struction is planned to produce 250 tons per day. Thus far no effort has been made to refine the potash and secure the by-products. Nebraska is today producing two-fifths of the potash consumed in the United States. During 1917 the value of the potash produced in Nebraska was upwards of $15,000,000. The State owns immense tracts of school lands in all sections of the commonwealth, and these lands are leased for agricultural purposes at an annual rental of 6 per cent on the appraised valuation. Alkali lakes appear on many of these tracts and the state owns the mineral rights thereon, even though leased for agricultural purposes. Through leasing the alkali lakes to potash producers the State will profit immensely in the years to come. The money derived from this source is appropriated to the schools of Nebraska.

Nebraska Potash Co., Hoffland, Nebr.

E. D. Gould's Feed Lots, Arnold, Nebr.

     Douglas county, as the home of Nebraska's metropolis, takes on the nature of a commercial and manufacturing center, and its importance as an agricultural county is seldom realized. Acre for acre of land actually under farm cultivation, it compares favorably with any other county in the state Just as soon as Nebraska was opened for settlement in 1854, a party of Council Bluffs residents decided that Omaha was a good location for a new city and the town was laid out and built in a few weeks. Omaha grew and prospered, especially after President Lincoln selected it in 1863 as the eastern terminus of the Union Pacific Railroad. Today Omaha is the first city in the land in the production of butter, in the reduction of lead ore, and as a range horse market. It is second only to Chicago as a live stock market; third as an agricultural implement center, and fourth as a primary grain market. Although thirty-third in population among the cities of the United States, it ranks sixteenth in bank clearings and has important branches of the federal reserve and farm loan banks.
     Only three cities in the United States have a lower death rate than Omaha, and the infant and tubercular mortality are lower than in any city of the United States. The absence of slums and tenements is responsible for this healthy showing. Forty per cent of the families of Omaha own their own homes.

     Omaha is an important manufacturing and jobbing center. Its factory output is $275,000,000 annually, and among its industries is the largest macaroni factory in the country. Omaha's wholesalers distribute $200,000,000 worth of goods annually. Its trade territory includes Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri Kansas, Montana, Colorado, Wyoming and the Dakotas. The important products manufactured in Omaha are packing house products, smelter products, creamery butter, and alfalfa products. Among the important commodities distributed from Omaha are automobiles, groceries, lumber, agricultural implements, oils and dry goods.
      Omaha was the first of the larger cities to adopt the commission form of government and its municipal methods are attracting attention throughout the land. It has a remarkable municipally owned water system, a municipal ice plant is being installed, and a municipal coal yards is in operation.
     That Omaha is building for the future is shown by the character and pretentions of its public buildings. The larger buildings are: The Woodmen of the World, eighteen stories, which is also the home of the Bureau of Publicity; The First National and the City National, each sixteen stories; Union Pacific Headquarters and the Hotel Fontanelle, each fourteen stories; The Omaha National Bank, Omaha Bee, Omaha World-Herald, Federal, Douglas County Court House, Omaha High School, City Hall, Omaha Grain Exchange, Public Library and Auditorium. Omaha has 142 churches, fifty-three school buildings, thirteen hospitals (including the largest west of the Mississippi) and is the location of the Creche, Child Saving Institute, Emanuel Orphans Home, and the Nebraska Institute for the Deaf. There are nineteen parks, containing 1,300 acres of land, and thirty-five miles of boulevards in Omaha. In Riverview Park the city zoo is located and is well worth a visit.
     Omaha is a great railway center with 149 passenger trains moving in and out daily. Thousands of freight cars bring the products of the plains to Omaha and go back filled with millions of dollars worth of Oamha-made or Omaha-jobbed products. Twenty-two railroad lines, operated by nine trunk systems, converge in Omaha. Omaha has grown so rapidly that it has absorbed its suburbs and is almost a city without them, the home of 214,000 people.
     Omaha is a university town. It is the home of Creigbton University, Brownell Hall, the University of Nebraska College of Medicine, and the University of Omaha. Bellevue College, south of the city, is a well-known institution.
     Omaha's general prosperity is reflected in the amount of mail which passes through its postoffice. Over 100,000,000 pieces of first class mail were handled last year. This year's receipts will be in the neighborhood of $2,000,000. The visitor to Omaha will find plenty of hotels. The accommodations are the best west of Chicago. There is always a new hotel going up in Omaha. Omaha is a city of organization. The Commercial Club has over 2,000 members, the Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben over 3,000, The Y. M. C. A. over 2,000, the Y. W. C. A. over 3,000. AkSar-Ben is a unique organization. Each Monday night during the summer season, at its Den, it puts on a secret serio-comic entertainment to which any member may take his out-of-town guests. In the fall Ak-Sar-Ben puts on a festival with street parades which