MISSOURI. 



511 



Government. The following were the State 

 officers during the year: Governor, Lon V. Ste- 

 phens; Lieutenant Governor, August H. Bolte; 

 Secretary of State, Alexander A. Lesueur; Treas- 

 urer, Frank L. Pitts; Auditor, James M. Seibert; 

 Adjutant General, M. Fred Bell; Attorney-Gen- 

 eral, E. C. Crow; Superintendent of Education, 

 W. T. Garrington; Railroad arid Warehouse 

 Commissioners, T. J. Hennessey, J. Flory, W. E. 

 McCully; Secretary State Board of Agriculture, 

 John R. Rippey; Commissioner of Insurance, E. 

 T. Orear all Democrats, except Flory, Repub- 

 lican; Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, James 

 B. Gantt; Associate Justices, Thomas A. Sher- 

 wood, Gavon D. Burgess, L. B. Valliant, W. C. 

 Marshall, Theodore Brace, Democrats, and Wal- 

 ter M. Robinson, Republican; Clerk, J. R. Green, 

 Democrat. 



Finances. The report of State finances given 

 in the last issue of the Annual is the latest of- 

 ficial statement. Figures under this heading are 

 published biennially. The approximate amount 

 required to meet ordinary expenses of the State 

 government for 1899-1900 is $4,666,446. The 

 estimated receipts into the State interest fund 

 in 1899-1900 are $2,100,000; amount to be ap- 

 propriated for interest on bonds and certificates 

 of indebtedness, $754,943.94; leaving $1,345,- 

 056.06, which amount should be appropriated for 

 the payment of bonds. The estimated receipts 

 into the revenue fund for 1899 and 1900 are 

 $4,500,000 (predicated upon present laws), leav- 

 ing a deficit for ordinary expenses of $166,446. 



Building and Loan Associations. The Hon. 

 II. L. Gray, State supervisor of the building and 

 loan associations, in his biennial report says: 

 "Reports have been received from 222 associa- 

 tions 141 from associations outside of St. Louis 

 and 81 in St. Louis. The tables of resources and 

 liabilities show a total of $18,255,186.22; outside 

 of St. Louis, $9,816,400.92: in St. Louis, $8,438,- 

 785.30." There are in the State 226 associations. 

 There are 66 fewer reporting associations in 1898 

 than there were in 1896; 33 fewer than in 1897. 

 The assets are $8,097,768.58 less than 1896 and 

 $4,242,523.27 less than in 1897. Of the reporting 

 associations, 27 are called nationals, because they 

 do not confine their operations to the city of 

 their domicile; their resources are $5,242,663.21, 

 leaving to the 195 locals $13,012,523.01. 



Department Stores. " In connection with 

 the ' trusts and monopolies,' " says Gov. Ste- 

 phens in his message of Jan. 5 to the Legisla- 

 ture, " I desire to call your attention to the large 

 department stores in St. Louis and Kansas City. 

 It is told to me by many of the prominent citi- 

 zens of St. Louis and Kansas City that they are 

 detrimental to the best interests of the people 

 of the State, affecting as they do the great ma- 

 jority; and as legislation is for the purpose of 

 conferring the greatest good to the greatest num- 

 ber, you should correct these evils, if evils they 

 are found to be. Arguments have been presented 

 to me to show that these department stores in 

 the cities of over 100,000 inhabitants are ruining 

 the small dealers in the country towns as well 

 as in the cities. They are building up a great 

 combination of goods under one roof, and depriv- 

 ing the smaller dealers of their legitimate profit, 

 and are forcing them out of business altogether." 



Education. In the session of 1899-1900 the 

 State University enrolled at Columbia about 1,000 

 students, and at Rolla about 160. This means 

 an increase of nearly 28 per cent. The enroll- 

 ment in the cadet corps is 270 the largest muster 

 in the history of the university. All departments 

 of the university except that of military science 



and tactics are open to women under the same 

 conditions as to men. The last General Assembly 

 appropriated for the university $57,000 for the 

 biennial period, $33,000 for the erection of a 

 dormitory for boys, and $10,000 for ordinary re- 

 pairs. 



The condition of the public schools of Mis- 

 souri can be accurately learned from the follow- 

 ing data given by State Superintendent Carring- 

 ton for the school year ending June 30: Enroll- 

 ment white, male, 323,096; female, 314,808; 

 colored, male, 14,347; female, 15,767; grand total, 

 668,018; average daily attendance, 416,364: num- 

 ber of pupils that may be seated white, 674,120; 

 colored 33,013; number of volumes in the libraries, 

 168,720; value of libraries, $121,723.72; number of 

 teachers employed male, 5,979; female, 7,803; 

 white, 13,153; colored, 629; average salaries of 

 teachers per month, $45; number of schools in 

 operation (corresponding to number of school- 

 houses) white, 9,842; colored, 484; number of 

 schoolhouses built during 1898-'99, 298; estimated 

 value of school property, $17,020,880; assessed 

 value of the taxable property, $1,106,066,625. 



Penal Institutions. The Reform School for 

 boys, at Boonville, is in a flourishing condition. 

 More boys have been sent to it within the past 

 two years than at any time in its history, owing 

 to the more liberal laws governing it which were 

 passed by the last Legislature. There are 430 

 boys in the school. The school is well equipped. 

 An industrial shop building, a cottage for boys, 

 and a hospital have been added, covering an 

 appropriation of $12,500, and 186 acres of good 

 land adjoining the State's property have been 

 purchased from an appropriation of $7,000. 



On Jan. 1, 1899, there was a balance in the 

 State treasury to the credit of the earnings of 

 the Penitentiary of $56,555.45. The number of 

 convicts is increasing rapidly. On Jan. 1 there 

 were 2,327 inmates. An average of 1,362 daily 

 during the past two years were employed by the 

 contractors at the rate of 50 cents a day. 



Charitable Institutions. At the beginning 

 of the year there were nearly 2,500 patients at 

 Fulton, St. Joseph, and Nevada insane asylums. 

 The enrollment at the School for the Deaf and 

 Dumb for 1898-'99 is reported as 240 males and 

 164 females. At the School for the Blind the en- 

 rollment for 1898-'99 was 61 males and 64 females. 

 The report of the Confederate Home shows that 

 the average number of persons cared for is 147, 

 including old soldiers, their w r ives, and their chil- 

 dren under fourteen years of age. 



Agriculture. The Governor, in his message 

 of Jan. 5, 1899, strongly recommended the estab- 

 lishment of an annual State agricultural fair, 

 such as is held in many other States, and the 

 Legislature passed an act authorizing a State 

 fair. On May 19 the Legislature appropriated 

 $30,000 for the erection of an agricultural experi- 

 ment station, with laboratory buildings, in Co- 

 lumbia. 



Mining. In 1898 large sums of money were 

 invested by capitalists outside of the State in 

 Missouri developed and undeveloped mineral lands. 

 As a result of the extraordinary prices and de- 

 mand for ores, an activity prevails in the min- 

 ing districts never before experienced. The large 

 increase of $2,833,415 in the value of the product 

 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1898, over the 

 year before, with the promise based upon the 

 actual business of six months of the current year 

 of a $3,000,000 increase over the last year, 

 shows a marvelous development. " This rapid 

 growth," says Gov. Stephens, "and especially in 

 the case of the zinc ore product, can not be classed 



