92 MISSOURI AGRICULTURAL RErORT. 



but is hardly one-half the gross sum tliat will be expended in the cele- 

 bration of that event. 



With these figures in mind, we are prepared to realize the magni- 

 tude of this World's Fair, and must meet fully the responsibilities of our 

 position as the World's host. The honor bestowed ui)on our State in hold- 

 ing the celebration in her borders is a deserved one. 



Missouri is the Keystone State of the I.ouisiana Purchase. She 

 stands pre-eminently at the head of the great political and commercial, 

 communities which became a part of the United States one hundred years 

 ago. She is situated not only in the central portion of that vast territory 

 acquired by the purchase from the French, but also in the center of the 

 wonderful Mississippi valley, and is almost the geographical center of 

 the nation. 



She stands to-day the fifth State of the Union in population and 

 wealth. We are in our infancy, capable of increasing our products many, 

 many times their present value and of sujiporting in comfort manv times 

 our population. 



Our people and our institutions are progressive, and our taxes are 

 as low as any State in the Union. Taxes for State purjioses are the low- 

 est of any State, and our bonded State debt is nil. 



Under wise, just and liberal administration. State, county and mu- 

 nicipal, this great commonwealth during the past thirty years has in- 

 creased in population, wealth, dignity and importance until to-day she 

 ranks fifth, and now that the time has arrived to fittingly commemorate 

 the one hundredth anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase, what more 

 appropriate place could have been selected for this imposing ceremony 

 titan St. Louis, the Queen City of the Mississippi Valley, the peerless 

 metropolis of ''Imperial Missouri." 



There the flags of almost every nation in the world will pay just 

 homage to the stars and stripes, the emblem of freedom and liberty, un- 

 furled to the gentle breezes in the new born Forest City on the banks of 

 the Father of Waters where the greatest exposition of modern times will 

 stand, a living monument to the unparalleled progress of the arts and 

 sciences at the dawn of the Twentieth Century of Christian civilization. 



Missourians are modest, l)ut at the same time justly ]n-ou(l of their 

 birthright in this imperial sovereignty. The greatest of all states west 

 of the Mississipiji river, she throws open her marts of trade, commerce 

 and industry, her productive agricultural fields, vast timber lands and 

 rich mineral deposits, for the inspection of visitors from every foreign 

 shore, and invites them to come and partake of her hosjiitality and share 

 in the wealth of this land of promise and prosperity. 



