Agriculture and The yields and values of the crops and products for the year 1917 were: Value Kansas ranks high in the production of fruits, the horticultural products for the year 1916 aggregated a value of $2,251,434. The State is also a leading one in the growth of nursery stock.
The forest tracts of the State are of limited extent, mostly confined to the intervals of the larger streams. In these are found elm, oak, black walnut, hickory, syca more, cottonwood, catalpa and basswood, none of them in sufficient quantity to supply build ing or manufacturing material, but affording a considerable amount of fuel. During the past year most of the walnut trees were utilized by the government in the manufacture of gun stocks for the use of the American army.
Formerly the Kansas plains swarmed with buffalo, elk, deer and antelope, making a vast hunting-ground. All of these have disappeared with the advance of civiliza tion, and are now found only in parks.
The prairie chicken, quail, wild turkey, wild goose, squirrel and other small game, together with many varieties of birds, still are to be found.
Kansas is an agricultural rather than a manufacturing State. The nat ural resources for manufacturing are limited, there being no timber lands of consequence, and no deposits of iron. The principal manu facturing is represented by the flour milling and meat packing industries. New establishments such as brick plants, foundries, car shops and glass factories, have recently been attracted to the State by reason of the abundant supply of natural gas for fuel. The government cen sus report for the year 1914 gives this sum mary for Kansas: Number of manufacturing establishments, 3,136; value of products, $323, 234,000; capital, $163,790,000; salaried employees, 7.526; salaries paid, $9,013,000; wage earners, 41,259; wages, $25,970,000; cost of materials, $261,148,000.
There are 1,043 State and pri vate banks and trust companies in Kansas, with deposits amounting to $266,290,140; and 236 national banks, with deposits amounting to $179.700,000; total deposits, $445,990,140.
Wealth and Property With a per capita wealth of $2,652, Kansas ranks eleventh in the list of States, coming between Illinois and New York. The aggregate value
of all property in Kansas is $4,581,091,918, in clusive of property exempt from taxation. The values of property as assessed for taxation are: Lands and improvements, $1,447,882,799; lots and improvements, $457,924,219; personal prop erty, $635,283,766; public service corporations, $439,803,853; total taxable wealth, $2,980,894, 637. Kansas has no State bonded indebtedness.
The total mileage of railway tracks operated in Kansas is 9,572. The prom inent lines and systems are Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe, Union Pacific, Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific, Missouri Pacific, Saint Louis and San Francisco, Missouri, Kansas and Texas. The gross earnings of all Kansas rail roads for the year 1916 were $87,885,658. No statistics of the roads are available for the period in which they have been under Federal control.
The higher institutions of learning maintained by the State are the Uni versity of Kansas, State Agricultural College, Emporia Normal School, Hays Normal School, Pittsburg Normal School and the Kansas School of Mines, Weir City. These are man aged by a single board of administration, which also has charge of the schools for the blind and the deaf. The public schools proper are under the direction of a State Superintendent of Public Instruction and a State Board of Edu cation. In 1897 the legislature prescribed State uniformity of school books, fixed the subjects and established prices. In 1913 provision was made for the State publication and distribution of such books, and a State School Book Com mission was created. It is estimated that 1,000,000 school textbooks were printed by the State during the year 1917. There are 8,636 school districts in Kansas; school popu lation, 507,601; enrollment, 394,823; average at tendance, 308,892; number of teachers em ployed, 15,009; annual cost of public schools, $12,573,540; value of public school buildings, $27,927,740. The percentage of illiteracy in the State, 2.2, is smaller than that in any other State in the Union excepting Iowa, 1.7, Nebraska 1.9 and Oregon 1.9.