Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1885-12-19
THE STATE.
First Message of Dakota's Governor
to its State Legislature.
Mellette's Views EloquentIy Set
Forth-A Radical Recital of
Dakota's Rights.

Gentlemen of the Senate and House
of Representatives You have assembled
to exercise for the state of Dakota her
first governmental functions. You as
sembled at the edict of more than q
quarter million of free American citizens
to ordain for them state government
You come anointed to your work by
their ballots, liberty's simple badge OF
power. Your warrant cf guarantee is
the constitution of the United States
aud the legislative enactments of the
American congress, written in the blood
of patriots shed from Bunker Hill tc
Appomattox.
deem it pertinent to call your atten
tion to the peculiar relation sustained
oy The state OF Dakota to the fej era
union. While that portion of the terri
sory Of Dakota south of the 46th parable.
nuquestionably constitutes state, de
lnre, and by the present exercise of theil
functions by the Legislative and executive
officers becomes essentially state de
tacto, she has not as yet obtained the
recognition by congress to which she If
clearly entitled by statute, precedent
Justice and reason.
Michigan was for almost two years q
state III the full exercise of her func.
tlons, Legislative, administrative and III.
dlcial, before admission into the union
aud official acts during that period have
been fully sanctioned aud sustained by
the law of the land. Arkansas was rec
ognlzed and admitted upon like proceed
ure, as were also the states of Vermont
Kentucky, Tennessee, Maine, Florida
Iowa, Wisconsin, California and Oregon
some OF them at the end of long and bit
ter controversies, accompanied by VIC
lenoe and bloodshed These victories oi
the cause of self government were Won
by the most exalted courage of Ameri
can citizenship, supplemented by the
most thrilling eloquence of the Ameri.
can forum; they have been fully con-
firmed by the official judgment of the
state and national judiciary, and are
| grounded forever in that safer final de-
pository of all American liberty, the
minds and hearts of the people.
Both the compact contained in the
ordinance of 1887, upon which the state
of Michigan rested and won her cause
and the guarantee contained in the
treaty OF the Louisiana purchase, which
was specially evoked in behalf of Arkan-
sas, apply in direct terms and with
positive force to sustain the constitu-
ton and government OF the state of Da-
kcta.
The citizens of Dakota inherit the
right to self-government from the Pill.
grim fathers and the Huguenot exiles
The blood of their ancestors in the
revolution cries out against taxation
without representation, while their own
| blood and limbs left on freedoms bat
! tletields entities them freedom.
How great soever Dakota's faith in
the guides who hold her leading strings,
she would walk alone In truth she
has long been of age and needs no guar
dian. She certainly possesses the best
knowledge of and deepest interest in her
own welfare, and comedies to no state a
more ardent zeal for the common union.
Her sturdy tolls on the public domain
which they have made to blossom as the
rose and yield as the pomegranite, insist
that they have some rights and interests
which deserve to be conserved by q
common voice to give true knowledge,
backed by common voice to give pow
er IN the decisions of questions effecting
the title of their homes, as well as those
who model their ideas of the 'Interior'
after that building and its grounds in
| Washington.
Statehood would also result in speedy
reduction of the Great Sioux, Crow
Greek and Slsseton Indian reservations,
which would so greatly conduce alike tc
the welfare of both citizens and Indians,
TO the former by opening TO settlement
vast tracts of fertile lands, and to the
Indians by bringing them in close con.
tact with civilization and affording
them at the same time means an eucour-
agement to industry and advancement
Forty.four per cent of the area of the
entire state is devoted to the occupancy
of less than $4,000 Indians, who can use
at most but q small fraction of their
iGndsand would gladly dispose of the
remainder. [ am reiolced to oberve
that the president of the United States
recommends to congress the reduction
of these reservations by fifty pei
centum, an act which would result il
speedily doubling the wealth and popu
lation of the state and conduce greatly
to the comfort of the Indians.
The state of Dakota demands the pos
session of the lands set apart for hel
citizens by congress for the support o
their schools, for which they are now
taxed almost beyond endurance, while
the lands lie idle and begging for tn,
plow awaiting to unfold their riches tt
the state and nation.
But why pursue question that is no
debatsble2 An American congress doe
not need to be told why 100000 Ameri
can citizens, who have been guilty of n,
crime, fully equipped and organized a
q state and bringing all the possible pre-
, requisites to meet every test Of state
hood, should be admitted into the union
If refused it will be an unwarrante,
and shameful act of blind partisan lus
for power. to remain forever burnin.
disgrace to the annals of the nation AM
the memory of those who perpetrate,
5 the crime.
But greatly as the state desires an,
deserves admission her people will
g never accept 1t with boundaries more eS
tended thsn at present defined, who's
area of 81, ,207 square miles is more tha