The Montgomery tribune. (Montgomery City, Mo.) 1892-1910, 1906-07-06
Facts About Missouri.

take space by itself:
Several years ago l wrote an
article for these columns entitled
"Forty Institutes in Missouri"
and later prepared an institute
address, "What l saw in Mis-
souri," of which more than a mil
lion copies have been printed.
Now, with four years more travel
in all parts of the state, and
a more intimate acquaintance with
its people and its industries, l am
not willing to take back a word
that l have written in it's praise.
To a majority of people, cas- and
north of the Ohio river, Missouri
is a sort of 'terra incognita," an
unknown land, and very many
look upon it, as an inhospitable
region, for some reason, unfit for
habitation. Comparatively few
knew that it is the third state in
agricultural products, with hun
dreds of square miles of its rich
est lands practically undeveloped;
and while we are accustomed to
look upon Ohio, Illinois Pennsyl-
vania and Kansas as great agri-
cultural states, there are more
people engaged in farming in Mis-
souri, than in either of them.
In one year Missouri farms pro-
duced one-eighth of all the corn
grown in the United States, and
at the same time gave the highest
average per bushel. The corn ex-
hibits of the state at the Worlds
Fair, 1904, attracted more attention
than any other exhibit in the
twenty-acre palace of agriculture,
and this is admitted by all who at
tended that great exhibition. In
all of the great live stock shows
of the United States during the
past ten years Missouri exhibitors
have taken more first prizes than
any other three states combined,
and in severalinstanccs more than
all competitors combined, estab-
fishing the rank of the state as
first, in breeding registered live
stock. Missouri leads all other
states in number of fruit trees and
in fruit production, has the largest
orchards in the world, and the ex-
celence of her fruit is such that
there is a demand for every bushel
of it.
1 have een the blue grass
pastures of Kentucky and those of
Missouri, and do not hesitate to
state that those on the latter, on
land selling at $40 to $40 per acre
cannot be excelled in Kentucky
on land that is not on the market
at even double the prices stated.
In no other state have I seen as
productive lands selling at such
prices as land in Missouri can be
bought for today. But l note IN
increasing tide of immigration
and a corresponding, increase in
the prices of land all over the state.
In every section one sees land
seekers, from other states, and on
every hand hears of the sale of
farmes to men of Ohio, Illinois,
Indiana and Iowa, who expect to
make these farms their homes for
life. The mines of the state pro-
duce nearly 500, 900, 900 worth of
coal and metals per year, with its
mining interests practically unde-
veloped as yet.
Missouri has the largest per-
manent school fund of any state
in the union, spends $40, 600, 900 q
year upon her school system, as
much as Ohio today. The time
will soon come when Missouri will
be the leading dairy state, as in
that respect she possesses advan-
tages, superior to those of any
other state, the same to be sum-
med up as a fertile soil, abundance
of pure water, a temperate cli-
mate and ability to grow any crop
for feeding stock, not to be found
elsewhere.
In the matter of citizenship, few
other states can boast of better and
more progressive men than Mis-
souri, can. At one place I found
an Ohio society, composed of for
mer citizens of this state, and in
other sections I saw men hailing
from as many as ten or twelve of