WINTER MEETING AT CARTHAGE. 129 



ing information in regard to Missouri as a home and a fruit-producing State, hei 

 people, climate, soils, price of lands, railroad facilities, etc., etc. This hand-book 

 could be (juickly and easily gotten up by selecting certain well-written articles and 

 parts of articles bearing on the dillerent subjects from the reports of our Society, 

 with a stirring introduction by our excellent Secretary. 



This Society has always been at the front in every good work, and we must 

 keep it there. I remember once along in the early eighties, when I was living at 

 Marshall, in Saline Co., Mo., and all the railroads were running excursion trains 

 to Kansas loaded to the guards with home-seekers, who had been previously in- 

 structed not to look out of the windows as they passed through Missouri, for fear 

 of being killed, [ had-gocten wind of the comingof three of these long trains very- 

 early in the morning, and my clerk and myself rushed to the depot with arms full 

 of our hand-books on Saline Co. The fir5t train stopped for a minute, and we 

 handed our little hand-books in at the windows to the home-seekers just awaking 

 for their first time in one of Missouri's grand autumnal mornings, and asked them 

 to look out a^d see the fairest land the Almighty ever made, and read our books 

 and come back and make their homes with us. The next two trains did not stop, 

 but we threw our books in at the few windows that happened to be up as the trains 

 rushed by. Mr. John A. Ruff, then of Koodbouse, 111., but now of Marshall, Mo., 

 was on one of those trains and got one of my books. He looked out at our country 

 and read the book and talked Saline Co., Mo., as he rode over Kansas and examined 

 her soils. Seeing nothing there as good as Saline Co. , he got oif at Marshall on 

 his return trip, examined our soils, priced certain farms, and went on home and 

 sold his Illinois farm and came back and boagiit twenty -odd thousand dollars' 

 worth of Saline Co. lands, built him a splendid farm residence and good barns, 

 planted an orchard, and also built a nice residence in the city of Marshall, and was 

 the means of bringing several of his neighbors out and locating them in the same 

 county. 



We must keep up our generals as well as the rank and file. We have lost by 

 removal from our State in the past few years Profs. Hussman, Swallow and Tracy^ 

 and the greatest general of all. Dr. C. V. Riley. Let us find as near their equals 

 as possible and induce them to come to us. While it is true that we have many 

 able new men, and our Society is to-day much stronger than ever before, these sim- 

 ply represent the natural growth or increase of the Society here at home, but we 

 must offset the losses above by importation from abroad. 



I would further suggest that all the living ex-Presidents, Secretaries and 

 Treasurers of this Society be elected at this meeting honorary members of this 

 Society. Surely their extra labor and faithfulness entitle them to this mark of 

 esteem. 



The great work of this Society at the World's Fair is in the hands of the right 

 parties, who are doing all that can be done with the means at their command, and 

 the results of their labor will open the eyes of the nations far and near. 



There are other matters I would like to mention, but my time is up, so I will 

 close with the suggestion that on the front cover of the hand-book be printed the 

 enclosed form. Yours very truly, 



Hkxry Strother. 



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