The daily gazette., 1876-06-23
ST. LOUIS.

The selection of st. Louis as the
place for holding the National Demo-
craft Convention was an acknowledge.
mcnt OF the great importance of that
town.
In 1894 Messrs. Laclede, Chouteau,
! and consorts, fur traders, established
under the authority of the French
Governor-General of Louisiana, a
trading post on the right bank of the
Mississippi, some fifteen miles below
the mouth of the Missouri. They call
ed it st. Louis. In 1903, when Louisi-
ana was sold to the United States by
Napoleon, then First Consul, for $12,-
600, 600, st, Louis contained 1900 in
babitants; in 1922 it had increased to
i 5000, and since 1850, when 1000
people had gathered there, the popula-
tion has doubled itsels every ten years
so that In 1860 1t was 100000 and in
1870 it had grown to $4,000; and in
1878 the report of the Chamber of
Commerce of St LOUIS puts it at 428,-
Coo.
There is rivalry between Chicago
and 81. Louis as regards their wealth,
population, and commercial suprem-
acy. Chicago people insist that the
st. Louis City Directory contains, be-
sides the active men and women, a
list of all the names inscribed on the
| tomb stones in the graveyards of the
city, and point with pride to the fact
that while st. Louis has taken over
one hundred years to achieve her
present Importance, Chicago Las grown
up since 1880.
Ia 1915, five years after Fulton start
ed up the Hudson in the Clermont,
the first steamboat anchored alongside
of the levee at st. Louis. A host of
steamers now keep up daily communi-
cation between st. Louis, New Orleans
Louisville, Cincinnati, Pittsburg, and
all the various ports on the Mississippi
Missouri, and Ohio. While Missouri
grows large crop of tobacco which
finds an outlet at st. Louis, Southern
| tobacco and cotton arrive there in
1 large quantities for distribution and a
market. The st. Louis brand of flour
is highly esteemed throughout the
United States, and some Missouri wines
made from the native grape are sec
ond to nonc in country, the manufao-
ture of wine being an important indus
try at St. Louis, Like Chicago, St.
Louis has created great facilities for
the accommodation of the cattle trade.
The cattle yards at East st. Louis are
connected by branch rails with all the
lines which converge at that spot.
They cost over 81 1,200,0U0, ard can
accommodate at one time IL, 900 sheep
10000 cattle, 5000 hogs, and several
hundred horses. They are provided
with hotel, telegraph and Cattle Ex-
change. Water flows abundantly in
every direction, and the VIII ole estab
lishment is lit with gas. There are
vast receptacles in which corn and hay
are kept for feeding the animals
During the season, cattle are constant
ly arriving from all the southwestern
States, They come from the most re-
mote corners of Arkansas and Texas,
st. Louis is the resting>place when moi
the ultimate destination of these trav-
cling droves. Here they are cared for
and reshipped further east, or conduct
ed to the slaughtering establishments,
butchered, salted down, and prepared
for the trade. One noticeable feature
in last years cattle trade is the large
increase in receipts from Colorado and
Montana.
The people of st. Louis are Justly
proud of their great two-story bridge
across the Mississippi. The upper part
is for carriages and foot passengers, while
the lower portion accommodates rail.
| way travel. The trains enter the city
by an open tunnel leading to the cen
trail depot. A military band often
plays in the evening from a pavilion
established on the upper portion of the
bridge, midway between the TWO river
banks. The principal business streets
are lined with magnificent stores which
would grace any city in the world,
while the stylish quarters cantain nu-
merous fine residences. One feature
which cannot fail to attract the atten.
tion of the stranger is the shady little
sparks or square with their comfortable
seats, flowers, and patches of grass.
1t reminds one of the leungers in the
Tuileries, the Luxembourg, and the
Champs Elysees, Paris, when in spring
and summer, he sees little children
with their nurses, ladies sewing, and
old gentlemen reading their papers un-
der the shady trees OF the St. Louis
parks. A great feature is the annual
agricultural fair in September, when
100000 people from the Mississippi
Valley States congregate together on
the fair grounds, which contain a fine
English park, along side of which is an
immense circular amphitheatre capable
of seating 10000 people, while $4,000
more can circulate and find standing
room in the large, wide spaces which
divide the rows of seats.
St.Louis compares itself to Babylon,
Nineveh, Thebes, and Memphis of old,
to London, Pekin. and Paris of to day,
because it is great city on a great riv-
er. To this Chicargo answers by trac~
ing line from Yokohama and Shang-
hal to New York via San Fransico, and
pointing out that she is the commercial
centre on that great commercial artery
of the globe. The Chicago man will
tell you of the manifest destiny of that
city as the distributing centre for Chi
nese and Japanese teas. he will tell
you that the usual time between Yok-
ohama and Chicago is thirty days,
through trip has been made in twenty
seven days. This is a vaft improve
ment over the four and five months