LIVE STOCK BRILEDERS. 93 



The Commonwealth of Missouri represents a type of the most ad- 

 vanced class of modern civilization. It stands for all that is inspiring in 

 higher education and noble and elevating in political freedom and relig- 

 ious liberty. The State is distinctly American and her people noted for 

 those streniT ns habits and progressive characteristics which arc essen- 

 tial to the .'access and welfare of every community. 



Our educational and eleemosynary institutions are of the highest 

 order. The public school system is unsurpassed by that of any in the 

 country. It has been wisely and judiciously administered and many of 

 its features have been studied and reproduced in the systems of older 

 States and those of several foreign countries. There is no place in the 

 world where a child can obtain a better free education. The hills and 

 vales, hamlets and villages of the State are adorned with school houses 

 while the larger cities have reared structures so grand and imposing that 

 many of them are pointed to with pride and admiration by the leading 

 educational instructors of the country. 



The penal institutions of Missouri rank with any in the United States, 

 and so well and effectively have they been conducted, and so justly and 

 fearlessly have the laws been administered, that all outlawry and crime 

 of a serious nature have been stamped out. There is no State in the 

 Union to-day which is freer from crime, or in which the personal and 

 property rights of the citizens are better protected, or her laws more vig- 

 orously enforced. 



Co-incident with this, the substantial progress and development have 

 been marvelous. A web work of steel rails connects the various centers 

 of commerce, trade flourishes, crops are bountiful, products of the mines 

 abundant, and capital receives the rewards of judicious investment, while 

 labor reaps the harvest of thrifty toil and endeavor. 



The geographical location of Missouri gives the State unusual ad- 

 vantages from a climatic standpoint. Bordering the heavily timbered 

 sections of the 'Mississippi valley and the broad expanse of western prai- 

 rie lands it partakes of the conditions peculiar to both. The mean an- 

 nual temperature is about 55 degrees, varying from 33 degrees in winter 

 to 76 degrees in summer. As a rule, the winters are moderate, even mild, 

 and accompanied with light falls of snow. There are no long storm- 

 locked periods, no frozen cattle, no scarcity of food or fodder. Hie thrifty 

 and judicious farmer has nothing to fear for his horses, cattle, swine, 

 sheep or poultry during the winter season. 



In summer the weather is seldom hotter than in the lowest tier of 

 northern states, while during the spring and autumn the most ideal con- 

 itions prevail. The rainfall will average about forty-one inches for the 



