ate multiple test versions in an instant, and deliver tests from your LMS, your classroom, or
wherever you want. The Test Bank for Texas Politics Today contains learning objective–specific
multiple-choice and essay questions for each chapter.

Resources xvii
 Acknowledgments
We are grateful to our families for their patience and encouragement as we have developed the
manuscript for this book, and we especially appreciate our students and colleagues who have
given us helpful practical advice about how to make the book a more useful tool in teaching
and learning Texas politics. We would like to give special thanks to Denese McArthur of Tarrant
County Community College, who has contributed to the Instructor’s Manual, and Hoyt DeVries
of Lone Star College– Cy-Fair, who authored this edition’s Test Bank.

In addition, we thank the Politics in Practice contributors for this edition.

Chapter 1 The Face of Latino Immigration
by Ana Hernandez
State Representative, Texas House District 143
Chapter 2 Texas in the Federal System
by Greg Abbott
Governor of Texas
Chapter 3 The Constitutional Right to Education
by Holly McIntush
Attorney & Member of the Fort Bend ISD Group Legal Team
Chapter 4 Everything Is Bigger in Texas, with a Twist of Red
by Luke Macias
Founder of Macias Strategies
Chapter 5 One Face of the Texas Tea Party
by Julie McCarty
President of the NE Tarrant Tea Party
Chapter 6 The Practice of Environmental Lobbying
by Luke Metzger
Director of Environment Texas
Chapter 7 On Being a Legislator: A View from the Inside
by José Rodríguez
State Senator, Texas Senate District 29
Chapter 8 The Texas Executive Branch: Does it run you, or do you run it?
by Drew DeBerry
Director of Budget and Policy for Texas Governor Greg Abbott
Chapter 9 Choosing Judges: My View from the Inside
by Wallace B. Jefferson
Former Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court
Chapter 10 Marijuana Policy Reform in Texas
by Phillip Martin
Deputy Director of Progress Texas
Chapter 11 A View from Inside County Government
by Veronica Escobar
El Paso County Judge
Chapter 12 The Practical Politics of Texas’s Budget
by Eva DeLuna Castro
State Budget Analyst, Center for Public Policy Priorities

xviii
Reviewers
We would also like to thank the instructors who have contributed their valuable feedback
through reviews of this text:
Jeffrey Hubbard, Victoria College
Bryan Johnson, Tarrant County College
Patrick Moore, Richland College
Dana A. Morales, Lone Star College–Montgomery
Paul Phillips, Navarro College
Robert B. Tritico, Sam Houston State University

Previous edition reviewers:

Mary Barnes-Tilley, Blinn College–Brenham
Sarah Binion, Austin Community College
Larry E. Carter, The University of Texas at Tyler
Neil Coates, Abilene Christian College
Malcolm L. Cross, Tarleton State University
Kevin T. Davis, North Central Texas College
Laura De La Cruz, El Paso Community College
Brian R. Farmer, Amarillo College
Frank J. Garrahan, Austin Community College
Glen David Garrison, Collin County Community College–Spring Creek
Diane Gibson, Tarrant County College, Trinity River Campus
Jack Goodyear, Dallas Baptist University
Alexander Hogan, Lone Star College–CyFair
Floyd Holder, Texas A&M University–Kingsville
Robert Paul Holder, McLennan Community College
Timothy Hoye, Texas Woman’s University
Casey Hubble, McLennan Community College
Woojin Kang, Angelo State University
Denese McArthur, Tarrant County College
Eric Miller, Blinn College–Bryan
Lisa Perez-Nichols, Austin Community College
Herman Prager, Ph.D., Austin Community College
John David Rausch, Jr., West Texas A&M University
David Smith, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi
Jessika Stokley, Austin Community College

xix
 About the Authors
Mark P. Jones is the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy’s Fellow in Political Science, the
Joseph D. Jamail Chair in Latin American Studies, and a professor in the Department of Political
Science at Rice University. His articles have appeared in publications such as the American
Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Texas Monthly,
The Hill, and the Texas Tribune. Jones is among the most quoted commentators on Texas poli-
tics in the state and national media, and his research on the Texas Legislature and on public
opinion and elections in Texas is widely cited by media outlets and political campaigns. Jones
received his B.A. from Tulane University and his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.
William Earl Maxwell is a professor emeritus at San Antonio College, where he taught courses
in United States and Texas Government. San Antonio College is a teaching institution, and
Maxwell focused on innovative teaching techniques and improving the learning environment
for students. As a part of that effort, Maxwell co-authored Understanding Texas Politics in 1975,
his first text on Texas government. In the years that followed, he co-authored Politics in Texas
(1975), Texas Politics Today (1978–2015), The Challenge of Texas Politics: Text with Readings
(1980), and American Government and Politics Today: Texas Edition (2006–2012). Maxwell’s
hometown is Lovelady in East Texas. He completed his undergraduate and graduate studies at
Sam Houston State University, specializing in comparative government.
Ernest Crain did his graduate work at the University of Texas at Austin, spent 35 years teach-
ing Texas government at San Antonio College, and now lives in Montgomery County, Texas.
Crain has co-authored Understanding Texas Politics, Politics in Texas: An Introduction to Texas
Politics, The Challenge of Texas Politics: Text with Readings, American Government and Politics
Today: Texas Edition, and Texas Politics Today. His special areas of interest include party com-
petition, comparative state politics, and Texas public policy.
Morhea Lynn Davis is professor of government at El Paso Community College, where she has
served as blackboard trainer and mentor, faculty senator, government discipline coordinator,
and a member of numerous faculty committees. Davis has a Master of Arts degree from the
University of Texas at El Paso, with a major in both organizational behavior and political sci-
ence. She is a very active community volunteer and grant writer, and has consulted for and par-
ticipated in many political campaigns. Her published articles range in topics from the current
political environment to the viability of primaries and caucuses in today’s election processes.
Christopher Wlezien is Hogg Professor of Government at the University of Texas at Austin. He
previously taught at Oxford University, the University of Houston, and Temple University, after
receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa in 1989. Over the years, Wlezien has published
widely on elections, public opinion, and public policy; his books include Degrees of Democracy,
Who Gets Represented?, and The Timeline of Presidential Elections. He has founded a journal,
served on numerous editorial boards, established different institutes, advised governments
and other organizations, held visiting positions at many universities around the world, received
various research grants, and won a number of awards for his research and teaching.
Elizabeth N. Flores is professor of political science at Del Mar College. She teaches courses
on national government, Texas government, and Mexican-American politics, and serves as pro-
gram coordinator for the Mexican-American Studies Program. Flores earned a Master of Arts
degree in political science at the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Arts degree in politi-
cal science (magna cum laude) at St. Mary’s University. Her awards include the 2014 League of
United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) Council Educator of the Year Award, the 2013 Del Mar
College Dr. Aileen Creighton Award for Teaching Excellence, and a 1998 Excellence Award
from the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD).

xx
Prologue:
Texas’s Political Roots
The English-Scots-Irish culture, as it evolved in its migration through the southern United States,
played an essential part in the Texas Revolution. Sam Houston, Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, and
others were of Scotch-Irish descent, and these immigrants led the Anglo-American movement
west and had a major impact on the development of modern mid-American culture.
The successful end to the Texas Revolution in 1836 attracted more immigrants from the
southern United States. Subsequently, the Anglo-Texan population grew dramatically and
became the largest Texas ethnic group. As a result, Anglo Texans controlled the politics and
economy and Protestantism became the dominant religion.
The Anglo concept of Manifest Destiny was not kind to Latinos and Native Americans. Native
Americans were killed or driven into the Indian Territory (located in present-day Oklahoma), and
many Latino families were forced from their property. Even Latino heroes of the Texas Revolution
with names like De León, Navarro, Seguín, and Zavala were not spared in the onslaught.1

Politics and Government: The Early Years2

The Republic of Texas had no political parties. Political conflict revolved around pro-Hous-
ton and anti-Houston policies. Sam Houston, the hero of the battle of San Jacinto, advocated
peaceful relations with the eastern Native Americans and U.S. statehood for Texas. The anti-
Houston forces, led by Mirabeau B. Lamar, believed that Native American and Anglo-American
cultures could not coexist. Lamar envisioned Texas as a nation extending from the Sabine River
to the Pacific.

JOINING THE UNION

Texas voters approved annexation to the United States in 1836, almost immediately after Texas
achieved independence from Mexico. However, because owning human property was legal in
the republic and would continue to be legal once it became a state, the annexation of Texas
would upset the tenuous balance in the U.S. Senate between proslavery and antislavery sena-
tors. This and other political issues, primarily relating to slavery, postponed Texas’s annexation
until December 29, 1845, when it officially became the 28th state.
Several Texas articles of annexation were unique. Texas retained ownership of its public
lands because the U.S. Congress refused to accept their conveyance in exchange for payment
of the republic’s $10 million debt. Although millions of acres were ultimately given away or sold,
those remaining continue to produce hundreds of millions of dollars in state revenue, largely
in royalties from the production of oil and natural gas. These royalties and other public land
revenue primarily benefit the Permanent University Fund and the Permanent School Fund. The
annexation articles also granted Texas the privilege of “creating … new states, of convenient
size, not exceeding four in number, in addition to said State of Texas.”3

EARLY STATEHOOD AND SECESSION: 1846–1864

The politics of early statehood soon replicated the conflict over slavery that dominated poli-
tics in the United States. Senator Sam Houston, a strong Unionist alarmed by the support for
secession in Texas, resigned his seat in the U.S. Senate in 1857 to run for governor. He was
defeated because secessionist forces controlled the dominant Democratic Party. He was, how-
ever, elected governor two years later.
The election of Abraham Lincoln as president of the United States in 1860 triggered a Texas
backlash. A secessionist convention was called and it voted to secede from the Union. Governor

xxi
 Houston used his considerable political skills in a vain attempt to keep Texas in the Union. At
first, Houston declared the convention illegal, but the Texas Legislature later upheld it as legiti-
mate. Although only about 5 percent of white Texans owned slaves, the electorate ratified the
actions of the convention by an overwhelming 76 percent.4
Houston continued to fight what he considered Texans’ determination to self-destruct.
Although he reluctantly accepted the vote to secede, Houston tried to convince secessionist
leaders to return to republic status rather than join the newly formed Confederate States of
America—a plan that might have spared Texans the tragedy of the Civil War. Texas’s seces-
sion convention rejected this political maneuver and petitioned for membership in the new
Confederacy. Houston refused to accept the actions of the convention, which summarily
declared the office of governor vacant and ordered the lieutenant governor to assume the
position. Texas was then admitted to the Confederacy.

