Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1888-02-17
DAKOTA TWO STATES.
Reasons Given by the Senate
Committee for Division
and Admission.
The Right of a Territory to Adopt Con.
stitutiOn After an Enabling ACT
Has Been Passed.

Senator Plat reported to the senate the ne
24th the substitute for the Henderson bill
adopted by the committee. He reprints
entire Senator Harrison's report on the
bill last session, and i'll addition appends
somewhat lengthy advocacy OF the presen.
bill After recapitulating the action OF
Dakota looking to statehood, as set forth
by the committee on territories OF the
| Forty ninth congress. the committee say
| Since the adoption of the report OF the COM
mittee and the passage of the bill admitting the
| people of the southern half to the privileges OF
| STATEHOOD, nothing has taken place in the opln-
| ion of the committee which lustifies the reVere-
al of the action of the senate in respect to divls-
ion of the territory and the ADMISSION mo t sle
same boundaries those presented by the
senate i'll the bill which it approved. Indeed;
the reasons for the division of the territory and
the formation of two states rather than the
admission of the whole MS n single state be-
come more convincing and patent as we
ing the rights of Dakota Territory for self.
government continues The people OF
north Dakota and south Dakota in the interval
since the former action of the senate have be;
come, if pc ssible, more completely two political
units, until today they are as distinct in int
ests in character and in associations and in
| situations MS are the people OF any two states.
In everything except the compulsory union IN q
territorial legislature, north Dakota and south
| Dakota IRE MS separate political communities as
| Massachusetts and Connecticut. To insist up
on their admission as one state is rs repugnant
| to the of justice and to national pfoprlety
| us would be the enforced unlo OF the states
| named. That this is absolutely true is shown
| by the fact that the institutions usually found
| in states have been duplicated in southern an
northern Dakota by the action OF the territorial
| legislature.
+. The report then goes on to recapitu!ate the
various institutions which have been located by
the legislature with IN even division between
the two sections, the acts for their establish
ment providing that if the territory should ever
be divided the portion in which each institution
a1,$
its erection.
The completeness of this political division is
still further shown by the fact that the names OF
North Dakota and South Dakota have attached
to the different portions of the territory have
the II mes Of South Carolina and North Caroline
to those states. 10 admit north Dakota and
south Dakota MS states would add to their dis
tinctive character. To admit them one stnte
would be to attempt to unite two peoples,
Heterogeneous in interests, in associations.
the welfare the harmony and the good of
the people of the territory ere to be consid-
cred, the argument i'll favor OF two states instead
of state seems overwhelming and conclu-
sive. And they are to be considered. This leids
us to consideration of the question whether
in the present case national int rests require
the compulsory union of already distinct cola
munities whose material interests us we'll as
expressed wishes call for separate. statehood.
10 answer this question. in the opinion of our
committee. depends largely upo the further
question whether the nren of the country inhub-
ited the nature of the SOIL its resources, the
development and the character of the popula-
ton give promise of two large prosperous and
we'll ordered states.
The report then goes on to compare the size of
Dakota with other states mentions the re-
sources, agricultural and mineral, and quotes
from the last report of the governor upon var
development. The action of the legislature i'll
submitting the question OF division to vote Of
the people is spoken of, and the result of that
vote mentioned. The report says:
If the result of the vote in the territory seems
to indicate less unanimous sentiment in favor
of division than has been supposed to exist the
reasons for it are quite obvious The name of
Dakota is as dear to the people of north as south
Dakota. The residents of the northern section
justly claim to have given the name to one of
the principal productions of the territory and to
have made Dakota Wheat famous throughout the
world There is merit i'll the claim that they are
as much entitled to the hume of Dakota as the
residents in the southern part of the territory.
The bin passed by the senate ut its last session
gave the name Dakota to that portion of the ter
ritory proposed to be admitted us state and
organized the remainder of the territory under
the name Of Lincoln. Division; therefore
seemed to north Dakota to be simply u loss OF
the cherished name. and on this account many
t were induced to vote against division. Another
reason why many persons. though desiring di
vision voted against it, WAS because division
seemed to portend indefinite postponelnent OF
the claims of north Dakota to be admitted into
the union The history of the movement fol
statehood in the northern half of the territory
was SO dscouraeing that the sentiment Of state
hood at any cost and ut any inconvenience is
| believed to account for the majority against di-
vision in north Dakota, and for many if not TO,
most OF the votes against it in south Dakota.
: The report further SAYS:
However that may be, the controlling factor il
determining whether Dakota should be admitted
:. enc state two states must ALWAYS be the
national interest and welfare. And it seems tC
your committee that states of immense area OF
, great weal h and power and with population
which entities them to abnornally large repre-
sentation in the house Of representatives. are
elements of national weakness rather than ma
!. tional strength, and may in future prove
danger to the rcpu lie. Every consd erution
national as well rs local, seems to point t tn,
wisdom, 11rorriety and necessity of division anG
the crention of two states out of tn. present ter
ritory of Dakota.
e The report then takes up and considers
the right of a territory to adopt constitu-
ton after congress has passed an enabling
IL act and cites at length the history of the
admission Of both Indiana and Kentuck,
in support of Dakota's present position be.
fore congress. The report further states
P that the full ratio for two representative
1 under the present apportionment is 31S..
q 500. and that south Dakota has at the pres
ent time 100000 population. As by thu
next apportionment she would have a
$ least 600, 900 population it seems no more
than right that she should have at leas,
two representatives, in congress when sh,