in Texas; and by means of a line from Memphis to Birmingham it gave entrance into the heart of the South. In brief, it filled the gaps in the southeastern part of the Rock Island system, and afforded a solid foundation for further expansion. Good authorities consider the price which the Rock Island gave for the Frisco to have been too high. It is certain that the Frisco stockholders jumped at the chance. By June 1, 1903, the necessary $22,500,000 worth of stock had given their consent and only technical details remained to be carried through.[669] With the St. Louis & San Francisco under its control the Rock Island could make a final advance to the Gulf. An attempt to complete a road through Texas occurred simultaneously with the Frisco purchase in 1903. The Moores, that is, arranged with the Southern Pacific for the purchase of a half-interest in the Houston & Texas Central, from Fort Worth to Houston and Galveston, with a branch to Austin, Texas; the Houston, East & West Texas, extending north from Houston to Shreveport, Louisiana; and the Texas & New Orleans, from Dallas to Sabine Lake on the Gulf of Mexico. As a part of the agreement the presidents of these lines were to be selected by the Rock Island Company.[670] This would have established a line to the coast in a very satisfactory manner. Connection between Dallas and Fort Worth was to be completed in December, 1903, and from this point the two lines of the Houston & Texas Central and the Texas & New Orleans would have furnished direct outlets to the Gulf. The scheme did not go through, because the Texas Railroad Commissioners pronounced the contracts contrary to the state constitution, in that they amounted to a consolidation of the corporations concerned, and to the establishment of a community of interest between the Rock Island and the Southern Pacific, which would preclude competition between them in respect to their Texas business.[671] The Rock Island was at first disposed to test part of the decision in the courts.[672] It later decided that discretion was the better part of valor, stopped the transaction, and cancelled the stock which it had issued as part of the purchase price.[673] What the company could not do in Texas it could do, however, in Missouri, Louisiana, and Arkansas. As early as November, 1902, the St. Louis & San Francisco had purchased the entire capital stock of the St. Louis, Memphis & Southeastern Railroad, a line which was opened from St. Louis in 1904 to a junction with a branch of the Frisco above Memphis. From Memphis the Kansas City, Memphis & Birmingham stretched southeast through Mississippi into Alabama. These roads formed a basis for extension which was practicable though less convenient than the western route. Accordingly, in 1904, trackage agreements were concluded which gave to the Rock Island system: