Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-04-25
County Officers.
Let In Dakota.

A'ii " AitSo wv tts'p
taken a positive position concerning
Dakota's right to admission into the
union Of states, and every Dakotaian
can but feel grateful to that great jour
nal for it's friendly feeling toward US.
as evinced by the following editorial
in a late issue of the Tribune under the
caption 'Let in Dakota
ut is not likely that a congress
which, owing to the inactioh of it's
house, has not succeeded in doing any
thing in nearly four months, will find
time, in the few months that remain,
to pass any more states into the union.
But there is no political reason, at least,
why the democrats in congress should
stand in the way Of Dakota, for fear
the new state would go republican in
the coming presidential election. 1t
throws aside all the informal proceed
ings taken by the people Of Southern
Dakota in holding constitutional con-
yention on their own motion, and re-
quire them to follow the established
routine. This avoids the renewal of
past local differences, and leaves the
whole question on it's merits.
On those, the new state can certainly
claim a place in the Union. The COM
mittee's plan is that which has been
approved by the sentiment Of Dakota
for years back-to divide the territory
on the ~forty-sixth parallel of latitude,
making the lower part the state of Da-
kota and the upper part the territory
of Lincoln, a name selectedby the COM
mittee in preference to Pembina' Man
dan, Garfield, Jefferson, Ogalalla,
Franklin and Hidosta. The preference
for Lincoln was unanimous, and q wise
one. The new state would be about
one-and-one-half times the size Of New
York, and indeed would be the eighth
state in area in the Union, much larger
than any state east of the Mississippi.
1t is a splendid and fertile e%mpire--this
territory of Dakota. Only Texas ex-
ceeds it in the area Of c~ultivatab'e land,
and it's wheat fields are growing at a
rate which makes the census taker feel
that he is writing ancient history even
before he has put his figures down.
The census of 1880 pnts the entire pop
ulation Of the territory at 1917. The
senate committee, in reporting the bill,
expressed the belief that the present
population is 100000, and predicted by
the time Southern Dakota is ready to
enter the Union under this bill, her
population will entitle herto two mem
bers Of congress. This is certainly not
an extravaganza estimate when we OBJ
serve the remarkable increase Of home
stead entries and of %postoflices in the
territory since the Lass census was TAX
en-. Up to 1880, the committee states
the total number Of homestead entries
had been 29,704; by the end of 1883 they
had increased to 77,SOO-an increase of
1906, or more than $50 per cent, In
the four years ending with the first of
last January, the number Of %postolices
had more than doubled. The territory
has more Iostolices than Massachusetts
or South Carolina.
On the estimate that two-thirds of
the total population of 35c,0oo is south
OF the forty-siXth parallel, the popula-
ton in the proposed new state Will con-
siderably exceed misrepresentation anti
under the last apportionment law. But
even If this were not Sc, It would not
necessarily be a final objection to the
admission Of Dakota that It had not the
population emitting it to q member OF
congress. OF the twenty states that
have passed through the territorial
condition only four had, by census tax
en- before their admission to the Union,
a population eQualto the representative
unit. Dakota, however, will havemuch
more thar that unit, and when the
~prospects and wealth Of the young
state ere considered With tile enterprise
and thrift Of its people, it seems that
congress ought to open the door nrompt-
", Let Dakota in"