800 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. (SOUTH DAKOTA.) 



of 81 Sept. 25. The dedication exercises were set 

 for Oct. 23. 



The attendance at the Agricultural College, at 

 Brookings, in the year ending in June was 600, 

 having grown to that number from 150 six years 

 ago. 



Yankton College had an attendance of 289, ex- 

 cluding duplicates in departments, as follow : Col- 

 lege, 54; academy, 117; conservatory of music, 

 103; art, 28; elocution, 20; shorthand, 15; do- 

 mestic science, 9. At the twentieth annual com- 

 mencement, in June, the graduates in the various 

 courses were: College, 7; academy, 17; music, 1; 

 elocution, 3; physical training, 7; shorthand, 2. 

 A bust of Dr. D. K. Pearson, of Chicago, whose 

 last gift to the college was $50,000, was unveiled. 

 In 1 ( J01-'02 the college received $25,000, mostly 

 from Eastern friends for permanent improvement 

 and endowment. Of this, about $18,000 is being 

 put into a gymnasium and athletic field. The 

 total assets of the institution are now $280,000. 



Charities and Corrections. The buildings of 

 the public institutions are in general overcrowded. 

 At the Insane Hospital there were 570 patients in 

 October, while the building can not well accom- 

 modate more than 400. It is stated that the 

 State has made several liberal appropriations for 

 the hospital in the past ten years. It has built 

 two cottages, the power-house, and the large rear 

 center building, which was completed la -t year. 

 But with one exception not one increase has been 

 made in the number of rooms for the patients. 



The institution at Redfield for the feeble-mind- 

 ed, which was opened in 1901, is likewise inade- 

 quate for the accommodation of all the applicants. 



There is a movement to separate the boys' and 

 girls' department of the Reform School, at Plank- 

 inton, and placing the girls in charge of women 

 exclusively. 



The report of the State Penitentiary in Novem- 

 ber gave the number of convicts, June 30, as 160. 

 The year ending June 30, 1900, there were 134. 

 The per capita cost of maintenance for 1901-'02 

 was $215.35, against $267.11 the previous year. 



Industries and Products. The Census Bu- 

 reau Bulletin on Agriculture in South Dakota 

 shows that in the census year, 1900, there were 

 52,622 farms in the State, valued at $220,133,190, 

 and covering an area of 19,070,616 acres, or about 

 39 per cent, of the total area. The live stock held 

 on the farms is valued at $12,218,650, making the 

 total value of farm property for the State $297,- 

 595,302. 



An estimate of the crops of 1902 gives, for 

 wheat, 38,000,000 bushels; oats, 20,000,000 bush- 

 els; flax, 9,000,000 bushels; corn, 40,000,000 bush- 

 els. 



Articles of incorporation were filed in August 

 at Pierre of the Farmers' National Cooperation 

 Exchange Company with a capital of $50,000,000. 

 The purpose of the corporation is to buy, sell, and 

 deal in grain, provisions, live stock, and all kinds 

 of produce, on commission and otherwise, and for 

 the purpose build and equip grain-elevators, ware- 

 houses, cold-storage plants, stock-yards, and 

 whatever may be necessary to carry on the busi- 

 ness of the corporation. 



The value of the manufactured products of the 

 State was given in the census year as $12,000,000. 



The gold produced in 1901 was valued at$6,479,- 

 500, and the silver at $46,800. The preliminary 

 estimate for 1902 was: Gold, $7,298,057; silver, 

 $182,372. 



It was reported, Dec. 31, that one of the richest 

 gold discoveries made in Custer County of recent 

 years has just been made on the Roosevelt group 

 of the Grantz Gold-Mining Company, 8 miles 



from Custer. It was in an old shaft, started sev- 

 eral years ago, abandoned by the former owners, 

 and recently cleaned out and explored. A drift 

 of a few feet from the shaft encountered quartz, 

 liberally sprinkled with free gold. 



Oil has been discovered 30 miles from Sisseton, 

 and preparations are making for establishing 

 works there. A discovery of natural gas is re- 

 ported near Aberdeen. 



The fees of the department of the Secretary of 

 State for 1902 amounted to $22,408.05. Of this 

 amount $17,119 was paid for charters of domestic 

 corporations; $907.20 by foreign corporations; 

 $353.90 by banks; $1,160 by notaries; and the 

 remainder was miscellaneous fees. 



Insurance. The statistics of 1901 show the 

 following figures: Fire-insurance, premiums re- 

 ceived, $518,925.50; losses paid, $233,361.48; life- 

 insurance, premiums received, $631,347.84; losses 

 paid, $110,354.24; fraternal companies, receipts, 

 $237,249.57; losses paid out, $283,611.92; accident- 

 insurance, receipts, $13,635.11; losses, $10,201.27; 

 South Dakota Mutual Fire Companies, premiums 

 received, $144,548.04; losses paid, $55,576.20. 



The commissioner says in his annual report: 

 " The statistics of this department for the past 

 thirteen years show that an average of 49.7 per 

 cent, of the premium receipts of the fire com- 

 panies collected in this State has been sufficient 

 to pay all losses sustained, and that for the past 

 year but 44.9 per cent, was required for losses. 

 This is premium receipts alone, and does not in- 

 clude receipts from other sources, such as inter- 

 est from invested surplus." 



Lands.- The wooded area of the State is 2,500 

 square miles. The Land Commissioner recom- 

 mends that the herd law, which prevails on the 

 eastern side of the river, should be extended over 

 the State, thus covering the cattle country west 

 of the river where the free range has been in 

 vogue. He takes the position that all the State 

 lands are being used for grazing. He says that 

 the State is the owner of 1,088,940 acres of com- 

 mon school and endowment lands in the free-range 

 section of the State. On the other hand, stock- 

 men argue that the adoption of the herd law 

 would result in disaster, not only to the cattle in- 

 dustry west of the river, but to the interests of 

 the State as well. They call attention to the fact 

 that the western part of the State is entirely a 

 stock country, excepting small tracts that may be 

 irrigated and farmed. They say that to cut off 

 the free-range privileges and compel stockmen to 

 herd would practically wipe out the cattle in- 

 dustry. 



Political. For the State and congressional 

 election in November 4 tickets were filed Repub- 

 lican, Democratic, Prohibition, and Socialist. 



The platform adopted at the Republican Con- 

 vention, June 4, approves the national adminis- 

 tration, favors the settlement of disputes betwtvn 

 capital and labor by arbitration, alludes to the 

 good faith of the United States in giving Cuba 

 independence, rejoices over the pacification of the 

 Philippine Islands, denounces partizan attacks 

 upon the behavior of the United States soldiers. 

 and highly commends the State Government and 

 the Representatives of the State in Congress. 



The Democratic and Populist Convention^ 

 June 25, reached an agreement upon fusion and 

 united upon a ticket to be known as the Demo- 

 cratic. The platform reaffirms the principles of 

 the Kansas City platform, denounces the Fowler 

 currency bill and the workings of the so-callnl 

 text-book trust in the State, denounces the State 

 Legislature for the change in the Australian bal- 

 lot law limiting the number of parties represented 