POST–CIVIL WAR TEXAS: 1865–1885

The defeat of the Confederacy resulted in relative anarchy in Texas until it was occupied by
federal troops beginning on June 19, 1865, a date henceforth celebrated as Juneteenth.
Texas and other southern states resisted civil rights and equality for freed slaves, result-
ing in radical Republicans gaining control of the U.S. Congress. Congress enacted punitive
legislation prohibiting former Confederate soldiers and officials from voting and holding
public office.
Texas government was controlled by the U.S. Army from 1865 through 1869, but the army’s
rule ended after the new state constitution was adopted in 1869. African Americans were
granted the right to vote, but it was denied to former Confederate officials and military. In the
election to reestablish civilian government, Republican E. J. Davis was elected governor and
Republicans dominated the new legislature. Texas was then readmitted to the United States,
military occupation ended, and civilian authority assumed control of the state. Unlike either
previous or subsequent constitutions, the 1869 Constitution centralized political power in the
office of the governor. During the Davis administration, Texas began a statewide public school
system and created a state police force.
Republican domination of Texas politics was a new and unwelcome world for most Anglo
Texans, and trouble intensified when the legislature increased taxes to pay for Governor Davis’s
reforms. Because Texas’s tax base was dependent on property taxes, eliminating human prop-
erty from the tax rolls and the decline in value of real property placed severe stress on the
public coffers. Consequently, state debt increased dramatically. Former Confederates were
enfranchised in 1873, precipitating a strong anti-Republican reaction from the electorate, and
Democrat Richard Coke was elected governor in 1875.
Texas officials immediately began to remove the vestiges of radical Republicanism. The leg-
islature authorized a convention to write a new constitution. The convention delegates were
mostly Democratic, Anglo, and representative of agrarian interests. The new constitution
decentralized the state government, limited the flexibility of elected officials, and placed pub-
lic education under local control. The constitution was ratified by voters in 1876 and an often-
amended version is still in use today.

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT: 1886–1945

Many reform measures were enacted and enforced in Texas in the 1880s, especially laws limit-
ing corporate power. Attorney General James S. Hogg vigorously enforced new laws curtailing
abuses by insurance companies, railroads, and other corporate interests.

GOVERNOR HOGG: 1891–1895

Attorney General James Hogg was an important reformer in Texas politics and developed a
reputation as the champion of common people. Railroad interests dominated most western
states’ governments, prompting Hogg to run for governor with the objective of regulating

xxii Prologue: Texas’s Political Roots

railroads. Although he faced strong opposition from powerful corporate interests that viewed
him as a threat, Hogg won the nomination in the 1890 Democratic State Convention.
A commission to regulate railroads was authorized in the subsequent election. The Railroad
Commission was eventually given the power to regulate trucks and other vehicles used in Texas
commerce and the production and transportation of oil and natural gas.
Politics in the early 1900s distinguished Texas as one of the most progressive states in the
nation. Texas pioneered the regulation of monopolies, railroads, insurance companies, and
child labor. It reformed its prisons and tax system, and in 1905, replaced political party nomi-
nating conventions with direct party primaries.

FARMER JIM: 1914–1918

James E. Ferguson entered the Texas political scene in 1914 and was a controversial and power-
ful force in Texas politics for the next 20 years. Ferguson owned varied business interests and
was the president of the Temple State Bank. Although sensitive to the interests of the business
community, Ferguson called himself “Farmer Jim” to emphasize his rural background.
The legislature was unusually receptive to Ferguson’s programs, which generally restricted
the economic and political power of large corporations and tried to protect the common peo-
ple. It also enacted legislation designed to assist tenant farmers, improve public education and
colleges, and reform state courts.
The legislature also established a highway commission to manage state highway construc-
tion. Texas’s county governments had been given the responsibility of constructing state roads
within their jurisdictions. The result was that road quality and consistency varied widely between
counties. The agency’s authorization to construct and maintain Texas’s intrastate roadways
standardized the system and facilitated automobile travel.
Rumors of financial irregularities in Ferguson’s administration gained credibility, but his
declaring war on The University of Texas would prove fatal. Ferguson vetoed the entire appro-
priation for the university, apparently because the board of regents refused to remove certain
faculty members whom the governor found objectionable. This step alienated politically pow-
erful graduates who demanded that he be removed from office. Farmer Jim was impeached,
convicted, removed, and barred from holding public office in Texas.

WORLD WAR I, THE TWENTIES, AND THE RETURN

OF FARMER JIM: 1919–1928
Texas saw a boom during World War I. Its favorable climate and the Zimmerman Note, in which
Germany allegedly urged Mexico to invade Texas, prompted the national government to station
troops in the state. Texas became and continues to be an important training area for the military.
Crime control, education, and the Ku Klux Klan, a white supremacist organization, were the
major issues of the period. Progressive measures enacted during this period included free text-
books for public schools and the beginning of the state park system. The 1920 legislature also
ratified the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution establishing national Prohibition.
The strongest anti-Klan candidate in 1924 was Miriam A. “Ma” Ferguson, wife of the
impeached Farmer Jim. She ran successfully on a platform of “Two Governors for the Price of
One,” becoming the first female governor of Texas. Detractors alleged that she was only a fig-
urehead and that Farmer Jim was the real governor. Nonetheless, Ma’s election indicated that
Texas voters had forgiven Farmer Jim for his misbehavior. She was successful in getting legisla-
tion passed that prohibited wearing a mask in public, which resulted in the end of the Klan as
an effective political force.
National politics became an issue in Texas politics in 1928. Al Smith, the Democratic nomi-
nee for president, was a Roman Catholic, a “wet,” and a big-city politician. Herbert Hoover, the
Republican nominee, was a Protestant, a “dry,” and an international humanitarian. Hoover won
the electoral votes from Texas—the first Republican ever to do so.

Prologue: Texas’s Political Roots xxiii

 THE GREAT DEPRESSION: 1929–1939
The stock market crashed in 1929 and Texas, along with the entire nation, was economically
crushed. Prices dropped, farm products could not be sold, mortgages and taxes went unpaid,
jobs evaporated, and businesses and bank accounts were wiped out.
Promising to cut government spending, Ma Ferguson was once again elected governor in
1932 becoming the first Texas governor to serve nonconsecutive terms. The 1933 ratification of
the Twenty-first Amendment to the U.S. Constitution brought an end to nationwide Prohibition.
Prohibition ended in Texas two years later with the adoption of local-option elections, although
selling liquor by the drink was still forbidden statewide.

Politics and Government after

World War II: 1948–Today
The 1948 senatorial campaign attracted several qualified candidates. The runoff in the
Democratic primary pitted former governor Coke Stevenson against U.S. Congressman Lyndon
B. Johnson.
The election was the closest statewide race in Texas history. At first, the election bureau
gave the unofficial nomination to Stevenson, but the revised returns favored Johnson. The final
official election results gave Johnson the nomination by a plurality of 87 votes. Both candidates
charged election fraud.
Box 13 in Jim Wells County, one of several machine-controlled counties dominated by politi-
cal boss George Parr (the Duke of Duval), was particularly important in the new figures. This
box revised Johnson’s vote upward by 202 votes and Stevenson’s upward by only one. Box 13
was also late in reporting, thereby tainting Johnson’s victory. About the election, historian T. R.
Fehrenbach wrote, “There was probably no injustice involved. Johnson men had not defrauded
Stevenson, but successfully outfrauded him.”5

THE 1950s AND 1960s: LBJ, THE SHIVERCRATS, AND THE SEEDS
OF A REPUBLICAN TEXAS
Allan Shivers became governor in 1949, and in 1952 the national election captured the interests
of Texans. Harry Truman had succeeded to the presidency in 1945 and was reelected in 1948.
Conservative Texas Democrats became disillusioned with the New Deal and Fair Deal policies
of the Roosevelt–Truman era and wanted change.
Another major concern for Texans was the tidelands issue. With the discovery of oil in the
Gulf of Mexico, a jurisdictional conflict arose between the government of the United States and
the governments of the coastal states. Texas claimed three leagues (using Spanish units of mea-
sure, equal to about 10 miles) as its jurisdictional boundary; the U.S. government claimed Texas
had rights to only three miles. At stake were hundreds of millions of dollars in royalty revenue.
Both Governor Shivers and Attorney General Price Daniel, who was campaigning for the
U.S. Senate, attacked the Truman administration as being corrupt, soft on communism, eroding
the rights of states, and being outright thieves in attempting to steal the tidelands oil from the
schoolchildren of Texas. State control of the revenue would direct much of the oil income to the
Permanent School Fund and result in a lower tax burden for Texans. The Democratic nominee
for president, Adlai Stevenson of Illinois, disagreed with the Texas position.
The Republicans nominated Dwight Eisenhower, a World War II hero who was sympathetic
to the Texas position on the tidelands. Eisenhower was born in Texas (but reared in Kansas),
and his supporters used the campaign slogan “Texans for a Texan.” The presidential campaign
solidified a split in the Texas Democratic Party that lasted for 40 years. The conservative faction,
led by Shivers and Daniel, advocated splitting the ticket, or voting for Eisenhower for president
and Texas Democrats for state offices. Adherents to this maneuver were called Shivercrats. The
liberal faction, or Loyalist Democrats of Texas, led by Judge Ralph “Raff” Yarborough, cam-
paigned for a straight Democratic ticket.
xxiv Prologue: Texas’s Political Roots
 Texas voted for Eisenhower, and the tidelands dispute was eventually settled in its favor.
Shivers was reelected governor and Daniel won the Senate seat. Shivers, Daniel, and other
Democratic candidates for statewide offices had also been nominated by the Texas Republican
Party. Running as Democrats, these candidates defeated themselves in the general election.
Lyndon B. Johnson, majority leader of the U.S. Senate and one of the most powerful men in
Washington, lost his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination to John F. Kennedy in 1960.
He then accepted the nomination for vice president. By the grace of the Texas Legislature,
Johnson was on the general election ballot as both the vice-presidential and senatorial nomi-
nee. When the Democratic presidential ticket was successful, he was elected to both posi-
tions, and a special election was held to fill the vacated Senate seat. In the special election,
Republican John Tower was elected and became the first Republican since Reconstruction to
serve as a U.S. senator from Texas.

THE 1970s AND 1980s: REPUBLICAN GAINS AND EDUCATION REFORMS

In 1979, William P. Clements became the first Republican governor of Texas since E. J. Davis
was defeated in 1874. The election of a Republican governor did not affect legislative-executive
relations and had limited impact on public policy because Clements received strong political
support from conservative Democrats.
Democratic Attorney General Mark White defeated incumbent governor Bill Clements in
1982. Teachers overwhelmingly supported White, who promised salary increases and expressed
support for education. The first comprehensive educational reform since 1949 became law in
1984. House Bill 72 increased teacher salaries, made school district revenue somewhat more
equitable, and raised standards for both students and teachers.
In 1986, voter discontent with education reform, a sour economy, and decreased state rev-
enue were enough to return Republican Bill Clements to the governor’s office. In 1988, three
Republicans were elected to the Texas Supreme Court and one to the Railroad Commission—
the first Republicans elected to statewide office (other than governor or U.S. senator) since
Reconstruction.
In 1989, the Texas Supreme Court unanimously upheld an Austin district court’s ruling in
Edgewood v. Kirby 6 that the state’s educational funding system violated the Texas constitu-
tional requirement of “an efficient system” for the “general diffusion of knowledge.” After
several reform laws were also declared unconstitutional, the legislature enacted a complex law
that kept the property tax as the basic source for school funding but required wealthier school
districts to share their wealth with poorer districts. Critics called the school finance formula a
“Robin Hood” plan.

THE 1990s: TEXAS ELECTS A WOMAN GOVERNOR AND

BECOMES A TWO-PARTY STATE
In 1990, Texans elected Ann Richards as their first female governor since Miriam “Ma” Ferguson.
Through her appointive powers, she opened the doors of state government to unprecedented
numbers of women, Latinos, and African Americans. Dan Morales was the first Latino elected
to statewide office in 1990, and Austin voters elected the first openly gay state legislator, Glen
Maxey, in 1991. Texas elected Kay Bailey Hutchison as its first female U.S. senator in 1992. She
joined fellow Republican Phil Gramm as they became the first two Republicans to hold U.S.
Senate seats concurrently since 1874.
When the smoke, mud, and sound bites of the 1994 general election settled, Texas had
truly become a two-party state. With the election of Governor George W. Bush, Republicans
held the governor’s office and both U.S. Senate seats for the first time since Reconstruction.
Republicans won a majority in the Texas Senate in 1996, and voters ratified an amendment to
the Texas Constitution that allowed them to use their home equity (the current market value of
a home minus the outstanding mortgage debt) as collateral for a loan.
The 1998 general election bolstered Republican political dominance as the party won every
statewide elective office, positioning Governor George W. Bush as the frontrunner for the 2000
Prologue: Texas’s Political Roots xxv
 Republican nomination for president. Legislators deregulated the electricity market and the
state’s city annexation law was made more restrictive. Public school teachers received a pay
raise but were still paid below the national average. And Texas adopted a program to provide
basic health insurance to some of the state’s children who lacked health coverage, although
more than 20 percent of Texas children remained uninsured.

THE 2000s: TEXAS BECOMES A REPUBLICAN STATE,

CONTROVERSY AND CONFLICT
The 2001 legislature enacted a hate crimes law that strengthened penalties for crimes motivated
by a victim’s race, religion, color, gender, disability, sexual orientation, age, or national origin.
The legislature also established partial funding for health insurance for public school employees
and made it easier for poor children to apply for health-care coverage under Medicaid.
Republicans swept statewide offices and both chambers of the legislature in the 2002
elections, restoring one-party government in the state, now red instead of blue. A projected
$10 billion budget deficit created an uncomfortable environment for Republicans. Politically
and ideologically opposed to new taxes and state-provided social services, the legislature
and the governor chose to reduce funding for most state programs; expenditures for educa-
tion, health care, children’s health insurance, and social services for the needy were sharply
reduced.
Meanwhile, attempts to effectively close tax loopholes failed. For example, businesses and
professions of all sizes continued to organize as partnerships to avoid the state corporate fran-
chise tax. The legislature placed limits on pain-and-suffering jury awards for injuries caused by
physician malpractice and hospital incompetence and made it more difficult to sue the makers
of unsafe, defective products.
The legislature’s social agenda was ambitious. It outlawed civil unions for same-sex couples
and barred recognition of such unions from other states. It imposed a 24-hour waiting period
before a woman could have an abortion.
Although the districts for electing U.S. representatives in Texas had been redrawn by a
panel of one Democratic and two Republican federal judges following the 2000 Census, Texas
Congressman and U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay was unhappy that more Republicans
were not elected to Congress. Governor Rick Perry agreed and called a special session in
the summer of 2003 to redraw districts once again to increase Republican representation.
Democrats argued that the districts had already been established by the courts and that Perry
and DeLay only wanted to increase the number of Republican officeholders. The legislature
adopted the Republican proposal and the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed that states could redis-
trict more than once each decade and rejected the argument that the redistricting was either
illegal or partisan.
The Texas government in 2007 waged almost continuous battle with itself. Conflict between
the House and the speaker, the Senate and the lieutenant governor, the Senate and the House,
and the legislature and the governor marked the session. Legislators did restore eligibility of
some needy children for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
The 2009 legislature seemed almost placid after the unprecedented House revolt against
Speaker Tom Craddick and election of fellow Republican Joe Straus as the new speaker.
However, consideration of a contentious voter identification bill caused conflict in the last days
of the session and resulted in a parliamentary shutdown. The House adjourned without resolu-
tion of the voter identification bill and postponed other important matters to be resolved by a
special session.

THE 2010s: CONSERVATIVE POLITICS, POLICIES, AND LITIGATION

In 2010, much of the state’s political attention was focused on disputes about Texas’s accep-
tance of federal funds. Texas accepted federal stimulus money to help balance the state’s bud-
get but turned down more than $500 million in federal stimulus money for unemployed Texans.
The state declined to apply for up to $700 million in federal grant money linked to “Race to the

xxvi Prologue: Texas’s Political Roots

Top,” a program to improve education quality and results. Governor Perry believed the money
would result in a federal takeover of Texas schools. Texas also became one of seven states
to reject the National Governors Association effort to establish national curriculum standards
called the “Common Core.”
Governor Perry failed to get the Republican nomination for president in 2012 but continued
to make national news arguing for his agenda of low taxes, limited business regulation, and
opposition to the Affordable Care Act. Using taxpayer money from the Texas Enterprise Fund,
he was able to persuade several businesses to relocate to Texas. Among his most notable suc-
cesses, the governor helped persuade Toyota to move its headquarters and high-paying jobs
from California and Kentucky to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.
In recent years, the Republican political leadership adopted an ambitious conservative polit-
ical and social agenda. Outnumbered in the legislative and executive branches, liberal and
Democratic strategists turned to the courts to battle against these policies. For example, oppo-
nents challenged the state’s legislative and congressional districts created in 2011 as being
gerrymandered to dilute minority votes and to favor Republican candidates. The courts upheld
the legislative districting map with only minor changes.
Meanwhile the state legislature adopted a strict voter photo ID law in 2011 requiring voters
to present specific forms of identification as a condition for voting. Opponents charged that
these laws were designed to discourage voting by young, minority, and elderly citizens who
were less likely to have these forms of identification. Ultimately, federal courts ruled the Voter
ID laws was discriminatory and allowed voters to cast their ballots in the 2016 election if they
could not reasonably obtain the mandated types of ID and signed an affidavit of citizenship and
presented proof of residency.
Although in 2013 the U.S. Supreme Court struck down provisions of the Voting Rights Act
(VRA) of 1965 that required states, like Texas, that have a history of racial discrimination to get
preclearance of new election laws from the U.S. Department of Justice, challengers can still
show that particular elections laws are racially discriminatory and, therefore, a violation of the
U.S. Constitution or federal law. Challenges to new Texas election laws, such as voter ID and
redistricting, are likely to continue for the foreseeable future.
In 2013 the Texas Legislature also passed regulations that required abortion clinics to meet
the hospital-like standards of ambulatory surgical centers. Opponents argued that these
regulations compromised a woman’s constitutional right to obtain an abortion. Despite the
well-publicized filibuster by former state senator Wendy Davis, the law was adopted. Court
challenges to the law immediately followed, with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2016 that
these (and related) regulations were unconstitutional.
Despite the legal and political turmoil that permeated the political environment, Republicans
continued to dominate state politics after the 2014 elections. Former attorney general Greg
Abbott defeated Democrat Wendy Davis to become the first practicing Roman Catholic elected
as governor, and Texas Republicans firmly embraced tea party politics as the most conserva-
tive GOP candidates rolled over “establishment” candidates like Lieutenant Governor David
Dewhurst (in his bid for reelection) and several other centrist Republican politicians.
The 2015 legislative session featured a House and Senate where almost two-thirds of the leg-
islators were Republicans and a plural executive, from Governor Abbott to Land Commissioner
George P. Bush, that remained 100 percent Republican. While the senate veered to the right
with the election of Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick and the replacement of several veteran
centrist conservative senators by freshman movement conservatives, the GOP’s establishment
wing remained firmly in control of the Texas House under the leadership of Speaker Joe Straus.
The result was a legislative session that featured a series of inter-chamber and intra-GOP bat-
tles and negotiations, with the more conservative wing of the GOP getting its way on some
legislation (such as blocking Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act and pass-
ing “Campus Carry” legislation) and the more centrist wing of the party getting its way on
some legislation (such as blocking a repeal of the “Texas Dream Act” and passing legislation to
increase funding for transportation infrastructure).

Prologue: Texas’s Political Roots xxvii

 The 2016 election did not change the balance of power in Austin. Republicans continue to
hold substantial majorities in both the House and Senate and Speaker Straus and Lt. Governor
Patrick remain safely ensconced at the helm in their respective chambers. The 2017 legislative
session will take place in a period of relative budget austerity, meaning that any significant
increase in spending is very unlikely given the current balance of power in Austin.
While the Texas Supreme Court did rule in 2016 that the state’s public school funding system
is constitutional, it also signaled that this system was flawed and in need of serious reform.
We can thus expect the Texas Legislature to spend a considerable amount of time and energy
debating public education funding in 2017, but it remains to be seen if major reforms will be
enacted or if, in the end, only minor changes will be made. There is also expected to be a push
by conservatives to place a ban on “sanctuary cities” and an effort by Democrats and centrist
conservatives to expand Medicaid as part of the Affordable Care Act in order to obtain billions
of federal health care dollars and to provide health insurance to over a million Texans who pres-
ently do not have it as a result of the state’s decision to not expand Medicaid coverage.

xxviii Prologue: Texas’s Political Roots

Texas Political Culture 12
1
and Diversity

In this chapter, you will see who we are as Texans, what we think, and how our culture and diversity affect our
state’s politics.
Robert Daemmrich Photography Inc/Getty Images

Learning Objectives
LO 1.1 Analyze the relationships among Texas political culture, its politics, and its public policies.

LO 1.2 Differentiate the attributes that describe the major Texas regions.

