STATE DAIRY ASSOCIATION. 395 



gle year is valued over $200,000,000 ; the grain product of Missouri is 

 valued at another $200,000,000. The corn product of Missouri is one- 

 tenth of the entire world's supply. In wheat, Missouri produces more 

 than England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales all put together — produces 

 more wheat than all the New England states, with Pennsylvania and 

 Delaware thrown in. 



Missouri is the only State in the Union that has granite enough to 

 wall her in on all sides; iron and zinc enough to roof her in; timber 

 enoughKo house her whole population for 1,000 years to come; coal and 

 wood enough to keep them warm, and agricultural resources enough to 

 provide them with all the necessities and most of the luxuries that can 

 be found in the temperate zone ; more, I say, of the necessities and com- 

 forts and luxuries than any other state in the Union, more of these things 

 that stir the vitality of human effort and reward the industry of man- 

 kind than can be found in any equal area between the two oceans, or be- 

 yond the two oceans. 



We have all these things, but we are not through yet. We have 

 tunneled the mountains, covered the land with a net-work of iron rails, 

 built cities wherelndian wigwams once stood, and turned the forests 

 into flower gardens of beauty; but we are not through yet. I want to 

 remind you there are 300,000 farmers in Missouri that are in the mud 

 six months in the year. When it comes to means of transportation, a 

 magnificent system of railroads covers our country, but the country 

 roads are still in the mud. The next great movement that ought to be 

 entered into by the people of our State, and of the whole country, is the 

 building of better country roads. I have heard that in France, in Ger- 

 many and in Italy the tiller of the soil can trasport his products to 

 market at a cost of about eight cents per ton per mile, while here in Mis- 

 souri, and in nearly all parts of our country, it costs the farmer 25 cents 

 per ton per mile to get his produce to market — the difference is in the 

 roads he has to take that freight over. I want to live to see the time 

 when the whole United States will have as good a road system as the 

 countries of Europe have today. We are ahead of every other country 

 in the world in the progress of civilization, in science and literature, yet 

 we are behind every great civilized country on the question of roads. I 

 want to call your attention to one point in that connection — a good road 

 is not only an advantage to the man who lives along it — a good road is 

 an advantage to the man who lives in the city 100 miles away. A good 

 road brings the butter and beef from the farm and dairy just that much 

 closer to the man in the city who wants to consume these products. It is 

 therefore unfair to expect that the man who lives on the road shall bear 

 the entire expense of building the road. 



