Have held the scale of empire, ruled the storm The plow and greatly independent lived." As an agricultural region, Missouri is not surpassed by any State in the Union. It is indeed the farmer's kingdom, where he always reaps an abundant harvest. The soil, in many portions of the State, has an open, flexible structure, quickly absorbs the most excessive rains, and retains moisture with great tenacity. This being the case, it is not so easily affected by drouth. The prairies are covered with sweet, luxuriant grass, equally good for grazing and hay; grass not surpassed by the Kentucky blue grass-the best of clover and timothy in growing and fattening cattle. This grass is now as full of life-giving nutriment as it was when cropped by the buffalo, the elk, the antelope and the deer, and costs the herdsman nothing. No State or Territory has a more complete and rapid system of natural drainage, or a more abundant supply of pure, fresh water than Missouri. Both man and beast may slake their thirst from a thousand perennial fountains, which gush in limpid streams from the hill-sides, and wend their way through verdant valleys and along smiling prairies, varying in size, as they onward flow, from the diminutive brooklet to the giant river. Here, nature has generously bestowed her attractions of climate, soil and scenery to please and gratify man while earning his bread in the sweat of his brow. Being thus munificently endowed, Missouri offers superior inducements to the farmer, and bids him enter her broad domain and avail himself of her varied ré sources. We present here a table showing the product of each principal crop in Missouri for 1878. There were 3,552,000 acres in corn; wheat, 1,836,000; rye, 48,800: oats, 640,000; buckwheat, 2,900; potatoes, 72, 200; tobacco, 29,900; hay, 850,000. Value of each crop: corn, $24, 196, 224; wheat, $13,531,320; rye, $300, 120; oats, $3,325,120; buckwheat, $24, 128; potatoes, $2,057,700; tobacco, $1,151,I50; hay, $ro,416,600. Average cash value of crops per acre, $7.69; average yield of corn per acre, 26 bushels; wheat, II bushels. Next in importance to the corn crop in value is live stock. The following table shows the number of horses, mules and milch cows in the different States It will be seen from the above table, that Missouri is the fifth State in the number of horses; fifth in number of milch-cows, and the leading State in number of mules, having 11,700 more than Texas, which produces the next largest number. Of oxen and other cattle, Missouri produced in 1879, 1,632,000, which was more than any other State produced excepting Texas, which had 4,800,000. In 1879 Missouri raised 2,817,600 hogs, which was more than any other State produced, excepting Iowa. The number of sheep, was 1,296,400. ber of hogs packed in 1879, by the different States, is as follows: The num From the above, it will be seen that Missouri annually packs more hogs than any other State excepting Illinois, and that she ranks third in the average weight. We see no reason why Missouri should not be the foremost stock-raising State of the Union. In addition to the enormous yield of corn and oats upon which the stock is largely dependent, the climate is well adapted to their growth and health. Water is not only inexhaustible, but everywhere convenient. The ranges for stock are boundless, affording for nine months of the year, excellent pasturage of nutritious wild grasses, which grow in great luxuriance upon the thousand prairies. Cotton is grown successfully in many counties of the southeastern portions of the State, especially in Stoddard, Scott, Pemiscot, Butler, New Madrid, Lawrence and Mississippi. table. Sweet potatoes are produced in abundance and are not only sure but profi Broom corn, sorghum, castor beans, white beans, peas, hops, thrive well, and all kinds of garden vegetables, are produced in great abundance and are found in the markets during all seasons of the year. Fruits of every variety, including the apple, pear, peach, cherries, apricots and nectarines, are cultivated with great success, as are also, the strawberry, gooseberry, currant, raspberry and black berry. The grape has not been produced, with that success that was at first anticipated, yet the yield of wine for the year 1879, was nearly half a million of gallons. Grapes do well in Kansas, and we see no reason why they should not be as surely and profitably grown in a similar climate and soil in Missouri, and particularly in many of the counties north and east of the Missouri River. RAILROADS. Twenty-nine years ago, the neigh of the iron horse" was heard for the first time, within the broad domain of Missouri. His coming presaged the dawn of a brighter and grander era in the history of the State. Her fertile prairies, and more prolific valleys would soon be of easy access to the oncoming tide of immigration, and the ores and minerals of her hills and mountains would be developed, and utilized in her manufacturing and industrials enterprises. Additional facilities would be opened to the marts of trade and commerce; transportation from the interior of the State would be secured; a fresh impetus would be given to the growth of her towns and cities, and new hopes and inspirations would be imparted to all her people. Since 1852, the initial period of railroad building in Missouri, between four and five thousand miles of track have been laid; additional roads are now being constructed, and many others in contemplation. The State is already well supplied with railroads which thread her surface in all directions, bringing her remotest districts into close connection with St. Louis, that great center of western railroads and inland commerce. These roads have a capital stock, aggregating more than one hundred millions of dollars, and a funded debt of about the same amount. The lines of railroads which are operated in the State are the following: Missouri Pacific-chartered May 10th, 1850; The St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railroad, which is a consolidation of the Arkansas Branch; The Cairo, Arkansas & Texas Railroad. The Cairo & Fulton Railroad: The St. Louis, Kansas City & Northern Railway; St. Louis & San Francisco Railway; The Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad; The Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad; The Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad; The