LO 1.3 Analyze Texans’ political struggles over equal rights and evaluate their success in Texas
politics today and their impact on the state’s political future.

LO 1.4 Apply what you have learned about Texas political culture and diversity.
 2 1 Texas Political Culture and Diversity

political culture
The dominant political
values and beliefs of a
A political culture reflects the political values and beliefs of a people. It explains how people
feel about their government—their expectations of what powers it should have over their
lives, the services it should provide, and their ability to influence its actions. A political culture
people.
is developed by historical experience over generations through agents of socialization such as
family, religion, peer group, and education. It is characterized by the level of ethnic, social, and
religious diversity it tolerates; by the level of citizen participation it allows; by the societal role it
assigns to the state; and by citizens’ perception of their status within the political system.
A people’s political behavior is shaped by the culture that nourished it. The Spanish con-
quest and settlement of Texas provided the first European influence on Texas culture. Some
elements of the ranchero culture and the Catholic religion continue to this day and are the
enduring Spanish influence on our culture. The immigration of Anglo-Saxon southerners in
the early 1800s brought Texas the plantation and slave-owning culture. This culture became
dominant following the Texas Revolution. Although it was modified to an extent by the Civil
War, it has remained the dominant Texas culture.
However, ethnic/racial diversification and urbanization have gradually eroded the domi-
nance of the traditional southern Anglo culture over time, with this erosion especially notable
over the last 20 to 30 years. During the past three decades Texas has not only become one of
the most diverse multicultural states in the country, it has become one of the most urbanized;
two-thirds of the population now resides in one of four major metropolitan regions (Austin,
Dallas–Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio), and Texans living in rural areas today account
for only a tenth of the population.
We begin by exploring the state’s dominant political culture and ideology, and how they
influence partisanship and public policy. Then we look at other aspects of the state’s political
culture and examine the subtle variations in the state from one region to another. We then
review the battles for gender, ethnic/racial, and sexual orientation equality and the impact
of these struggles and their outcomes, along with the state’s increasing diversity, on politics
and policy.

Political Culture, Partisanship, and Public Policy

LO 1.1 Analyze the relationships among Texas political culture, its politics,
and its public policies.
conservative Texas’s political culture is conservative. Many Texans share a belief in a limited role for
A political ideology government in taxation, economic regulation, and providing social services; conservatives
marked by the belief in support traditional values and lifestyles, and are cautious in response to social change.
a limited role for gov-
ernment in taxation,
economic regulation, Ideology
and providing social
services; conservatives The Texas brand of conservatism is skeptical of state government involvement in the econ-
support traditional omy. A majority of Texans favor low taxes, modest state services, and few business regu-
values and lifestyles, lations. Because they support economic individualism and free-market capitalism, Texans
and are cautious in
response to social
generally value profit as a healthy incentive to promote economic investment and individual
change. effort, while they see social class inequality as the inevitable result of free-market capitalism.
For them, an individual’s quality of life is largely a matter of personal responsibility rather
than an issue of public policy.
Some conservatives accept an active role for the government in promoting business. They
are willing to support direct government subsidies and special tax breaks for businesses to
encourage economic growth. They may also support state spending for infrastructure, such
as transportation and education, that sustains commercial and manufacturing activity.
Social conservatives support energetic government activity to enforce what they view as
moral behavior and traditional cultural values. For example, social conservatives, who often
 Political Culture, Partisanship, and Public Policy 3

are evangelical Christians, usually advocate for the use of state power to limit abortion and
drug use.
A distinct minority in Texas, liberals believe in using government to improve the welfare of liberal
individuals; they favor government regulation of the economy, actively support the expansion of A political ideology
civil rights, and tolerate social change. Liberals believe state government can be used as a posi- marked by the advo-
cacy of using govern-
tive tool to benefit the population as a whole. Most Texas liberals accept private enterprise as ment to improve the
the state’s basic economic system but believe excesses of unregulated capitalism compromise the welfare of individuals,
common good. They endorse state policies to abate pollution, increase government investment government regula-
tion of the economy,
in public education and health care, protect workers and consumers, and prevent discrimination support for civil rights,
against ethnic/racial minorities and members of the LGBT community, among others. and tolerance for social
Liberals often believe that a great deal of social inequality results from institutional and change.
economic forces that are often beyond a single individual’s control. As a result, they support
the use of government power to balance these forces and to promote a better quality of life
for middle- and lower-income people. For example, liberals argue that it is fair to tax those
with the greatest ability to pay and to provide social services for the community as a whole.
A significant number of Texans have mixed views. On some issues, they take a liberal
position, but on others they have a conservative perspective or no opinion at all. Others have
moderate views: Figure 1.1 shows that 31 percent of Texans say that they are “in the middle”;
that is, their beliefs are between conservative and liberal viewpoints. The “Think Critically
and Get Active!” features in this and later chapters will give you the tools to explore Texans’
political differences in greater depth and to engage with various ideological groups in Texas.

Conservatives and Liberals in Texas Today

Figure 1.1 provides information on the ideological self-identification of Texans overall and
among subgroups of Texans based on their gender, ethnic/racial identity, and generation.
The data are drawn from a series of University of Texas/Texas Tribune statewide polls of
Texas registered voters conducted between October 2011 and February 2016.1 A survey ques-
tion asked respondents to place themselves on a seven-point ideological scale where 1 was
“extremely liberal,” 4 “in the middle,” and 7 “extremely conservative.” Respondents who
located themselves as a 5, 6, or 7 are considered to be conservative, as a 1, 2, or 3 to be liberal,
and as a 4 to be moderate.
Close to half of Texans (48 percent) identify as conservative, more than double the per-
centage (21 percent) identifying as liberal. Figure 1.1 highlights, however, that these statewide
percentages mask considerable ideological variance among men and women, members of dif-
ferent ethnic/racial groups, and generational cohorts. For example, men as a group are notably
more conservative than women (54 percent vs. 42 percent), and Anglos (57 percent) notably
more conservative than either Latinos (35 percent) or African Americans (26 percent). At the
same time, however, no noteworthy gender or ethnic/racial differences exist in the proportion
of liberals, which are fairly equal between men and women and among the three principal
ethnic/racial groups in the state (we do not have sufficient data with which to analyze Asian
American ideological self-identification).
Data also are provided for Texans based on their political generation: the Millennial
Generation (those born since 1981), Generation X (those born between 1965 and 1980), the
Baby Boom Generation (those born between 1946 and 1964), and the Silent Generation
(those born between 1928 and 1945).2 As a group, members of the Millennial Generation
tend to be significantly less conservative and more liberal than members of the other genera-
tions, with the ideological gulf separating Millennials from their Silent Generation grandpar-
ents and great-grandparents far and away the widest. It will remain to be seen if Millennials
become more conservative (and less liberal) as they age, or if this more liberal ideological
profile will remain a hallmark of the Millennial Generation for years to come.
 4 1 Texas Political Culture and Diversity

FIGURE 1.1 Texans’ Ideology

Public opinion polling indicates that twice as many Texans self-identify as conserva-
tive than as liberal.

Ideology

All Registered Voters Key

Liberal
21 Moderate
48 Conservative
31

Gender

20 22
54 42
26 36

Men Women

Ethnicity/Race

26 25 20 23
35
57 23
49 42

African American Anglo Latino

Generation

22 20 15
28
35
45 51 63 22
37 33 29

Millenial Gen X Baby Boom Silent

★ CTQ Explain the differences between conservative and liberal ideologies. What noteworthy
ideological differences exist across genders, ethnic/racial groups, and generational
cohorts in Texas?

Source: University of Texas/Texas Tribune Polls: 2011–2016.

 Political Culture, Partisanship, and Public Policy 5

Figure 1.2 highlights the considerable amount of ideological variance across the state’s
twenty most populous counties, which combined contain almost three-fourths of the Texas
population. At the liberal end of the ideological spectrum, by itself, is Travis County (Austin),
with an average ideological score of 3.56. The next most liberal counties, El Paso and

FIGURE 1.2 The Most Populous Texas Counties from Most Liberal to Most
Conservative
The ideological profiles of the largest Texas counties vary from liberal Travis County
to conservative Brazoria County, with the state’s four most populous counties (Harris,
Dallas, Tarrant, and Bexar) having very similar profiles.

The Most Populous Texas Counties from

Most Liberal to Most Conservative

Travis 3.56

El Paso 4.22

Nueces 4.23

Dallas 4.29

Harris 4.31

Williamson 4.32

Bexar 4.33

Tarrant 4.33

Cameron 4.36
County

Hidalgo 4.36

Bell 4.41

Jefferson 4.51

Denton 4.53

Collin 4.55

Fort Bend 4.55

Montgomery 4.64

Galveston 4.76

McLennan 4.78

Lubbock 4.87

Brazoria 4.97

1 2 3 4 5
Mean Ideological Position of County Voters
(1=Extremely Liberal, 4=In the Middle, 7=Extremely Conservative)

★ CTQ What factors help explain why Travis County residents are so
much more liberal on average than residents of the state’s
other major counties?

Source: University of Texas/Texas Tribune Polls: 2011–2016.

 6 1 Texas Political Culture and Diversity

Nueces (Corpus Christi), are noticeably more conservative than Travis County, and proxi-
mate ideologically to the core urban counties of the state’s three largest metropolitan areas.
The state’s four most populous counties (Harris, Dallas, Tarrant, and Bexar) are grouped very
closely together, with nearly indistinguishable average ideological scores ranging from 4.29 in
Dallas County to 4.33 in Bexar and Tarrant counties.
Nine counties have an average ideological score above the state average of 4.47. These
more conservative counties fall into two distinct categories. One group consists of suburban
counties adjacent to the state’s two dominant metropolises, with Brazoria, Fort Bend, Galves-
ton, and Montgomery counties constituting the principal
population centers of the Houston suburbs and Collin and
Denton Counties the leading Dallas–Fort Worth suburbs.
Did You Know? While Texans overall are The remaining three conservative counties are the hubs of
evenly split 50–50 on the issue, 71 percent of those
under the age of 30 believe gays and lesbians should regional population centers in different regions of Texas:
have the right to marry.3 Jefferson County (Beaumont) in the southeast, McLennan
County (Waco) in the center, and Lubbock County in the
northwest.

