494 



MISSOURI. 



Banks and Loan Associations. The First 

 National Bank of Sedalia failed in May, and the 

 cashier, J. C. Thompson, who was accused of 

 forgery and embezzling in connection with the 

 affairs* of the bank, fled to Mexico. 



In a case appealed to the Supreme Court, in- 

 volving the question whether checks are nego- 

 tiable, the decision of the lower courts was re- 

 versed, and the higher court decided in the 

 affirmative. It says : 



Although the check in question does not contain 

 the words " value received," it is a negotiable instru- 

 ment, and the plaintiff's rights must be governed ac- 

 cordingly. The plaintiff was not, in the first instance, 

 bound to account for the possession of the check ; but 

 it bein<? shown, as it was, that the check was procured 

 by fraud, it then devolved upon the plaintiff to show 

 that it was a bonafiile holder. With such a showing 

 the plaintiff was entitled to recover. 



The number of active building and loan asso- 

 ciations in the State is 355 : 160 are distributed 

 in 68 counties, leaving 189 in St. Louis city. 

 Assets of associations reporting are $33,404,- 

 596.03; $11,101,149.88 of these assets are credit- 

 ed to the associations outside of St. Louis, and 

 $22.303,446,15 to the associations in St. Louis. 

 The receipts of these associations for the last 

 fiscal year amounted to $15,225,846.73. The 



fross receipts of the associations reporting are 

 10,789,703.12; the net profit, $7,647,796.84. 

 Present total number of shares loaned on, 143,- 

 274; free shares, 235,270; all shares, 378,545. 

 Total number of borrowers, 17,761. Average 

 loan to each borrower, $1,693. 



The Supreme Court of the State has decided 

 that trust-company officers can not be prose- 

 cuted for receiving deposits when their com- 

 panies are in a failing condition. 



Railroads and Telegraphs. A summary 

 of the assessments by the State Board of Equal- 

 ization gives the following comparison of values 

 in 1893 and 1894: 



The mileage of rail roads assessed by the board 

 in 1893 was 6,167'84l, and in 1894, 6,217-551; an 

 increase of 50-210 miles. The extensions during 

 the year were as follow : Greenfield and North- 

 ern, 11 miles; Missouri Southern, 12-25: St.. 

 Louis and Hannibal, 2-3; and the St. Louis 

 Transfer Railway, 0'35. 



The largest valuation was that of the Missouri 

 Pacific and Iron Mountain system $13,933.- 

 544.45. 



The case of the State against the St. Louis 

 and San Francisco Kail way Company was decid- 

 ed against the State, in the Supreme Court, Dec. 

 22, all the judges concurring. The State claimed 

 $300,000, with interest from June, 1868. on ac- 

 count of a bond given by the South Pacific Rail- 

 road Company to the State as a portion of the 

 purchase price of the Southwest branch (now 



the Frisco line), the payment of which, it was 

 claimed, was assumed by the Atlantic and Pa- 

 cific Railroad Company when it bought this 

 road in 1870. 



Industries and Products. The annual re- 

 port of the Labor Commissioner for 1894 tabu- 

 lates reports from 1,473 manufacturing estab- 

 lishments: Average amount of capital invested 

 by each person in all establishments, $12,092 : 

 output of all establishments, $153,896.260; aver- 

 age capital, ea^ch establishment, $68,877; aver- 

 age product, $103,799 ; greatest number of per- 

 sons employed in all establishments, 68,555 : 

 smallest number, 48,389 ; average number em- 

 ployed, 59,081. Of the average number em- 

 ployed 48,264 are males. The weekly average 

 earnings of 3'64 per cent, of these were $20 or 

 over, while 9 - 5 per cent, earned less than $5. 



The average number of females employed was 

 10,817, of whom 0-19 per cent, earned $20 or 

 over, and 37*79 per cent, earned less than $5, 

 and 23-25 per cent, earned $5, but less than $6. 



Total amount paid for wages, $25,840,921, 

 which is over 17 per cent, of the amount of the 

 products. Daily average wages for each person. 

 $1.60; average annual earnings, $450.73. 



The report of the State Inspector of Mines 

 shows that 34 counties in the State produced in 

 the last year 2,383,322 tons of coal, valued at 

 $3,013,075. The only county in the State show- 

 ing an increase in the production of the mineral 

 is Vernon, which had an increase of 63,223 tons. 

 There were some notable cases of decrease, the 

 principal ones being: Bates, 336,243 tons; Macon, 

 276,997 tons; Ray, 122.553 tons; Lafayette, 71,- 

 997 tons; and Henry, 41,489 tons. The total 

 falling off in the output is 807,120 tons, which is 

 attributed to the strike as the chief cause. The 

 miners lost in the aggregate during the strike 

 about $580,000 in wages. The largest number of 

 miners employed during the year was 8,864 dur- 

 ing the winter season, and 6,424 during summer. 

 The average price paid miners during the year 

 was about 72 cents a ton. The average price for 

 coal sold at the mines was $1.26 a ton. 



Dredging the Mississippi. The Mississippi 

 River Commission has plans for a regular s\ 

 tern for keeping the river free from sand 

 from St. Louis to the Gulf. A dredge was mi 

 by order of the commission, with which two suc- 

 cessful experiments have been made. It is the, 

 first of the kind in this country, though dredges 

 substantially like it have been used with success 

 upon the rivers of Germany. 



Swjimp Lands. The Legislature of 1893 ap- 

 propriated $10,000 for a topographical survey of 

 the sunken and overflowed lands in the south- 

 eastern part of the State. During the last four 

 months of 1894 work was done in 6 of the coun- 

 ties, leaving 4 still to be surveyed. In Pemiscot, 

 the most southeasterly county, not more than 

 one section of land was found to be free fr 

 overflow, and only 12 per cent, is cultivate 

 The great difficulty is that the Mississippi river 

 during the flood seasons submerges the swamp- 

 land country, and the streams are so choked up 

 with rubbish that the water is not drained ,wa. v . 

 One object of the survey was to settle the ques- 

 tion as to whether there was enough fall to the 

 land to drain the water off by the use of artifi- 

 cial means. The chief engineer says there is. 



