Report of Missouri Farmers* Week. 419 



Now, that's saying lots about a young fellow, especially one whose 

 morals have bathed only in the pool of timidity and who tonight, 

 so they tell me, would blush at a pile of undressed lumber. 



Don't understand me to insinuate that all your great men came 

 from Kentucky. No, far be it ; on the contrary, they tell me that 

 Marshall Gordon was never beyond the border of your common- 

 wealth; that Col. R. B. Price would not honor a cashier's draft on 

 any Kentuckian, and that E. W. Stephens would not leave Missouri 

 to become governor of our great state — much less his own. But we 

 did give to you that brainy, fearness leader, Champ Clark, the man 

 who dethroned the Republican God, when he commanded the waters 

 of "Cannon River" to separate that the children of Democracy 

 might cross over to that land of victory and control. 



Yes, there are lots of great men in and of your State. Some 

 are self-made, while others have become famous through the 

 channels of the saddle horse industry, the "boss" really making 

 them. Why, Pick Hawkins told me that Missouri King made him 

 sheriif of his county; Col. Paul Brown writes that My Major Dare 

 has given him a national and international reputation ; Lee Broth- 

 ers swear that their horse operations have made their names the 

 household word in every Missouri home; Ben Middleton tells me 

 that until he bought Rex McDonald he was only known by the 

 postmaster of his town, while James A. Houchin. says, confiden- 

 tially, that Astral King will eventually make him governor of this 

 great State, and Eli Hill says it was the celebrated Holstein cow, 

 Josephine, that put Columbia on the map. 



Speaking of Conductor Hill reminds me of a very funny ex- 

 perience I had while on my way here. When I changed trains 

 down at a little place called Centralia, I went over to the ticket office 

 and said, "Give me a ticket to Columbia." The ticket agent sitting 

 at his desk working the "key" said, "Pay on the train." I went 

 over and got on the train and in a few minutes we pulled out. We 

 had gone I don't know how great or how short a distance when a 

 handsome fellow, clothed in a conductor's garb, came through the 

 train with an 18-karat gold lantern on his arm, and when he 

 reached me I said, "What's the fare," thinking everybody knew I 

 was headed for this point. He replied "How far are you going?" 

 I said, "Columbia, Mo." He kind of hesitated, and said, "I'll tell 

 you later," to which I replied, "No, tell me now ! why can't you tell 

 me now?" He said, "Well, my friend, I see you are a stranger 

 in these parts, and of course don't know, but on this train we 