Partisanship
Texans’ conservative political views are reflected in their partisan identification. Figure 1.3
shows that 48 percent of all Texans self-identify as Republicans and 41 percent as Democrats.
A little more than one out of every ten Texans (11 percent) is a true independent, someone
who does not identify in any way with either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party.
The figure also underscores the substantial gender, ethnic/racial, and generational differ-
ences in party identification in Texas. For example, women are significantly more likely to
identify as Democrats than men, and men are significantly more likely to identify as Repub-
licans than women. Profound ethnic/racial partisan identification gaps exist, with 84 percent
of African Americans identifying as Democrats and a mere 6 percent as Republicans. In con-
trast only 28 percent of Anglos identify as Democrats and 62 percent as Republicans. Among
Latinos, 55 percent identify as Democrats and 33 percent as Republicans. One half of Millen-
nials (50 percent) identify as Democrats and 35 percent as Republicans; the proportions are
roughly reversed for their Silent Generation elders, who are much more likely to self-identify
as Republicans (61 percent) than as Democrats (32 percent).
Public opinion data and actual election results underscore the dominance of the more con-
servative Republican Party in Texas during the past 20 years. We will examine the ideological
and policy differences between the two political parties in greater depth in Chapter 5.

Public Policy
Conservative opinions have been translated into most of Texas’s public policies. The state’s
tax burden is low compared to other states, and the state proportionally devotes fewer finan-
cial resources to public services than most other states. Texas is known nationally for its low
tax and limited government model that contrasts with the higher tax and more active govern-
ment model seen in states like California and New York.
Texas also has used the power of the state to enforce certain conservative social values.
It has, for instance, passed legislation designed to reduce the number of abortions and to
impose stiff penalties on lawbreakers. It also has maintained a ban on casino gambling (unlike
its neighbors) and resisted efforts to allow the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes (unlike
a majority of the U.S. states).
Subsequent chapters explore the myriad of ways through which the state’s political culture
has influenced and continues to influence the design and implementation of public policy in
a wide range of areas.
Another random document with
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 DANCE ON STILTS AT THE GIRLS’ UNYAGO, NIUCHI

Newala, too, suffers from the distance of its water-supply—at least

the Newala of to-day does; there was once another Newala in a lovely
valley at the foot of the plateau. I visited it and found scarcely a trace
of houses, only a Christian cemetery, with the graves of several
missionaries and their converts, remaining as a monument of its
former glories. But the surroundings are wonderfully beautiful. A
thick grove of splendid mango-trees closes in the weather-worn
crosses and headstones; behind them, combining the useful and the
agreeable, is a whole plantation of lemon-trees covered with ripe
fruit; not the small African kind, but a much larger and also juicier
imported variety, which drops into the hands of the passing traveller,
without calling for any exertion on his part. Old Newala is now under
the jurisdiction of the native pastor, Daudi, at Chingulungulu, who,
as I am on very friendly terms with him, allows me, as a matter of
course, the use of this lemon-grove during my stay at Newala.
 FEET MUTILATED BY THE RAVAGES OF THE “JIGGER”
(Sarcopsylla penetrans)

The water-supply of New Newala is in the bottom of the valley,

some 1,600 feet lower down. The way is not only long and fatiguing,
but the water, when we get it, is thoroughly bad. We are suffering not
only from this, but from the fact that the arrangements at Newala are
nothing short of luxurious. We have a separate kitchen—a hut built
against the boma palisade on the right of the baraza, the interior of
which is not visible from our usual position. Our two cooks were not
long in finding this out, and they consequently do—or rather neglect
to do—what they please. In any case they do not seem to be very
particular about the boiling of our drinking-water—at least I can
attribute to no other cause certain attacks of a dysenteric nature,
from which both Knudsen and I have suffered for some time. If a
man like Omari has to be left unwatched for a moment, he is capable
of anything. Besides this complaint, we are inconvenienced by the
state of our nails, which have become as hard as glass, and crack on
the slightest provocation, and I have the additional infliction of
pimples all over me. As if all this were not enough, we have also, for
the last week been waging war against the jigger, who has found his
Eldorado in the hot sand of the Makonde plateau. Our men are seen
all day long—whenever their chronic colds and the dysentery likewise
raging among them permit—occupied in removing this scourge of
Africa from their feet and trying to prevent the disastrous
consequences of its presence. It is quite common to see natives of
this place with one or two toes missing; many have lost all their toes,
or even the whole front part of the foot, so that a well-formed leg
ends in a shapeless stump. These ravages are caused by the female of
Sarcopsylla penetrans, which bores its way under the skin and there
develops an egg-sac the size of a pea. In all books on the subject, it is
stated that one’s attention is called to the presence of this parasite by
an intolerable itching. This agrees very well with my experience, so
far as the softer parts of the sole, the spaces between and under the
toes, and the side of the foot are concerned, but if the creature
penetrates through the harder parts of the heel or ball of the foot, it
may escape even the most careful search till it has reached maturity.
Then there is no time to be lost, if the horrible ulceration, of which
we see cases by the dozen every day, is to be prevented. It is much
easier, by the way, to discover the insect on the white skin of a
European than on that of a native, on which the dark speck scarcely
shows. The four or five jiggers which, in spite of the fact that I
constantly wore high laced boots, chose my feet to settle in, were
taken out for me by the all-accomplished Knudsen, after which I
thought it advisable to wash out the cavities with corrosive
sublimate. The natives have a different sort of disinfectant—they fill
the hole with scraped roots. In a tiny Makua village on the slope of
the plateau south of Newala, we saw an old woman who had filled all
the spaces under her toe-nails with powdered roots by way of
prophylactic treatment. What will be the result, if any, who can say?
The rest of the many trifling ills which trouble our existence are
really more comic than serious. In the absence of anything else to
smoke, Knudsen and I at last opened a box of cigars procured from
the Indian store-keeper at Lindi, and tried them, with the most
distressing results. Whether they contain opium or some other
narcotic, neither of us can say, but after the tenth puff we were both
“off,” three-quarters stupefied and unspeakably wretched. Slowly we
recovered—and what happened next? Half-an-hour later we were
once more smoking these poisonous concoctions—so insatiable is the
craving for tobacco in the tropics.
Even my present attacks of fever scarcely deserve to be taken
seriously. I have had no less than three here at Newala, all of which
have run their course in an incredibly short time. In the early
afternoon, I am busy with my old natives, asking questions and
making notes. The strong midday coffee has stimulated my spirits to
an extraordinary degree, the brain is active and vigorous, and work
progresses rapidly, while a pleasant warmth pervades the whole
body. Suddenly this gives place to a violent chill, forcing me to put on
my overcoat, though it is only half-past three and the afternoon sun
is at its hottest. Now the brain no longer works with such acuteness
and logical precision; more especially does it fail me in trying to
establish the syntax of the difficult Makua language on which I have
ventured, as if I had not enough to do without it. Under the
circumstances it seems advisable to take my temperature, and I do
so, to save trouble, without leaving my seat, and while going on with
my work. On examination, I find it to be 101·48°. My tutors are
abruptly dismissed and my bed set up in the baraza; a few minutes
later I am in it and treating myself internally with hot water and
lemon-juice.
Three hours later, the thermometer marks nearly 104°, and I make
them carry me back into the tent, bed and all, as I am now perspiring
heavily, and exposure to the cold wind just beginning to blow might
mean a fatal chill. I lie still for a little while, and then find, to my
great relief, that the temperature is not rising, but rather falling. This
is about 7.30 p.m. At 8 p.m. I find, to my unbounded astonishment,
that it has fallen below 98·6°, and I feel perfectly well. I read for an
hour or two, and could very well enjoy a smoke, if I had the
wherewithal—Indian cigars being out of the question.
Having no medical training, I am at a loss to account for this state
of things. It is impossible that these transitory attacks of high fever
should be malarial; it seems more probable that they are due to a
kind of sunstroke. On consulting my note-book, I become more and
more inclined to think this is the case, for these attacks regularly
follow extreme fatigue and long exposure to strong sunshine. They at
least have the advantage of being only short interruptions to my
work, as on the following morning I am always quite fresh and fit.
My treasure of a cook is suffering from an enormous hydrocele which
makes it difficult for him to get up, and Moritz is obliged to keep in
the dark on account of his inflamed eyes. Knudsen’s cook, a raw boy
from somewhere in the bush, knows still less of cooking than Omari;
consequently Nils Knudsen himself has been promoted to the vacant
post. Finding that we had come to the end of our supplies, he began
by sending to Chingulungulu for the four sucking-pigs which we had
bought from Matola and temporarily left in his charge; and when
they came up, neatly packed in a large crate, he callously slaughtered
the biggest of them. The first joint we were thoughtless enough to
entrust for roasting to Knudsen’s mshenzi cook, and it was
consequently uneatable; but we made the rest of the animal into a
jelly which we ate with great relish after weeks of underfeeding,
consuming incredible helpings of it at both midday and evening
meals. The only drawback is a certain want of variety in the tinned
vegetables. Dr. Jäger, to whom the Geographical Commission
entrusted the provisioning of the expeditions—mine as well as his
own—because he had more time on his hands than the rest of us,
seems to have laid in a huge stock of Teltow turnips,[46] an article of
food which is all very well for occasional use, but which quickly palls
when set before one every day; and we seem to have no other tins
left. There is no help for it—we must put up with the turnips; but I
am certain that, once I am home again, I shall not touch them for ten
years to come.
Amid all these minor evils, which, after all, go to make up the
genuine flavour of Africa, there is at least one cheering touch:
Knudsen has, with the dexterity of a skilled mechanic, repaired my 9
× 12 cm. camera, at least so far that I can use it with a little care.
How, in the absence of finger-nails, he was able to accomplish such a
ticklish piece of work, having no tool but a clumsy screw-driver for
taking to pieces and putting together again the complicated
mechanism of the instantaneous shutter, is still a mystery to me; but
he did it successfully. The loss of his finger-nails shows him in a light
contrasting curiously enough with the intelligence evinced by the
above operation; though, after all, it is scarcely surprising after his
ten years’ residence in the bush. One day, at Lindi, he had occasion
to wash a dog, which must have been in need of very thorough
cleansing, for the bottle handed to our friend for the purpose had an
extremely strong smell. Having performed his task in the most
conscientious manner, he perceived with some surprise that the dog
did not appear much the better for it, and was further surprised by
finding his own nails ulcerating away in the course of the next few
days. “How was I to know that carbolic acid has to be diluted?” he
mutters indignantly, from time to time, with a troubled gaze at his
mutilated finger-tips.
 Since we came to Newala we have been making excursions in all
directions through the surrounding country, in accordance with old
habit, and also because the akida Sefu did not get together the tribal
elders from whom I wanted information so speedily as he had
promised. There is, however, no harm done, as, even if seen only
from the outside, the country and people are interesting enough.
The Makonde plateau is like a large rectangular table rounded off
at the corners. Measured from the Indian Ocean to Newala, it is
about seventy-five miles long, and between the Rovuma and the
Lukuledi it averages fifty miles in breadth, so that its superficial area
is about two-thirds of that of the kingdom of Saxony. The surface,
however, is not level, but uniformly inclined from its south-western
edge to the ocean. From the upper edge, on which Newala lies, the
eye ranges for many miles east and north-east, without encountering
any obstacle, over the Makonde bush. It is a green sea, from which
here and there thick clouds of smoke rise, to show that it, too, is
inhabited by men who carry on their tillage like so many other
primitive peoples, by cutting down and burning the bush, and
manuring with the ashes. Even in the radiant light of a tropical day
such a fire is a grand sight.
Much less effective is the impression produced just now by the
great western plain as seen from the edge of the plateau. As often as
time permits, I stroll along this edge, sometimes in one direction,
sometimes in another, in the hope of finding the air clear enough to
let me enjoy the view; but I have always been disappointed.
Wherever one looks, clouds of smoke rise from the burning bush,
and the air is full of smoke and vapour. It is a pity, for under more
favourable circumstances the panorama of the whole country up to
the distant Majeje hills must be truly magnificent. It is of little use
taking photographs now, and an outline sketch gives a very poor idea
of the scenery. In one of these excursions I went out of my way to
make a personal attempt on the Makonde bush. The present edge of
the plateau is the result of a far-reaching process of destruction
through erosion and denudation. The Makonde strata are
everywhere cut into by ravines, which, though short, are hundreds of
yards in depth. In consequence of the loose stratification of these
beds, not only are the walls of these ravines nearly vertical, but their
upper end is closed by an equally steep escarpment, so that the
western edge of the Makonde plateau is hemmed in by a series of
deep, basin-like valleys. In order to get from one side of such a ravine
to the other, I cut my way through the bush with a dozen of my men.
It was a very open part, with more grass than scrub, but even so the
short stretch of less than two hundred yards was very hard work; at
the end of it the men’s calicoes were in rags and they themselves
bleeding from hundreds of scratches, while even our strong khaki
suits had not escaped scatheless.

