052 



SOUTH DAKOTA. 



B. R. Tillman for United States Senator, though 

 tlie vote for him was 18,213 less than the total 

 vote for Governor. 



. At the election in November the above-named 

 ticket was chosen by a vote nearly as large as that 

 for Mr. Bryan, who received 47,236 to 3,579 for 

 President McKinley. 



Two constitutional amendments were submitted 

 and both were carried. They are given under 

 Legislative Session in this article. For that on 

 drainage, 21,339 voted yea and 9,917 nay; for 

 that on bonded indebtedness there were 22,530 

 yeas and 8,108 nays. It was found, however, that 

 an error had been made in the enrollment of the 

 latter, the wrong number having been given to 

 one of the articles to be amended, and the validity 

 of its adoption was questioned. 



SOUTH DAKOTA, a Western State, admitted 

 to the Union Nov. 3, 1889; area, 77,b'50 square 

 miles. The population, according to each decennial 

 rensus since admission, was 328,808 in 1890 and 

 401,570 in 1900. Capital, Pierre. 



Government. The following were the State 

 oflicers in 1900: Governor, Andrew E. Lee; Lieu- 

 tenant Governor, John T. Kean; Secretary of 

 State, William H. Roddle; Auditor, James D. 

 Reeves; Treasurer, John Schamber; Attorney-Gen- 

 eral, John L. Pyle; Superintendent of Schools, 

 E. E. Collins; Commissioner of Lands, David East- 

 man; Adjutant General, H. A. Humphrey; Mine 

 Inspector, James Cusick; Oil Inspector, R. E. J. 

 .Meyer; Public Examiner, Maris Taylor; Insurance 

 Commissioner, F. G. King; State Surveyor, Wil- 

 liam L. Bruce; Veterinarian, J. W. Elliott; Secre- 

 tary Board of Charities and Corrections, G. W. 

 Kingsbury; Secretary Board of Health, J. H. Jen- 

 nings; President Board of Regents, H. H. Blair; 

 Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Dighton Cor- 

 son; Associate Justices, Dick Haney, Howard G. 

 Fuller; Clerk, Miss Jessie Fuller. Gov. Lee is a 

 Populist; all the other elected officers are Repub- 

 licans. 



State officers are elected in November of the 

 even-numbered years, for terms of two years. The 

 Legislature meets biennially, in January of the 

 odd-numbered years. 



Population. The State has gained 72,762 in- 

 habitants, or 22 per cent., in the past decade. The 

 number of Indians not taxed is 10,932. The cen- 

 MIS of the counties is incomplete, but that for 

 the 6 Black Hills counties is: Butte, 2,907; Custer, 

 2,728; Fall River, 3,541; Lawrence, 17,897; Meade, 

 4,907; Pennington, 5,610. 



Finances. The Governor's message says the 

 financial condition of the State is good. June 30, 

 1900, the Treasurer had & cash balance of $55.1,- 

 701.48. The message criticises the policy that 

 compels the State to pay 7 per cent, interest on 

 registered warrants, while it receives no interest 

 whatever on its funds deposited in banks, such 

 interest, if any, being paid to the Treasurer as a 

 personal perquisite and amounting possibly to 

 $12,000 or $15,000 annually. There was a reduc- 

 1 inn of the State debt in 1900 of $248.000. The net 

 indebtedness, July 1, 1900, was $540,811.09. The 

 mimties owe the State in delinquent taxes $308,- 

 207.54. The defalcation of W. W. Taylor in 1895 

 is still unsettled, $146,544.66 having been collected 

 and $220,842.64 being still due. 



Valuations. The total assessment of the State 

 as compiled this year will be $331,269.000. Of this 

 amount, acre property is placed at $101,720,620; 

 town lots at $181.100.798; merchandise. $1. 373.67 1 ; 

 manufacture!, $755.002; horses, $7.509.575; cattle, 

 $15.793.163; sheep, $8J)8.fl43: hogs, $830,400; car- 

 riages and vehicles. $1,112,659; moneys and credits. 

 $1,408,730; household furniture, $1,054,340; stocks 



or shares, $1,512,282. The railroad companies are 

 assessed at a total valuation of $12,743,867; tele- 

 graph companies, $187,575; telephone companies, 

 $174,181; express companies, $113,500; and sleep- 

 ing-car companies, $10,000. 



The tax levy of 2 mills for the general fund will 

 furnish $344,000 if collected in full. 



Under a recent ruling of the Attorney-General, 

 mortgages held by resident money lenders are to 

 be assessed and taxed the same as other property. 



Education. The school population in 1899 was 

 116,278. The apportionment of the permanent 

 school fund in December, 1900, gave 45 cents per 

 capita. On a test case, brought in Mitchell, the 

 court decided that the Board of Education had 

 power to compel obedience to the order of the 

 State Board of Health requiring vaccination. 



In the Indian schools there was an enrollment 

 this year of 3,946, and an average attendance of 

 3,439. A bill was introduced in Congress for 

 building and maintaining an Indian industrial 

 school at or near Evarts, in Walworth County. 



The State University, at Vermillion, has had an 

 unusually prosperous year. College presidents in 

 conference decided upon two rules affecting ath- 

 letics. " The striving of one college to attract 

 athletes away from another institution by offers 

 of any kind of compensation, it is believed, will 

 be thoroughly rooted out by the passage of a 

 rule debarring any student who has changed from 

 one college to another from participating in inter- 

 college contests for twelve months after date of 

 such change. The other matter regarding which a 

 rule is to be made is the number of hours of 

 school work required per week. According to this 

 rule, no student who does not pass in twelve hours 

 of work a week will be allowed to enter inter- 

 college contests." 



Yankton College had an offer of an endowment 

 of $50,000 from Dr. Pearsons, of Chicago, on con- 

 dition that the debt of $30,000 should be cleared 

 off, and that the institution should hereafter be 

 kept free from debt. Friends of tiie college sub- 

 scribed $34,703, and in March the students cele- 

 brated the event with noise and blaze. Subscrip 

 tions from other States than South Dakota 

 amounted to $20,425. By commencement time the 

 entire addition to the college funds had readied 

 $90,000. The expenses are about $15.000 yearly. 



The State Institution for the Blind was opened 

 at Gary, March 1. During the first term 14 pupils 

 were admitted, 2 of whom were from North 

 Dakota. 



Charities and Corrections. The Insane Hos- 

 pital, at Yankton, is overcrowded. The last LeLii> 

 lature appropriated $70,000 for buildings. The 

 laundry and the plant for light and power art- 

 completed, but the addition to the main building 

 was still unfinished Nov. 1. The Northern Ilos 

 pital for the Insane, at Redfield, the building for 

 which was accepted in December, is designed for 

 the feeble-minded. It is the finest public building 

 in the State. 



In the past two years there has been a de- 

 crease of 11 in the number of prisoners in the 

 Penitentiary. July 1, 1898. there were 14.1 in 

 mates. July 1, 1899, this had dropped to \W 

 while on July 1, 1900, the number was 134, show- 

 ing an increase of 4 over last year but a decn-a-r 

 of 1 1 over two years ago. The total number of 

 prisoners confined during the period July 1, 1S!!>. 

 to June 30, 1900, was 213. Only two of the con 

 victs were women. The percentage of the lit'c 

 prisoners is greater than ever. In the year about 

 75 per cent, of the prisoners were employed during 

 the day in the quarries outside the prison, getting 

 out rough stone for new State buildings. The 





