Kansas City now sprang rapidly into prominence. To get into the country from the river, the bluffs and the hills had to be cut and leveled, and in no other American city has man made more radical changes in the natural contour of a location. The rapid growth of Kansas City is shown by the following statistics: In 1860 the population was less than 4,000; in 1870 it had increased to 32,260; in 1880 to 56,785; in 1890 to 132,716; in 1900 to 163,752, and in 1910 to 248,381, with 82,331 in Kansas City, Kan., just across the state line.
Kansas City is in the center of one of the finest agricultural, stockraising and fruitgrowing regions in the world. The soil, the climate and the enterprise and industry of the people have contributed to make Kansas City one of the greatest grain-markets in the Mississippi valley, while the live-stock market is second only to that of Chicago. The stock-yards, in convenience and equipment, are the best in the country. Their chutes, alleys, pens and tracks coyer nearly two hundred acres. The packing and stock-yard interests are so closely allied that the one implies the other. The total daily handling capacity of the six great packing houses is 15,000 cattle, 36,000 hogs and 16,000 sheep.
It has about 1,400 manufacturing plants, and among her chief industries are flour mills, eight of the largest Portland cement plants in the west, the largest publishing house of military books in the United States, one implement factory, producing a general line of farm implements, also wagon, haypress, gasoline engine, tank, road machinery, scale and wheelbarrow factories and grain elevators.
Twenty-one systems of railroads enter Kansas City, making it the second largest railroad center in the United States. The public-school system is one of the most complete and economically managed in the United States, and has a greater proportion of pupils in its high schools than any other city in America. There are 59 public school-houses, 890 teachers and 34,000 pupils enrolled. The park and boulevard system, now far advanced toward completion, is destined to be one of the finest in the United States. Kansas City is preeminently a city of churches, theaters and public halls, The most noted public buildings are the public library, public school buildings, the city hall, convention hall, county courthouse and postoffice. Among the commercial centers Kansas City stands tenth in volume of business.
Kansas River. A river in Kansas, also known as the Kaw, formed by the union of the Smoky Hill Fork and Solomon Rivers near Abilene. Its length, including Smoky Hill Fork, is about 500 miles, little of which is practically navigable. Its main tributary is the Republican River. The Kansas empties into the Missouri, on the Missouri state line, at Kansas City, Kan.
Kansas University. A co-educational institution founded in 1864 and opened at Lawrence, Kan., in 1866, the land for the university being granted by act of Congress in 1861, when the state was admitted into the Union. The university was reorganized in 1889, when the three departments of literature, science and art were formed, including schools of law, engineering, pharmacy, music and the fine arts, with a preparatory course in medicine. The institution is under the supervision of a board of seven regents appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate. The chancellor is named by the regents. Instruction is free to residents of the state, and only a nominal fee is paid by outsiders. Degrees are conferred not only in art and science, but in philosophy, law, medicine, music, painting and civil and electrical engineering. The teaching faculty is composed of 146 members, with a student attendance of 2,364.
Kant, Immanuel, a philosopher of worldwide renown, was born at Königsberg, East Prussia, April 22, 1724, and died there on Feb. 12, 1804. Kant's parents were poor but respectable, his father being a saddler or strap-maker. At 18, Kant entered the University of Königsberg as a student of theology, but he soon gave up that profession and diligently applied himself to mathematics and the physical sciences. After supporting himself for years as a private teacher at Königsberg, Kant was appointed a professor in the university and continued teaching and lecturing there till his death. Although Kant was fond of books of travel, he never was more than 40 miles from his native town. He was temperate in his habits, patient and persistent in his work, and was much admired. The teacher's object, he always declared, should be to induce the habit of self-reflection in his pupils. While lecturing, it was his custom to fix his eye very closely on some student and judge by the face and eye of that one whether he was understood or not. Kant was the author of a large number of works, the most famous of which are his Critique of Pure Reason, his Critique of the Practical Reason and his Critique of the Faculty of Judgment. In his political views Kant may be counted as one of the foremost champions of liberty and progress. In respect to