NATIVE PATH THROUGH THE MAKONDE BUSH, NEAR

MAHUTA

I see increasing reason to believe that the view formed some time
back as to the origin of the Makonde bush is the correct one. I have
no doubt that it is not a natural product, but the result of human
occupation. Those parts of the high country where man—as a very
slight amount of practice enables the eye to perceive at once—has not
yet penetrated with axe and hoe, are still occupied by a splendid
timber forest quite able to sustain a comparison with our mixed
forests in Germany. But wherever man has once built his hut or tilled
his field, this horrible bush springs up. Every phase of this process
may be seen in the course of a couple of hours’ walk along the main
road. From the bush to right or left, one hears the sound of the axe—
not from one spot only, but from several directions at once. A few
steps further on, we can see what is taking place. The brush has been
cut down and piled up in heaps to the height of a yard or more,
between which the trunks of the large trees stand up like the last
pillars of a magnificent ruined building. These, too, present a
melancholy spectacle: the destructive Makonde have ringed them—
cut a broad strip of bark all round to ensure their dying off—and also
piled up pyramids of brush round them. Father and son, mother and
son-in-law, are chopping away perseveringly in the background—too
busy, almost, to look round at the white stranger, who usually excites
so much interest. If you pass by the same place a week later, the piles
of brushwood have disappeared and a thick layer of ashes has taken
the place of the green forest. The large trees stretch their
smouldering trunks and branches in dumb accusation to heaven—if
they have not already fallen and been more or less reduced to ashes,
perhaps only showing as a white stripe on the dark ground.
This work of destruction is carried out by the Makonde alike on the
virgin forest and on the bush which has sprung up on sites already
cultivated and deserted. In the second case they are saved the trouble
of burning the large trees, these being entirely absent in the
secondary bush.
After burning this piece of forest ground and loosening it with the
hoe, the native sows his corn and plants his vegetables. All over the
country, he goes in for bed-culture, which requires, and, in fact,
receives, the most careful attention. Weeds are nowhere tolerated in
the south of German East Africa. The crops may fail on the plains,
where droughts are frequent, but never on the plateau with its
abundant rains and heavy dews. Its fortunate inhabitants even have
the satisfaction of seeing the proud Wayao and Wamakua working
for them as labourers, driven by hunger to serve where they were
accustomed to rule.
But the light, sandy soil is soon exhausted, and would yield no
harvest the second year if cultivated twice running. This fact has
been familiar to the native for ages; consequently he provides in
time, and, while his crop is growing, prepares the next plot with axe
and firebrand. Next year he plants this with his various crops and
lets the first piece lie fallow. For a short time it remains waste and
desolate; then nature steps in to repair the destruction wrought by
man; a thousand new growths spring out of the exhausted soil, and
even the old stumps put forth fresh shoots. Next year the new growth
is up to one’s knees, and in a few years more it is that terrible,
impenetrable bush, which maintains its position till the black
occupier of the land has made the round of all the available sites and
come back to his starting point.
The Makonde are, body and soul, so to speak, one with this bush.
According to my Yao informants, indeed, their name means nothing
else but “bush people.” Their own tradition says that they have been
settled up here for a very long time, but to my surprise they laid great
stress on an original immigration. Their old homes were in the
south-east, near Mikindani and the mouth of the Rovuma, whence
their peaceful forefathers were driven by the continual raids of the
Sakalavas from Madagascar and the warlike Shirazis[47] of the coast,
to take refuge on the almost inaccessible plateau. I have studied
African ethnology for twenty years, but the fact that changes of
population in this apparently quiet and peaceable corner of the earth
could have been occasioned by outside enterprises taking place on
the high seas, was completely new to me. It is, no doubt, however,
correct.
The charming tribal legend of the Makonde—besides informing us
of other interesting matters—explains why they have to live in the
thickest of the bush and a long way from the edge of the plateau,
instead of making their permanent homes beside the purling brooks
and springs of the low country.
“The place where the tribe originated is Mahuta, on the southern
side of the plateau towards the Rovuma, where of old time there was
nothing but thick bush. Out of this bush came a man who never
washed himself or shaved his head, and who ate and drank but little.
He went out and made a human figure from the wood of a tree
growing in the open country, which he took home to his abode in the
bush and there set it upright. In the night this image came to life and
was a woman. The man and woman went down together to the
Rovuma to wash themselves. Here the woman gave birth to a still-
born child. They left that place and passed over the high land into the
valley of the Mbemkuru, where the woman had another child, which
was also born dead. Then they returned to the high bush country of
Mahuta, where the third child was born, which lived and grew up. In
course of time, the couple had many more children, and called
themselves Wamatanda. These were the ancestral stock of the
Makonde, also called Wamakonde,[48] i.e., aborigines. Their
forefather, the man from the bush, gave his children the command to
bury their dead upright, in memory of the mother of their race who
was cut out of wood and awoke to life when standing upright. He also
warned them against settling in the valleys and near large streams,
for sickness and death dwelt there. They were to make it a rule to
have their huts at least an hour’s walk from the nearest watering-
place; then their children would thrive and escape illness.”
The explanation of the name Makonde given by my informants is
somewhat different from that contained in the above legend, which I
extract from a little book (small, but packed with information), by
Pater Adams, entitled Lindi und sein Hinterland. Otherwise, my
results agree exactly with the statements of the legend. Washing?
Hapana—there is no such thing. Why should they do so? As it is, the
supply of water scarcely suffices for cooking and drinking; other
people do not wash, so why should the Makonde distinguish himself
by such needless eccentricity? As for shaving the head, the short,
woolly crop scarcely needs it,[49] so the second ancestral precept is
likewise easy enough to follow. Beyond this, however, there is
nothing ridiculous in the ancestor’s advice. I have obtained from
various local artists a fairly large number of figures carved in wood,
ranging from fifteen to twenty-three inches in height, and
representing women belonging to the great group of the Mavia,
Makonde, and Matambwe tribes. The carving is remarkably well
done and renders the female type with great accuracy, especially the
keloid ornamentation, to be described later on. As to the object and
meaning of their works the sculptors either could or (more probably)
would tell me nothing, and I was forced to content myself with the
scanty information vouchsafed by one man, who said that the figures
were merely intended to represent the nembo—the artificial
deformations of pelele, ear-discs, and keloids. The legend recorded
by Pater Adams places these figures in a new light. They must surely
be more than mere dolls; and we may even venture to assume that
they are—though the majority of present-day Makonde are probably
unaware of the fact—representations of the tribal ancestress.
 The references in the legend to the descent from Mahuta to the
Rovuma, and to a journey across the highlands into the Mbekuru
valley, undoubtedly indicate the previous history of the tribe, the
travels of the ancestral pair typifying the migrations of their
descendants. The descent to the neighbouring Rovuma valley, with
its extraordinary fertility and great abundance of game, is intelligible
at a glance—but the crossing of the Lukuledi depression, the ascent
to the Rondo Plateau and the descent to the Mbemkuru, also lie
within the bounds of probability, for all these districts have exactly
the same character as the extreme south. Now, however, comes a
point of especial interest for our bacteriological age. The primitive
Makonde did not enjoy their lives in the marshy river-valleys.
Disease raged among them, and many died. It was only after they
had returned to their original home near Mahuta, that the health
conditions of these people improved. We are very apt to think of the
African as a stupid person whose ignorance of nature is only equalled
by his fear of it, and who looks on all mishaps as caused by evil
spirits and malignant natural powers. It is much more correct to
assume in this case that the people very early learnt to distinguish
districts infested with malaria from those where it is absent.
This knowledge is crystallized in the
ancestral warning against settling in the
valleys and near the great waters, the
dwelling-places of disease and death. At the
same time, for security against the hostile
Mavia south of the Rovuma, it was enacted
that every settlement must be not less than a
certain distance from the southern edge of the
plateau. Such in fact is their mode of life at the
present day. It is not such a bad one, and
certainly they are both safer and more
comfortable than the Makua, the recent
intruders from the south, who have made USUAL METHOD OF
good their footing on the western edge of the CLOSING HUT-DOOR
plateau, extending over a fairly wide belt of
country. Neither Makua nor Makonde show in their dwellings
anything of the size and comeliness of the Yao houses in the plain,
especially at Masasi, Chingulungulu and Zuza’s. Jumbe Chauro, a
Makonde hamlet not far from Newala, on the road to Mahuta, is the
most important settlement of the tribe I have yet seen, and has fairly
spacious huts. But how slovenly is their construction compared with
the palatial residences of the elephant-hunters living in the plain.
The roofs are still more untidy than in the general run of huts during
the dry season, the walls show here and there the scanty beginnings
or the lamentable remains of the mud plastering, and the interior is a
veritable dog-kennel; dirt, dust and disorder everywhere. A few huts
only show any attempt at division into rooms, and this consists
merely of very roughly-made bamboo partitions. In one point alone
have I noticed any indication of progress—in the method of fastening
the door. Houses all over the south are secured in a simple but
ingenious manner. The door consists of a set of stout pieces of wood
or bamboo, tied with bark-string to two cross-pieces, and moving in
two grooves round one of the door-posts, so as to open inwards. If
the owner wishes to leave home, he takes two logs as thick as a man’s
upper arm and about a yard long. One of these is placed obliquely
against the middle of the door from the inside, so as to form an angle
of from 60° to 75° with the ground. He then places the second piece
horizontally across the first, pressing it downward with all his might.
It is kept in place by two strong posts planted in the ground a few
inches inside the door. This fastening is absolutely safe, but of course
cannot be applied to both doors at once, otherwise how could the
owner leave or enter his house? I have not yet succeeded in finding
out how the back door is fastened.

