News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1888-12-06
From Missouri.
ST LOFTS, Mo-, Nov. 20, 1888.


| Editors NeaUs and Citizen -
1t is not generally known that there
| are some large things in st. Louis. Yet
| it is a fact that this city can boast of
some tolerably gigantic structures. For
| instance there is here the largest sewer
on the continent; the water tower on
Grand Avenue is the tallest tonic tower
in the world; the Chamber of Commerce
| is the largest hall without Interior sup
ports in the world; Shaw's botanical gar
| dens are uneuualed for variety and beau
tv of flowers in the world; Lafayette
Park is pronounced the most beautiful
piece of landscape gardening IN the
| world; Forest Park is only exceeded by
one other in America in acreage; st.
Louis Bridge stands unrivalled as an en-
gineering triumph, and one may add 1t Is
also unrivalled as being owned by the
greatest monopoly in the world. No
similar institution can compare with the
st. Louis Fair Grounds, not to mention
such trifies as that 40 per cent. of all the
castor oil made in the country is manu-
factured here; also that st. Louis has the
largest hardware house and the largest
wholesale drug house IN America.
1t is many years since the State of
Missouri has produced such crops as have
been harvested the past fall. and espec-
tally is this true of fruit. Peaches, APP
Piles, pears and grapes are abundant and
of good quality. The State is extremely
uneven as regards its products; one year
a famine and the next plenty, only the
famine has lasted for several years in
succession until the present. In this it
much resembles the climate which flies
from hot to cold with bewildering rapid
ity. The 9Th annual exposition has been
opened and the display is remarkable,
when it is considered that it is entirely
local. The building covers nearly two
blocks and is crowded with raw material
and manufactured goods. 1t is open 40
days and about 10000 people visit the
building daily. There are two notice
able peculiarities about the st. Louis
people. One is the small stature of the
men and the other is the freedom and
rudeness of the young girls. AS to the
size OF the male st. IOuisian, he will av-
erage about 1870 pounds in weight and is
about feet, Z or S inches in height. |
When you see tall stout man on the
street you may rely on it he is not a ma
tive of st. Louis. The girls and women
walk about the streets in bands, with I'M
covered heads, talking and laughing loud
ly, and this in the west end, the aristo-
cratic part of the city. Every one here
during the warm weather sits upon the
front steps of the houses. You may
walk through miles and miles of resi-
dence streets on a warm summer even
ing and find the steps of every honse
crowded with people. The health of the
city is fairly good as compared with 9th
er cities of its size. Like all the MISSISSIPPI
pt river towns south of Davenport. Iowa,
it is malariOus. | have seen lots of cases
of old fashioned chills and fever this
summer. The consumption Of quinine is
simply enormous. Everybody, almost. |
is a quinine fiend. There is enough of
the drug consumed every week to kill
half the people In the State of Vermont,
were Vermonters, who are comparative
ly unused to the drug, forced to take it.
Perhaps this has something to do with
the small size and sallow complexion of
the men.
The principal theatres of st. Louis are
open on Sundays as well as week days,
and the same is true of the saloons. An
effort was made last spring to close the
saloons on Sunday, but it failed. Some
keep the front door closed. but there is |
always side door. There have been
many arrests of saloon keepers for VIC
lating the Sunday law, but not a solitary
conviction. The courts of st. Louis are
not models of justice. A man with plen-
ty of money has little fear of the law. 1t |
is said that no man worth $4,000 or up |
wards has ever yet been convicted in
st. Louis court. just now the people |
are complaining, and with Justice, of the |
discrimination of the railroads against |
st. Louis. Excursion tickets are sold |
from st. Louis to the surrounding cities |
Chicago, Cincinnati, Kansas City, etc.
at very cheap rates, but any one coming |
to this city is charged full fare. St. Louis |
will never develop as it should till the
grip of Jay Gould upon it is broken. He
owns most of the roads centering here,
the bridge, the Union depot, etc. The
depot is disgrace to any city. A town
of 10000 inhabitants would be ashamed |
of it. A tariff of nearly rs cents is
charged for every passenger who crosses
the bridge on the railroads.
The St. Louisians are remarkably pa
tient, quiet people, There are few fights
upon the streets; murders rare, and
arrests for crimes of violence less in pro-
portion to the population than any other
city in the United States. The St. Louis
nan when drunk makes very little noise.
Suicides are frequent. Four were re-
ported last Sunday. Hardly day passes
Out what one or two persons take their
own life in this city. Great robberies
are rare. There are very few st. Louis
men in Canada. Fires are frequent but
not largely destructive. Society lines
are sharply drawn. and not altogether on
a money basis. The churches are all
good structures, but none of them splen-
did. The congregations are small and
preachers dull beyond endurance. There
is not great orator in St. Louis.