Sol'Tll DAKOTA. 



707 



t'miils. According to re-ports made May 14, 1892. 

 by the 70 luiiiUs orirani/ed under tin- hanking 

 law. and the 10 hanks orgam/.ed under l lie gen- 

 i Tal corporation law, their total resources were 



K lilroails. The total railway mileage in the 

 Slaii- i> -.'.70S miles, of which tin- Chii-airo, Mil- 

 waukee and St. Paul has 1.096; the Chicago and 

 Northwestern, 744 : the Fremont, Elkhorn and 

 Missouri Valley, 185 ; and the Burlington and 

 M issouri River, 169, with the rest divided between 

 thirtrrn companies. 



Tin- railroads paid during the fiscal year ending 

 .him- :U), 1892, taxes in South Dakota amounting 

 to $220,760. 



Division. The State Supreme Court this year 

 rendered a decision sustiiining the validity of 

 the State prohibitory law. The case came up on 

 appeal from a decision of the Judge of Lawrence 

 County, who had rendered a decision that the 

 law was void because it violated that clause of 

 the State constitution which provides that no law 

 shall embrace more than one subject, and that 

 shall be expressed in its title. 



World's Fair. Early in the year Qov. Mel- 

 lette sent a communication to each member of 

 the Legislature, asking whether, if an extra ses- 

 sion should be called, the member would agree to 

 vote for an appropriation for the World's Fair at 

 Chicago, and would also attend the session with- 

 out cost to the State. As a majority of the 

 legislators refused to make such an agreement, 

 the Governor refused to call them together. A 

 World's Fair Commission was organized on May 

 7. without official authority, for the purpose of 

 doing such preliminary work as should be neces- 

 sary to secure an exhibit from the State at the 

 Fair. It was decided that $25,000 would be 

 iit'i-ilcd at the outset, and that sum was appor- 

 tion d to the several counties according to their 

 wealth. A considerable portion of this sum was 

 paid over to the commission before the end of 

 the year, so that it was able to make provision 

 for the erection of a State building. 



Settlement. On April 15 the lands embraced 

 in tin- Sisscton and Wahpeton Indian reservation, 

 which had been purchased by the national gov- 

 ernment, wen; thrown open to settlement, and 

 the usual wild scenes attending the entrance of 

 settlers were enacted along the border of the 

 reservation. The signal was given at noon, and 

 it is estimated that 3,000 people rushed across 

 tin- reservation limits, vying with each other in 

 reaching the most eligible locations. The area 

 open to settlement was al>out 600,000 acres, nearly 

 all excellent agricultural land. 



Exports. During 1891, 601,778 carloads of 

 surplus products were sent out of the State, of 

 which 30,118 carloads were of wheat; 1,264, 

 corn ; t , ) ,-.'28, oats ; 5,370, flax ; 1,734, flour ; 

 1.531, hay ; 51 of butter and eggs ; 3,075 of stone, 

 almost entirely from Minm-haha County; 169, 

 cement from Yankton County : 7.342 of cattle ; 

 4.0<M of hogs ; '..'15 of horses and mules ; 337 of 

 sheep ; and 175 of mixed stock. The valuation 

 of some of these shipments is as follows : Cattle, 

 $4,405,200 : hogs. $3,252,000 ; horses and mules, 

 $430,000 ; sheep, $101,000 ; wheat, $10,840,680 , 

 corn. $303,300; oats. $501,300 ; flax, $2,688,- 

 000 ; flour. $1,213,800; hay. $61,240. 



Political. At a State convention of the Inde- 



pendent or Farmers' Alliance party, held at Red- 

 field on June 'Ji!. A. L. Van Isdd was nominated 

 for 'iovernor, M. Price for Lieoienant-Qorernor, 

 ('. <;. Morgan for Secretary of State, P. O. iVt.-r- 

 son for Treasurer. G. W. Evarts for Auditor. \V. 

 H. Curtiss for Attorney-General. Mrs. I!. H. I la- 

 sell for Superintendent of Public Instruction. 

 Otto Anderson for Commissioner of Labor and 

 Statistics, and William Cook for Commissioner 

 of Lands. Presidential electors and delegates to 

 the National convention at Om tha were also 

 selected and a platform was adopted. 



On July 22 a Republican State convention met 

 at Madison and selected the following ticket: 

 For Governor, Charles H. Sheldon ; for Lieuten- 

 ant-Govcrnor, C. W. Herried ; for Secretary of 

 State, Thomas Thorson ; for Treasurer, W. W. 

 Taylor ; for Auditor, J. E. Hippie ; for Attorney- 

 General, Coe I. Crawford ; for Superintendent 

 of Public Instruction, Cortez Salmon ; for Com- 

 missioner of Lands, Thomas H. Ruth ; for 

 Commissioner of Labor and Statistics. Walter 

 McKay ; for Congressmen, J. A. Pickler and W. 

 V. Lucas. The following is a portion of the 

 platform : 



We urge upon the general government such leg- 

 islation as will secure to the several States for 

 agricultural purposes the arid lauds within their 

 borders, and we urge upon our Senators and Repre- 

 sentatives in Congress to continue their best efforts 

 to secure from the general government liberal aid 

 for the establishment of a system of irrigation by 

 means of artesian wells. 



We demand such legislation by our general ami 

 state government as will prevent dealings in option? 

 of agricultural products by speculators and the 

 forming of combinations and trusts. 



We commend the present administration in its 

 management of the affairs of the General Land 

 Office. 



We commend to the thoughtful consideration of 

 our people the adoption of such methods of road 

 improvement as will insure the building of durable 

 and substantial roadways in all sections of the State. 



We demand the passage of a registration law to 

 apply only in towns and cities having a population 

 of 1,000 or more. 



We are in favor of the postal telegraph and postal 

 savings bank systems, also of rural free delivery. 



\Ye favor the enactment of such laws for the reg- 

 ulation of railroads within this State as will insure 

 absolute equality to all classes of patrons and all 

 localities. 



The Democratic State convention met at 

 Chamberlain on Sept. 1, and nominated Peter 

 Couchman for Governor, and S. A. Ramsey for 

 Lieutenant -Governor. Candidates for the remain- 

 ing places on the State ticket and for Conine 

 men were also selected. The platform demand.- 

 re-submission of the Prohibition question to the 

 people, denounces 'Pinkertonisrn," approves 

 tariff reform, and contains the following decla- 

 rations : 



We demand that the school funds of our State be 

 loaned to the people of tin- State upon ample MOO- 

 ntv, at a reasonable rate of Interest, and we denounce 



the action of our Republican legislature and State 



otlieers in depriving the muss of the people of the 

 use of such funds under proper safeguards and 

 regulation. 



Believing that unnecessary taxation is unjust tax- 

 ation, we pledge the Democracy if intnisied with 

 power toariuid and economical administration of 

 the trust reposed in them by the people. 