MAKONDE LOCK AND KEY AT JUMBE CHAURO

 This is the general way of closing a house. The Makonde at Jumbe
Chauro, however, have a much more complicated, solid and original
one. Here, too, the door is as already described, except that there is
only one post on the inside, standing by itself about six inches from
one side of the doorway. Opposite this post is a hole in the wall just
large enough to admit a man’s arm. The door is closed inside by a
large wooden bolt passing through a hole in this post and pressing
with its free end against the door. The other end has three holes into
which fit three pegs running in vertical grooves inside the post. The
door is opened with a wooden key about a foot long, somewhat
curved and sloped off at the butt; the other end has three pegs
corresponding to the holes, in the bolt, so that, when it is thrust
through the hole in the wall and inserted into the rectangular
opening in the post, the pegs can be lifted and the bolt drawn out.[50]

MODE OF INSERTING THE KEY

With no small pride first one householder and then a second

showed me on the spot the action of this greatest invention of the
Makonde Highlands. To both with an admiring exclamation of
“Vizuri sana!” (“Very fine!”). I expressed the wish to take back these
marvels with me to Ulaya, to show the Wazungu what clever fellows
the Makonde are. Scarcely five minutes after my return to camp at
Newala, the two men came up sweating under the weight of two
heavy logs which they laid down at my feet, handing over at the same
time the keys of the fallen fortress. Arguing, logically enough, that if
the key was wanted, the lock would be wanted with it, they had taken
their axes and chopped down the posts—as it never occurred to them
to dig them out of the ground and so bring them intact. Thus I have
two badly damaged specimens, and the owners, instead of praise,
come in for a blowing-up.
The Makua huts in the environs of Newala are especially
miserable; their more than slovenly construction reminds one of the
temporary erections of the Makua at Hatia’s, though the people here
have not been concerned in a war. It must therefore be due to
congenital idleness, or else to the absence of a powerful chief. Even
the baraza at Mlipa’s, a short hour’s walk south-east of Newala,
shares in this general neglect. While public buildings in this country
are usually looked after more or less carefully, this is in evident
danger of being blown over by the first strong easterly gale. The only
attractive object in this whole district is the grave of the late chief
Mlipa. I visited it in the morning, while the sun was still trying with
partial success to break through the rolling mists, and the circular
grove of tall euphorbias, which, with a broken pot, is all that marks
the old king’s resting-place, impressed one with a touch of pathos.
Even my very materially-minded carriers seemed to feel something
of the sort, for instead of their usual ribald songs, they chanted
solemnly, as we marched on through the dense green of the Makonde
bush:—
 “We shall arrive with the great master; we stand in a row and have
no fear about getting our food and our money from the Serkali (the
Government). We are not afraid; we are going along with the great
master, the lion; we are going down to the coast and back.”
With regard to the characteristic features of the various tribes here
on the western edge of the plateau, I can arrive at no other
conclusion than the one already come to in the plain, viz., that it is
impossible for anyone but a trained anthropologist to assign any
given individual at once to his proper tribe. In fact, I think that even
an anthropological specialist, after the most careful examination,
might find it a difficult task to decide. The whole congeries of peoples
collected in the region bounded on the west by the great Central
African rift, Tanganyika and Nyasa, and on the east by the Indian
Ocean, are closely related to each other—some of their languages are
only distinguished from one another as dialects of the same speech,
and no doubt all the tribes present the same shape of skull and
structure of skeleton. Thus, surely, there can be no very striking
differences in outward appearance.
 Even did such exist, I should have no time
to concern myself with them, for day after day,
I have to see or hear, as the case may be—in
any case to grasp and record—an
extraordinary number of ethnographic
phenomena. I am almost disposed to think it
fortunate that some departments of inquiry, at
least, are barred by external circumstances.
Chief among these is the subject of iron-
working. We are apt to think of Africa as a
country where iron ore is everywhere, so to
speak, to be picked up by the roadside, and
where it would be quite surprising if the
inhabitants had not learnt to smelt the
material ready to their hand. In fact, the
knowledge of this art ranges all over the
continent, from the Kabyles in the north to the
Kafirs in the south. Here between the Rovuma
and the Lukuledi the conditions are not so
favourable. According to the statements of the
Makonde, neither ironstone nor any other
form of iron ore is known to them. They have
not therefore advanced to the art of smelting
the metal, but have hitherto bought all their
THE ANCESTRESS OF
THE MAKONDE
iron implements from neighbouring tribes.
Even in the plain the inhabitants are not much
better off. Only one man now living is said to
understand the art of smelting iron. This old fundi lives close to
Huwe, that isolated, steep-sided block of granite which rises out of
the green solitude between Masasi and Chingulungulu, and whose
jagged and splintered top meets the traveller’s eye everywhere. While
still at Masasi I wished to see this man at work, but was told that,
frightened by the rising, he had retired across the Rovuma, though
he would soon return. All subsequent inquiries as to whether the
fundi had come back met with the genuine African answer, “Bado”
(“Not yet”).
 BRAZIER

Some consolation was afforded me by a brassfounder, whom I

came across in the bush near Akundonde’s. This man is the favourite
of women, and therefore no doubt of the gods; he welds the glittering
brass rods purchased at the coast into those massive, heavy rings
which, on the wrists and ankles of the local fair ones, continually give
me fresh food for admiration. Like every decent master-craftsman he
had all his tools with him, consisting of a pair of bellows, three
crucibles and a hammer—nothing more, apparently. He was quite
willing to show his skill, and in a twinkling had fixed his bellows on
the ground. They are simply two goat-skins, taken off whole, the four
legs being closed by knots, while the upper opening, intended to
admit the air, is kept stretched by two pieces of wood. At the lower
end of the skin a smaller opening is left into which a wooden tube is
stuck. The fundi has quickly borrowed a heap of wood-embers from
the nearest hut; he then fixes the free ends of the two tubes into an
earthen pipe, and clamps them to the ground by means of a bent
piece of wood. Now he fills one of his small clay crucibles, the dross
on which shows that they have been long in use, with the yellow
material, places it in the midst of the embers, which, at present are
only faintly glimmering, and begins his work. In quick alternation
the smith’s two hands move up and down with the open ends of the
bellows; as he raises his hand he holds the slit wide open, so as to let
the air enter the skin bag unhindered. In pressing it down he closes
the bag, and the air puffs through the bamboo tube and clay pipe into
the fire, which quickly burns up. The smith, however, does not keep
on with this work, but beckons to another man, who relieves him at
the bellows, while he takes some more tools out of a large skin pouch
carried on his back. I look on in wonder as, with a smooth round
stick about the thickness of a finger, he bores a few vertical holes into
the clean sand of the soil. This should not be difficult, yet the man
seems to be taking great pains over it. Then he fastens down to the
ground, with a couple of wooden clamps, a neat little trough made by
splitting a joint of bamboo in half, so that the ends are closed by the
two knots. At last the yellow metal has attained the right consistency,
and the fundi lifts the crucible from the fire by means of two sticks
split at the end to serve as tongs. A short swift turn to the left—a
tilting of the crucible—and the molten brass, hissing and giving forth
clouds of smoke, flows first into the bamboo mould and then into the
holes in the ground.
The technique of this backwoods craftsman may not be very far
advanced, but it cannot be denied that he knows how to obtain an
adequate result by the simplest means. The ladies of highest rank in
this country—that is to say, those who can afford it, wear two kinds
of these massive brass rings, one cylindrical, the other semicircular
in section. The latter are cast in the most ingenious way in the
bamboo mould, the former in the circular hole in the sand. It is quite
a simple matter for the fundi to fit these bars to the limbs of his fair
customers; with a few light strokes of his hammer he bends the
pliable brass round arm or ankle without further inconvenience to
the wearer.
SHAPING THE POT

