762 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. (SOUTH DAKOTA.) 



that our people had the excitement and turmoil 

 incident to a campaign, and in another year we 

 will be in the midst of further political strife. 

 The people are entitled to one year of peace and 

 freedom from political battles and bitterness. 

 The indications are that a campaign such as 

 would be precipitated by vacancies in these two 

 exalted positions would be a very acrimonious 

 one, and personal, rather than a discussion of 

 issues, and from such a canvass our people should 

 be spared." 



Senator McLaurin then withdrew his resigna- 

 tion. Senator Tillman at first refused to do so, 

 saying that the Governor had transcended his 

 authority, and intimating that his action was in 

 the interest of " would-be aspirants " who were 

 not yet ready to go into a canvass for a seat in 

 the Senate. The Governor, in his reply, said: " If 

 you still wish to resign your commission, and 

 will send to this office an unconditional resigna- 

 tion, I will exercise the authority and power 

 vested in me by the people." 



Senator Tillman then withdrew his resignation, 

 protesting against the right of the Governor to 

 reject it. 



The State Democratic Executive Committee 

 adopted a resolution, July 25, by a vote of 25 

 to 5, declaring that " Senator J. L. McLaurin, 

 from the standpoint of honesty and self-respect, 

 should tender his unqualified resignation imme- 

 diately." In reply Senator McLaurin said, in 

 part: "I hold my commission from the Demo- 

 cratic voters of South Carolina. I recognize no 

 authority but theirs, take no orders from any 

 source but them, and shall in due course appeal to 

 them for judgment on my course as a Senator 

 and my character as a man and a Democrat. I 

 regard what you have done as merely expressing 

 the malice and the fears of one individual Sen- 

 ator B. R. Tillman. But for this always evil and 

 indecent influence, ordinary respect for the pro- 

 prieties would probably have prevented the four 

 of you who are my declared competitors for the 

 seat I now have the honor to occupy, from at- 

 tempting to use the power given to you by your 

 party to remove a rival from your path. I shall 

 ask the people to say whether they prefer the 

 Senator who has tried to retain for South Caro- 

 lina the honor and dignity won by a long line 

 of illustrious sons and glorious deeds, or the Sen- 

 ator who has postured as buffoon and bully, 

 and who proclaimed on the floor of the Senate 

 that he represented a constituency of ballot-box 

 stuff ers and murderers who wanted their share 

 of the stealage." 



The matter came up in the United States Senate 

 in December, when Senator McLaurin arose to 

 a question of personal privilege, and proceeded to 

 explain what he said was a conspiracy to discredit 

 him in his own State for acts and views that did 

 not meet the approval of certain Democratic lead- 

 ers. From Mr. Tillman this brought forth a re- 

 view of the whole controversy, in the course of 

 which Mr. Hoar took occasion to express the 

 opinion that it was very doubtful whether both 

 the South Carolina seats in the Senate were not 

 in reality vacant. He contended that when the 

 resignations were offered last spring to the Gov- 

 ernor they could not thereafter be withdrawn, but 

 that they became immediately operative. The cli- 

 max came when Senator Tillman challenged Mr. 

 McLaurin to join with him in preparing their joint 

 resignations and handing them to the presiding 

 officer of the Senate. This challenge Mr. Mc- 

 Laurin did not accept. 



SOUTH DAKOTA, a Western State, ad- 

 mitted to the Union Nov. 3, 1889; area, 77,650 



square miles. The population, according to each 

 decennial census since admission, was 328,808 in 

 1890 and 401,570 in 1900. Capital, Pierre. 



Government. The following were the State 

 officers in 1901: Governor, Charles N. Herreid; 

 Lieutenant-Governor, George W. Snow; Secretary 

 of State, O. C. Berg; Auditor, J. D. Reeves; 

 Treasurer, John Schamber; Attorney-General, 

 John L. Pyle; Superintendent of Public Instruc- 

 tion, E. E. Collins; Commissioner of School and 

 Public Lands, David Eastman; Adjutant-General, 

 S. J. Conklin; Insurance Commissioner, H. C. 

 Shober; Public Examiner, Henry M. Cooper; Oil 

 Inspector, Emil Brauch; Railroad Commission, 

 Messrs. Kirkpatrick, Smith, and Le Cocq; Presi- 

 dent State Board of Agriculture, John Arm- 

 strong; Secretary Historical Society, Doane Rob- 

 inson ; Veterinarian, Dr. Foster ; Chief Justice of 

 the Supreme Court, Dighton Corson; Associate 

 Justices, Dick Haney, H. G. Fuller; Clerk, Frank 

 Crane. All are Republicans. 



State officers are elected for terms of two years 

 in November of the even-numbered years. The 

 Legislature meets biennially in January of the 

 odd-numbered years. 



Population. Of the 78 counties in South Da- 

 kota in 1890, 15 have since been annexed to other 

 counties, leaving the State divided into 63 coun- 

 ties. All but 16 increased in population during 

 the decade. The percentage of urban population 

 is 7.2. 



Finances. The total indebtedness of the 

 State, July 1, 1901, was $863,300. This was com- 

 posed of $370,800 of coupon bonds; $242,500 of 

 registered bonds; and $250,000 of revenue war- 

 rants. The cash on hand in the treasury was 

 $764,888.46. 



The highest interest paid by the State is 4 

 per cent., on some of the bonds which have come 

 down as a debt from the old Territory, most of 

 the bonded debt being for 3J and 4 per cent. 



Prices received for school lands this year aver- 

 aged $14 an acre, about 25 per cent, higher than 

 in 1900. The amount now in the school fund is 

 about $4,000,000, which is all loaned at 6 per cent, 

 interest. 



The taxes due the State and unpaid amounted 

 in June, 1900, to $308,207.54. 



Valuations. The assessment figures this year 

 show a total valuation of $173,206,733, an in- 

 crease of $951,648 over the assessment returns of 

 last year on all classes of property. Of this in- 

 crease, real estate shows $1,280,339; railroads, 

 $174,631; telephone companies, $9,410. Town lots 

 show a reduction of $398,636, and personal prop- 

 erty of $113,496. 



Education. There are 119,579 children of 

 school age, and the seating capacity of the school- 

 houses is 110,743. The cost of maintaining the 

 schools was $1,130,914.37, and in addition $158,- 

 701.41 was paid for the redemption of bonds, and 

 for the interest $48,015.41. The total indebtedness 

 of the school districts of the State, including cities, 

 is $1,231,561.57, and the net decrease of indebted- 

 ness in the year was $112,995.55; 5,5 r6 persons 

 were enrolled in teachers' institutes last year. 

 The cost of conducting the institutes was $13,- 

 293.92. 



The Legislature appropriated $40,000 for a new 

 science hall at the university. The enrolment in 

 October was 310, an increase of 40 over the high- 

 est enrolment heretofore. 



Seventy students were in attendance at the 

 School of Mines in October. 



New buildings have been in process of erection 

 at the Agricultural College and the Asylum for 

 the Blind. 



