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. Sweet potatoes are produced in abundance and are not only sure but profitable. 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 blackberry. 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 ume, 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 & Texis 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 cap. ital 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, Buc. hanan, 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 Chudren-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 ing pice with the most enlightened and advanced theories of the most experienced ed icators in the land. But not until 1875, when the new constitution was adopte 1, did her present admirable system of public instruction go into effect. Provisions were made not only for white, but for children of African descent, and are a part of the organic law, not subject to the caprices of unfriendly legislatures, or the whims of political parties. The Lincoln Institute, located at Jefferson Ci y, for the education of colored teachers, receives an annual appropriation from the General Assembly. For the support of the public schools, in addition to the annual income derived from the public school fund, which is set apart by law, not less than twentyfive per cent. of the State revenue, exclusive of the interest and sinking fund, is annually applied to this purpose. The officers having in charge the public school interests, are the State "Board of Education;" the State Superintendent; County Superintendent; County Clerk and Treasurer; Board of Directors; City and Town School Board: and Teacher. The State Board of Education is composed of the State Superintendent, the Governor, Secretary of State and the Attorney General, the execu tive officer of this Board, being the State Superintendent, who is chosen by the people every four years. His duties are numerous. He renders decisions concerning the local application of school law; keeps a record of all the school funds and annually distributes the same to the counties; supervises the work of county school officers; delivers lectures; visits schools; distributes educational information; grants certificates of higher qualifications; and makes an annual report to the General Assembly of the condition of the schools. The County Superintendents are also elected by the people for two years. Their work is to examine teachers, to distribute blanks and make reports. Count ty clerks receive estimates from the local directors and extend them upon the tax-books. In addition to this, they keep the general records of the county and township school funds, and return an annual report of the financial condition of the schools of their county to the State Superintendent. School taxes are gathered with other taxes by the county collector. The custodian of the school funds belonging to the schools of the counties, is the county treasurer, except in counties adopting the township organization, in which case, the township trustee discharges these duties. Districts organized under the special law for cities and towns are governed by a board of six directors, two of whom are selected annually, on the second Saturday in September, and hold their office for three years. One director is elected to serve for three years in each school district, at the annual meeting. These directors may levy a tax not exceeding forty per cent. on the one hundred dollars valuation, provided such annual rates for school purposes may be increased in districts formed of cities and towns, to an amount not to exceed one dollar on the hundred dollars valuation; and in other districts to an amount not to exceed sixty five cents on the one hundred dollars valuation, on the condition that a majority of the voters who are tax-payers, voting at an election held to decide the question, vote for said increase. For the purpose of erecting public buildings in school districts, the rates of taxation thus limited, may be increased when the rate of such increase and the purpose for which it is intended shall have been submitted to a vote of the people, and two-thirds of the qualified voters of such school district voting at such election shall vote therefor. Local directors may direct the management of the school in respect to the choice of teachers and other details, but in the discharge of all important business, such as the erection of a school house or the extension of a term of school beyond the constitutional period, they simply execute the will of the people. The clerk of this board may be a director. He keeps a record of the names of all the children and youth in the district between the ages of five and twenty-one; records |