Illinois, Missouri & Texas Railroad; The Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs Railroad; The Keokuk & Kansas City Railway Company; The St. Louis, Salem & Little Rock Rail road Company; The Missouri & Western; The St. Louis, Keokuk & Northwestern Railroad; The St. Louis, Hannibal & Keokuk Railroad; The Missouri, Iowa & Nebraska Railway; The Quincy, Missouri & Pacific Railroad; The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway; The Burlington & Southwestern Railroad. MANUFACTURES. The natural resources of Missouri especially fit her for a great manufacturing State. She is rich in soil; rich in all the elements which supply the furnace, the machine shop and the planing mill; rich in the multitude and variety of her gi. gantic forests; rich in her marble, stone and granite quarries; rich in her mines of iron, coal, lead and zinc; rich in strong arms and willing hands to apply the force; rich in water power and river navigation; and rich in her numerous and well-built railroads, whose numberless engines thunder along their multiplied trackways. Missouri contains over fourteen thousand manufacturing establishments, 1,965 of which are using steam and give employment to 80,000 hands. The capital employed is about $100,000,000, the material annually used and worked up, amounts to over $150,000,000 and the value of the products put upon the markets $250,000,000, while the wages paid, are more than $40,000,000. The leading manufacturing counties of the State, are St. Louis, Jackson, Buchanan, St. Charles, Marion, Franklin, Green, Lafayette, Platte, Cape Giardeau, and Boone. Three-fourths, however, of the manufacturing is done in St. Louis, which is now about the second manufacturing city of the Union. Flouring mills produce annually about $38, 194,000; carpentering $18,763,000; meat-packing $16,769,000; tobacco $12,496,000; iron and castings $12,000,000; liquors $11,245,000; clothing $10,022,000; lumber $8,652,000; bagging and bags $6,914,ooo, and many other smaller industries in proportion. GREAT BRIDGE AT ST. LOUIS. Of the many public improvements which do honor to the State and reflect great credit upon the genius of their projectors, we have space only, to mention the great bridge at St. Louis. The This truly wonderful construction is built of tubular steel, total length of which, with its approaches, is 6,277 feet, at a cost of nearly $8,000,000. bridge spans the Mississippi from the Illinois to the Missouri shore, and has separate railroad tracts, roadways, and foot paths. In durability, architectural beauty and practical utility, there is, perhaps, no similar piece of workmanship that approximates it. The structure of Darius upon the Bosphorus; of Xerxes upon the Hellespont; of Cæsar upon the Rhine; and Trajan upon the Danube, famous in ancient history, were built for military purposes, that over them might pass invading armies with their munitions of war, to destroy commerce, to lay in waste the provinces, and to slaughter the people. But the erection of this was for a higher and nobler purpose. Over it are coming the trade and merchandise of the opulent East, and thence are passing the untold riches of the West. Over it are crowding legions of men, armed not with the weapons of war, but the implements of peace and industry; men who are skilled in all the arts of agriculture, of manufacture and of mining; men who will hasten the day when St. Louis shall rank in population and importance, second to no city on the continent, and when Missouri shall proudly fill the measure of greatness, to which she is naturally so justly entitled. CHAPTER XI. EDUCATION. Public School System-Public School System of Missouri-Lincoln Institute-Officers of Public School System-Certificates of Teachers-University of Missouri-Schools-Colleges-Institu tions of Learning – Location—Libraries-Newspapers and Periodicals-No. of School Chil dren—Amount Expended — Value of Grounds and Buildings—“The Press." The first constitution of Missouri provided, that "one school or more, shall be established in each township, as soon as practicable and necessary, where the poor shall be taught gratis." It will be seen that even at that early day, (1820), the framers of the con stitution made provision for at least a primary education, for the poorest and the humblest, taking it for granted that those who were able would avail themselves of educational advantages which were not gratuitous. The establishment of the public school system in its essential features, was not perfected until 1839, during the administration of Governor Boggs, and since that period, the system has slowly grown into favor, not only in Missouri, but throughout the United States. The idea of a free or public school for all classes was not at first a popular one, especially among those who had the means to patronize private institutions of learning. In upholding and maintaining public schools, the opponents of the system felt that they were not only compromising their own standing among their more wealthy neighbors, but that they were to some extent, bringing opprobrium upon their children. Entertaining such prejudices they naturally thought that the training received in public schools, could not be otherwise than defective, hence many years of probation passed, before the popular mind was prepared to appreciate the benefits and blessings which spring from these institutions. Every year only adds to their popularity, and commends them the more earnestly to the fostering care of our State and National Legislatures, and to the esteem and favor of all classes of our people. We can hardly conceive of two grander and more potent promoters of civilization, than the free school and the free press. They would indeed seem to con stitute all that was necessary to the attainment of the happiness and intellectual growth of the Republic and all that was necessary to broaden, to liberalize and instruct. * * * * "Tis education forms the common mind; But to see right maintained by the laws." All the States of the Union, have in practical operation the public school system, governed in the main by similar laws, and not differing materially in the manner and methods by which they are taught, but none have a wiser, a more liberal and comprehensive machinery of instruction than Missouri. Her school laws since 1839, have undergone many changes, and always for the better, keep |