SMOOTHING WITH MAIZE-COB

CUTTING THE EDGE

 FINISHING THE BOTTOM

LAST SMOOTHING BEFORE

BURNING

FIRING THE BRUSH-PILE

 LIGHTING THE FARTHER SIDE OF
THE PILE

TURNING THE RED-HOT VESSEL

NYASA WOMAN MAKING POTS AT MASASI

Pottery is an art which must always and everywhere excite the
interest of the student, just because it is so intimately connected with
the development of human culture, and because its relics are one of
the principal factors in the reconstruction of our own condition in
prehistoric times. I shall always remember with pleasure the two or
three afternoons at Masasi when Salim Matola’s mother, a slightly-
built, graceful, pleasant-looking woman, explained to me with
touching patience, by means of concrete illustrations, the ceramic art
of her people. The only implements for this primitive process were a
lump of clay in her left hand, and in the right a calabash containing
the following valuables: the fragment of a maize-cob stripped of all
its grains, a smooth, oval pebble, about the size of a pigeon’s egg, a
few chips of gourd-shell, a bamboo splinter about the length of one’s
hand, a small shell, and a bunch of some herb resembling spinach.
 Nothing more. The woman scraped with the
shell a round, shallow hole in the soft, fine
sand of the soil, and, when an active young
girl had filled the calabash with water for her,
she began to knead the clay. As if by magic it
gradually assumed the shape of a rough but
already well-shaped vessel, which only wanted
a little touching up with the instruments
before mentioned. I looked out with the
MAKUA WOMAN closest attention for any indication of the use
MAKING A POT. of the potter’s wheel, in however rudimentary
SHOWS THE a form, but no—hapana (there is none). The
BEGINNINGS OF THE embryo pot stood firmly in its little
POTTER’S WHEEL
depression, and the woman walked round it in
a stooping posture, whether she was removing
small stones or similar foreign bodies with the maize-cob, smoothing
the inner or outer surface with the splinter of bamboo, or later, after
letting it dry for a day, pricking in the ornamentation with a pointed
bit of gourd-shell, or working out the bottom, or cutting the edge
with a sharp bamboo knife, or giving the last touches to the finished
vessel. This occupation of the women is infinitely toilsome, but it is
without doubt an accurate reproduction of the process in use among
our ancestors of the Neolithic and Bronze ages.
There is no doubt that the invention of pottery, an item in human
progress whose importance cannot be over-estimated, is due to
women. Rough, coarse and unfeeling, the men of the horde range
over the countryside. When the united cunning of the hunters has
succeeded in killing the game; not one of them thinks of carrying
home the spoil. A bright fire, kindled by a vigorous wielding of the
drill, is crackling beside them; the animal has been cleaned and cut
up secundum artem, and, after a slight singeing, will soon disappear
under their sharp teeth; no one all this time giving a single thought
to wife or child.
To what shifts, on the other hand, the primitive wife, and still more
the primitive mother, was put! Not even prehistoric stomachs could
endure an unvarying diet of raw food. Something or other suggested
the beneficial effect of hot water on the majority of approved but
indigestible dishes. Perhaps a neighbour had tried holding the hard
roots or tubers over the fire in a calabash filled with water—or maybe
an ostrich-egg-shell, or a hastily improvised vessel of bark. They
became much softer and more palatable than they had previously
been; but, unfortunately, the vessel could not stand the fire and got
charred on the outside. That can be remedied, thought our
ancestress, and plastered a layer of wet clay round a similar vessel.
This is an improvement; the cooking utensil remains uninjured, but
the heat of the fire has shrunk it, so that it is loose in its shell. The
next step is to detach it, so, with a firm grip and a jerk, shell and
kernel are separated, and pottery is invented. Perhaps, however, the
discovery which led to an intelligent use of the burnt-clay shell, was
made in a slightly different way. Ostrich-eggs and calabashes are not
to be found in every part of the world, but everywhere mankind has
arrived at the art of making baskets out of pliant materials, such as
bark, bast, strips of palm-leaf, supple twigs, etc. Our inventor has no
water-tight vessel provided by nature. “Never mind, let us line the
basket with clay.” This answers the purpose, but alas! the basket gets
burnt over the blazing fire, the woman watches the process of
cooking with increasing uneasiness, fearing a leak, but no leak
appears. The food, done to a turn, is eaten with peculiar relish; and
the cooking-vessel is examined, half in curiosity, half in satisfaction
at the result. The plastic clay is now hard as stone, and at the same
time looks exceedingly well, for the neat plaiting of the burnt basket
is traced all over it in a pretty pattern. Thus, simultaneously with
pottery, its ornamentation was invented.
Primitive woman has another claim to respect. It was the man,
roving abroad, who invented the art of producing fire at will, but the
woman, unable to imitate him in this, has been a Vestal from the
earliest times. Nothing gives so much trouble as the keeping alight of
the smouldering brand, and, above all, when all the men are absent
from the camp. Heavy rain-clouds gather, already the first large
drops are falling, the first gusts of the storm rage over the plain. The
little flame, a greater anxiety to the woman than her own children,
flickers unsteadily in the blast. What is to be done? A sudden thought
occurs to her, and in an instant she has constructed a primitive hut
out of strips of bark, to protect the flame against rain and wind.
This, or something very like it, was the way in which the principle
of the house was discovered; and even the most hardened misogynist
cannot fairly refuse a woman the credit of it. The protection of the
hearth-fire from the weather is the germ from which the human
dwelling was evolved. Men had little, if any share, in this forward
step, and that only at a late stage. Even at the present day, the
plastering of the housewall with clay and the manufacture of pottery
are exclusively the women’s business. These are two very significant
survivals. Our European kitchen-garden, too, is originally a woman’s
invention, and the hoe, the primitive instrument of agriculture, is,
characteristically enough, still used in this department. But the
noblest achievement which we owe to the other sex is unquestionably
the art of cookery. Roasting alone—the oldest process—is one for
which men took the hint (a very obvious one) from nature. It must
have been suggested by the scorched carcase of some animal
overtaken by the destructive forest-fires. But boiling—the process of
improving organic substances by the help of water heated to boiling-
point—is a much later discovery. It is so recent that it has not even
yet penetrated to all parts of the world. The Polynesians understand
how to steam food, that is, to cook it, neatly wrapped in leaves, in a
hole in the earth between hot stones, the air being excluded, and
(sometimes) a few drops of water sprinkled on the stones; but they
do not understand boiling.
To come back from this digression, we find that the slender Nyasa
woman has, after once more carefully examining the finished pot,
put it aside in the shade to dry. On the following day she sends me
word by her son, Salim Matola, who is always on hand, that she is
going to do the burning, and, on coming out of my house, I find her
already hard at work. She has spread on the ground a layer of very
dry sticks, about as thick as one’s thumb, has laid the pot (now of a
yellowish-grey colour) on them, and is piling brushwood round it.
My faithful Pesa mbili, the mnyampara, who has been standing by,
most obligingly, with a lighted stick, now hands it to her. Both of
them, blowing steadily, light the pile on the lee side, and, when the
flame begins to catch, on the weather side also. Soon the whole is in a
blaze, but the dry fuel is quickly consumed and the fire dies down, so
that we see the red-hot vessel rising from the ashes. The woman
turns it continually with a long stick, sometimes one way and
sometimes another, so that it may be evenly heated all over. In
twenty minutes she rolls it out of the ash-heap, takes up the bundle
of spinach, which has been lying for two days in a jar of water, and
sprinkles the red-hot clay with it. The places where the drops fall are
marked by black spots on the uniform reddish-brown surface. With a
sigh of relief, and with visible satisfaction, the woman rises to an
erect position; she is standing just in a line between me and the fire,
from which a cloud of smoke is just rising: I press the ball of my
camera, the shutter clicks—the apotheosis is achieved! Like a
priestess, representative of her inventive sex, the graceful woman
stands: at her feet the hearth-fire she has given us beside her the
invention she has devised for us, in the background the home she has
built for us.
At Newala, also, I have had the manufacture of pottery carried on
in my presence. Technically the process is better than that already
described, for here we find the beginnings of the potter’s wheel,
which does not seem to exist in the plains; at least I have seen
nothing of the sort. The artist, a frightfully stupid Makua woman, did
not make a depression in the ground to receive the pot she was about
to shape, but used instead a large potsherd. Otherwise, she went to
work in much the same way as Salim’s mother, except that she saved
herself the trouble of walking round and round her work by squatting
at her ease and letting the pot and potsherd rotate round her; this is
surely the first step towards a machine. But it does not follow that
the pot was improved by the process. It is true that it was beautifully
rounded and presented a very creditable appearance when finished,
but the numerous large and small vessels which I have seen, and, in
part, collected, in the “less advanced” districts, are no less so. We
moderns imagine that instruments of precision are necessary to
produce excellent results. Go to the prehistoric collections of our
museums and look at the pots, urns and bowls of our ancestors in the
dim ages of the past, and you will at once perceive your error.
MAKING LONGITUDINAL CUT IN
BARK

DRAWING THE BARK OFF THE LOG

REMOVING THE OUTER BARK

 BEATING THE BARK

WORKING THE BARK-CLOTH AFTER BEATING, TO MAKE IT

SOFT

MANUFACTURE OF BARK-CLOTH AT NEWALA

To-day, nearly the whole population of German East Africa is
clothed in imported calico. This was not always the case; even now in
some parts of the north dressed skins are still the prevailing wear,
and in the north-western districts—east and north of Lake
Tanganyika—lies a zone where bark-cloth has not yet been
superseded. Probably not many generations have passed since such
bark fabrics and kilts of skins were the only clothing even in the
south. Even to-day, large quantities of this bright-red or drab
material are still to be found; but if we wish to see it, we must look in
the granaries and on the drying stages inside the native huts, where
it serves less ambitious uses as wrappings for those seeds and fruits
which require to be packed with special care. The salt produced at
Masasi, too, is packed for transport to a distance in large sheets of
bark-cloth. Wherever I found it in any degree possible, I studied the
process of making this cloth. The native requisitioned for the
purpose arrived, carrying a log between two and three yards long and
as thick as his thigh, and nothing else except a curiously-shaped
mallet and the usual long, sharp and pointed knife which all men and
boys wear in a belt at their backs without a sheath—horribile dictu!
[51]
Silently he squats down before me, and with two rapid cuts has
drawn a couple of circles round the log some two yards apart, and
slits the bark lengthwise between them with the point of his knife.
With evident care, he then scrapes off the outer rind all round the
log, so that in a quarter of an hour the inner red layer of the bark
shows up brightly-coloured between the two untouched ends. With
some trouble and much caution, he now loosens the bark at one end,
and opens the cylinder. He then stands up, takes hold of the free
edge with both hands, and turning it inside out, slowly but steadily
pulls it off in one piece. Now comes the troublesome work of
scraping all superfluous particles of outer bark from the outside of
the long, narrow piece of material, while the inner side is carefully
scrutinised for defective spots. At last it is ready for beating. Having
signalled to a friend, who immediately places a bowl of water beside
him, the artificer damps his sheet of bark all over, seizes his mallet,
lays one end of the stuff on the smoothest spot of the log, and
hammers away slowly but continuously. “Very simple!” I think to
myself. “Why, I could do that, too!”—but I am forced to change my
opinions a little later on; for the beating is quite an art, if the fabric is
not to be beaten to pieces. To prevent the breaking of the fibres, the
stuff is several times folded across, so as to interpose several
thicknesses between the mallet and the block. At last the required
state is reached, and the fundi seizes the sheet, still folded, by both
ends, and wrings it out, or calls an assistant to take one end while he
holds the other. The cloth produced in this way is not nearly so fine
and uniform in texture as the famous Uganda bark-cloth, but it is
quite soft, and, above all, cheap.
Now, too, I examine the mallet. My craftsman has been using the
simpler but better form of this implement, a conical block of some
hard wood, its base—the striking surface—being scored across and
across with more or less deeply-cut grooves, and the handle stuck
into a hole in the middle. The other and earlier form of mallet is
shaped in the same way, but the head is fastened by an ingenious
network of bark strips into the split bamboo serving as a handle. The
observation so often made, that ancient customs persist longest in
connection with religious ceremonies and in the life of children, here
finds confirmation. As we shall soon see, bark-cloth is still worn
during the unyago,[52] having been prepared with special solemn
ceremonies; and many a mother, if she has no other garment handy,
will still put her little one into a kilt of bark-cloth, which, after all,
looks better, besides being more in keeping with its African
surroundings, than the ridiculous bit of print from Ulaya.
MAKUA WOMEN