St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-10-13
The Fertile Fields Along the
NOrth-Flowing River Want
Some Pepsimmons.
Bismarck Must Give Up the
Capitol Or the United
States Senator.
All Red River Legislators, Re-
gardless of Party. to Work
Together.
Special 10 the Globe

Special 10 the Globe
GRAND FORKS, n. D., Oct. 12.-There
are few important facts in the Official
history of the new state of North Da-
kota which are not generally known, to
which your respondentdesires to call
attention. 1t is quite proper that these
figures and their meaning should be
made prominent at this time, in view of
the fact that there has been issued a
call, signed by three prominent gentle
men. inviting all who may be interested
in securing immigration to the Red river
valley to be present in this city on Oct.
16. And while the facts and figures
to which l desire to call gen
eral attention are in no way
connected with this immigration con-
vention, directly or indirectly, but are
more of political nature. yet the OBJ
ject of the convention, which is to adj
vance the rich and fer tile Red river
valley to its proper place as the best
agricultural region on earth, Will not be
unfavorably affected by the publication
at this time of these facts: There are
thirty-Seven organized counties in the
state of North Dakota. OF these thirty
seven counties, six are known by their
geographical position along the Red
river of the North, as
The tsEaed River Valley,
The Red river valley comprises the
counties of Richland, Cass. Trail, Grand
Forks, Walsh and Pembina. and when
the term Red river valley" is used in
political sense, these counties are des-
Iunatpd tThnSn ci fbe, ab
river valley, contain twO-thirdS of the
population of the whole state of North
Dakota, and fOur-6fths of the valuation.
They pay into the state treasury for
taxes each year $4,000 more than all the
rest of the state combined, and were it
not for the solid and substantial finan-
cial assistance derived from these six
counties, the other thirty-one counties
of the state could not stand up under
the expense of the government for one
year. Without the large sums of money
paid into the treasury each year by the
Red river valley our state organization
could not be maintained. and the state
would go hOpeieSSly bankrupt. With
these stubborn facts in view, it would
seem that the Red river vaIley-being
the center of wealth and population
would also be the center of political in
tiuence and activity. One would natur-
ally look around expecting TO see the
state buildings and the palatial resi-
denceS of the state officers located some
place in the valley. And, coming tn the
state on a business trip, the well-poSted
stranger, having heard Of the wonder
full natural wealth and great commercial
activity of the Red river valley, would
naturally go there to transact his bust
ness, expecting to find located there the
United States land offices. the state rec
ords, the penitentiary, the insane asy-
lum, schools for the mute and blind.
the surveyor general and the homes of
the United States senators and con-
gressmen. But what re the facts? We
find that the Red river valley has the
university of North Dakota, of which
we are all proud, which gets an an
nual appropriation of $4,000, and
That Is All
we have in the Red river valley in the
way of recognition from the state. 1t
is the only public building-out of all
the state institutions-that we have
within the borders of the Red river
valley, and when a prominent senator
from the valley introduced and carried
bill through the last legislature to APP
propriate $1,000 for the state fair to be
held here, which $1,000 was to be used
for premiums to be distributed as such
among the farmers of the state, Hoo
est John Miller, the 'farmer" gov
ernor, vetoed the appropriation. so that
the holding of the state fair. in which
every farmer in the state is directly in
tereSted, was made impossible. This
is onl y one little instance in which con-
tempt of the political standing of
the Red river valley has been
manifested by state politicians. But
the real insignificance of the political
position of the Red river valley in Da-
kOta politics is seen by taking a broader
view. When we look abroad over the
state we see Bismarck, situated in a
? comparatively thinly populated coun-
try, with no natural advantages and no
commercial activity that at all compare
with those of Grand Forks, Fargo, Wall-
petOn and score of other cities in the
Red river valley. Yet Bismarck has
the state capitol with an appropriation
or SO, 600 per year; the penitentiary,
with an annual appropriation of S47,-
600; an annual printing appropriation
- of $4,000: the homes of tie state of
fcers, whose salaries expended in that
city for living, etc., amount to $4,000,
making an aggregate sum of over S162,-
600 annually given to the
Single City of Bismarck
out OF the state treasury; while the
whole Red river valley-which pays
into the state treasury $4,000 every
year more than all the rest of the state
CONTINGENCIES but SPA, 600 in appropria-
ton to the state university, her single
state institution. But this is not all
Bismarck has in the way of political
favors. She has, besides all this. two
United. States land offices, surveyor
general and a United States senator
from Minneapolis. But then, it is
hardly fair to count the United States
senator, because he draws his salary in
Washington and spends it at his home
in Minneapolis, so that the city of Bis
marck is really not in any way bene-
fitted by the fact of his technical resi-
dence there. Having glanced over Bis
marck's fat political possessions. let us
now look toward ihe little city
which nestleS on the classic banks
of the surging Jim. jamestown
has the insane asylum. with an annual
appropriation of $4,000; the lieutenant
governor, an Indian agent, court re-
porter and United States senator,
which, in the aggregate, will annually
net the town at least 100000 out of the
state treasury in salaries, etc. Then
there is Devils Lake, which has two
United States land offices, a deaf mute
school with an annual appropriation of
So.OOO. lilC VI cOUSTtSS. III
deed, when we look over the state we
find that all of these little towns OIL the
borders OF the state have, by some re-
markable Influence. secured monopoly
of all the substantial favors of the state
government, and the Red river valley,
which pays fOur-fifths of all the taxes
and has two-thirds of all the population
of the state. has no respectable share of
the state appropriations and public
buildings, and
Absolutely None
of the state or national offices-except
land office at Grand Forks and land
Office at Fargo. But i'll the latter case
the same strange fatality seems to stick
to the institution which has been
against the whole valley, for no citizen
IN Fargo or the Red river valley was
found with proper qualifications to run
the office, and so man was imported
into the valley from La Moure county