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Texas offered a new beginning for many people coming to America. There was much land and other rich natural resources available to those who could wrestle a living by using hand tools and animal power. A labor vacuum was created by having so many materials and so little human labor to exploit it. Into this void were swept hundreds of thousands of people, some voluntary, some against their will, but all contributing to the making of America and Texas. How this labor shortage was solved impacts almost every American and Texan, today.

The U.S. treasury has sent $139 billion to the country’s state and local governments in COVID-19 relief funds, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Government.

The young man from Meridian, Texas stood in the doorway of the English professor’s office and eagerly awaited the assessment of his treasures by the esteemed master. His “treasures”, a bundle of folk songs written on scratch pads, backs of envelopes and pieces of cardboard. He had come to Austin with his collection of cowboy tunes tied with a cotton string in the bottom of his trunk. Since the age of nine, he had been writing the songs down. His father’s farm bordering the Bosque River and a branch of the Chisholm Trail was a popular crossing for the longhorns being driven to northern markets. In fact, trail herds would often spend several days in the area to rest and drink from the sparkling river. The boy would listen to the songs sung by the cowboys and would immediately write them on what ever was handy.