THE GROWTH OF KANSAS UNDER REPUBLICAN RULE. What, then, has been the history of Kansas under Republican rule? Its growth is without parallel in the history of American States. In 1860 Kansas had a population of only 107,206, and ranked as the thirty-third State of the Union. To-day our population is fully 1,500,000, and Kansas ranks as the fourteenth State. During the past quarter of a century Kansas has passed ahead of all the Northern States except eight, and all of the Southern States except five. All of the other great States of the Union were from fifty to a hundred years in attaining the population Kansas has reached in thirty years. In 1860 we had only three towns with a population exceeding 1,000; we have now over one hundred each having a population in excess of 1,000; twelve having each over 5,000, and four with over 15,000 inhabitants. Twenty-five years ago we produced only 6,000,000 bushels of corn and 194,000 bushels of wheat per annum; last year we produced 194,000,000 bushels of corn and 11,000,000 bushels of wheat. In 1860 the farm crops of Kansas were valued at less than $150,000; last year their value exceeded $92,000,000. In 1860 the farm products of Kansas, including crops, products of live stock, etc., were valued at less than $5,000,000; in 1885 their value was nearly $144,000,000. In 1860 less than 150,000 acres were under cultivation; last year the area was nearly 15,000,000 acres. In 1860 only 1,778,400 acres were taxable; in 1885 over 27,710,000 acres. In 1860 the live stock of Kansas was valued at less than $3,000,000; in 1885 the valuation reached nearly $118,000,000. The value of the farm products of Kansas for the year 1885 aggregated near three-fourths of the value of the gold and silver products of the whole civilized world, and were more than double the value of the products of all the gold and silver mines in the United States. In 1860 the assessed valuation of all the property of Kansas, real and personal, was less than $23,000,000; for 1885 it was nearly $249,000,000. The railroads of Kansas are assessed, for the year 1886, at $32,434,936, or more than double the valuation of all the real estate in 1860. We had not a mile of railway within our borders in 1864—we now have 5,117 miles. Every county in the State, except twenty, is now traversed by one or more railroads, and within the present year fully 500 miles of new road will be added to the lines we already have.