Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-12-26

Twelve years we have IN IN II position
TO know that more than iIIif the lie
told about hiin are not trUe;' Wedu no
Consider hiun perfect -hnlndnitim n u
est periectun-but we do say if ind
vi,Iua! merits or locality ciaims HAY
ANYTHING 10 do in the determination q
this question II. +. prttigrrw Wlll l.
ihe President of the Council at ii
Forthcoming session.
Judge Clifford, republican candjda
for delegate in congress from Dakut
received 7O.9O9 votes in the late elpo.
ton. Wilson. democratic candidat
received 1920 votes. This makes til
total vote of Dakota on Delegate, Si
Isl, making GjtToId's majority 6o,G3l
Upon the accepted basis OF u%illcllatio
this vote represents = population "a
about 4Et,GI2. Astonishing as theS
agures are, says the Sioux City Joul.
ntl. they are far below the actual pops.
lat,on OF Dakota. The territorial vo.
was not fail. Even in the states wnrI
political parties are most evenly divid
ed and the offices involved nuluerou
and important, there is ALWAYS II con.
siderable percentage Of qualified voter
who do NOT GO to the polls on election
day. The PERCENTAGE of sy"s-at- holn
voters would inevitably be large in ID !,
kota where the republicans ave :.
overwhelming majority, it being thi
Dakota lacked the stimulus OF the eS
%clten1ent over Il presidential conte,'
for the reason that a territory has n
voice in that election. The Office o
congressional delegate is not pnouy
TO bring ont a full vote. especially wheI
III" result Of the election was wei
known in advance. a low cstimat
therefore, would put the stay-at-hom
vote Of $4,000, the indicated population
Of which, IL died to that Of The. vote cas-
raises the actual population of the ter,
ritory to over 100000; but this eStimat
makes no account of the population
not qualified by residence of suiiirien
length to vote, i'm element which is a!
ways large in Dakota. Dakota has to
day Il population of over half /; million
The November election reveals tn
fact that the territory of Dakota has
larger population than either of tn
nifri,f .St,{n, ft,1nr,1, IN.1,,,,,, III ,.;
da. Nevada. New Hampshire. Oregon
Rhode islandOr Vermont. There wpr
cast in Dakota at tEe last election 50
$50 Nutes, while the combined vote a.
thr three states, Nevada, Delaware ana
Rhode Island, was only 7G,5l0. These
shree states are represented in congress
dives. while Dakota has no voice in til,
national legislature, although her pop
nlation exceads the population of either
Of eight OF the smaller states. Thi>
may be modern democracy. but is no
the democracy Of 1916. The people OF
Dakota have for Il long time sought
division of the territory and the admis-
sion OF the southern half. That they
nave only asked for their just rights.
tne late election proves most conclu-
sirely. There WAS no motive to call
ont q full vote at this election: for one
of the political parties being largely in
Che ~ascendancy, does away with any
effort to get out the voters: besides, in
new countries. and on the frontier. vot-
ing precincts are too far away for vot-
Grs to attend the election. Moreover.
there are many people in anew country
who have not resided therein long
enough to rntitle them to vote. Had
there been the same motive to bring |
Sgt the voters that tsere was in close