buildings (including the Scarritt, Long, and New York Life Insurance buildings) are worthy of mention. Kansas City has over 2000 acres in public parks; but Swope Park, containing 1354 acres, lies south of the city limits. The others are distributed with a design to give each section a recreation ground within easy walking distance, and all (including Swope) are connected by parkways, boulevards and street-car lines. The Paseo Parkway, 250 ft. wide, extends from N. to S. through the centre of the city for a distance of 2(1/2) m., and adjoining it near its middle is the Parade, or principal playground. The city has eight cemeteries, the largest of which are Union, Elmwood, Mt Washington, St Mary's and Forest Hill. The charitable institutions and professional schools included in 1908 about thirty hospitals, several children's homes and homes for the aged, an industrial home, the Kansas City school of law, the University medical college, and the Scarritt training school. The city has an excellent public school system. A Methodist Episcopal institutional church, admirably equipped, was opened in 1906. The city has a juvenile court, and maintains a free employment bureau. Kansas City is primarily a commercial centre, and its trade in livestock, grain and agricultural implements is especially large. The annual pure-bred livestock show is of national importance. The city's factory product increased from $23,588,653 in 1900 to $35,573,049 in 1905, or 50.8%. Natural gas and crude petroleum from Kansas fields became of industrial importance about 1906. Natural gas is used to light the residence streets and to heat many of the residences.