The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1890-10-30
WOOL, WATER AND WOMAN s11r

WOOL, WATER AND WOMAN srJF-
FRAGE.
Editor UNION: The three greatest needs
of South Dakota today are wool, water
and woman suffrage-the last the most
needed of the three. I have visited thirty
counties of the state during tho last six
weeks at the invitation of leading citizens,
to speak in behalf of the pending woman
suffrage constitutional amendment. AS q
resident of Massachusetts, raised in Ohio.
and familiar with the west as man and
boy for ffty-two years, I desire to say a
few plain words through these columns to
the people of South Dakota.
/. l am delighted with the soil, the eli
mate and the people. They are not sur
passed by those of any other state. But
the conditions of the country are peculiar
and need different methods. In the south
eastern counties, and in those bordering
on Minnesota, farmers are prosperine'
But west and north of Huron / have
found general depression and distress.
For want of rain in many localities, there
has not been a good grain crop since 1885,
and for two years wheat, corn, and flax
have failed. AS a consequence, hundreds
of the American population have returned
east, and hundreds more are going this
fall, carrying with them wherever they 90
q tale of encouragement. In some of the
dry" counties, I have driven twenty miles
without passing a single inhabited house,
with deserted claim-shanties and old break
ings overgrovn with weeds everywhere in
sight. Yet all this disappointment and
loss might have been avoided if the oil
mate had been understood. If zach settler
had brought twenty-five sheep, two brood
mares and five heifers, and if every four
settlers had united in buying a moving
machine and a horse-rake, all would have
prospered. There is not a county in the
state where enough grass viii. not 20 to
waste this fall to support twice the present
population, if only it could be utilized.
But the craze for breaking land and SOW
ing grain has crippled hundreds of farm
ers, n the purchase. of costly machinery
for threshing, on credit. has scaled their
fate. 1t is time for the press of South Da-
kota to call a halt. Even in Iowa and Illi-
nols, farmers who rely on selling grain
seldom grow rich, while those who feed
sheep, horses, cattle, and hogs always pros
per. There is no better country in the:
world thar South Dakota, even without
irrigation, for sheep and horses. Hay: can
be cut and stacked for seventy-fve cents a
ton, which is worth from twenty TO twenty
five dollars a ton in Massachusetts. And
this means that twenty animals can be
raised in South Dakota at the cost of rails
ing one III the east.
Arteslan wells, for artificial irrigation,
next to sheep, horses and cattle, will prove
the best investment. The geologist of
your State Universityassures me that one
third the areaeast of tbs Missouri river,
and extending Indefinitely westward, can
be fertilized by flowing wells. These will.
cost time and money, but both will soon be
supplied if the present needless discour-
agement can be checked, and if i'm niera-
ton and capital at low interest can be had.
How can these best be attained?
Better than in any other way, by adopt
ing the Woman Suffrage Constitutional
amendment. One hundred thousand dol.
ars spent in advertising would not .boomD
South Dakota SO grandly as that would do.
The plain people,of tae eastern and mid
die states-nott the very rich or the very
poor, but the farmers and mecharics-be-
lieye in woman suffrage. They are NOV
ing wesl by tens of thousands every year.
Emigration agents are inviting them to
North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washing.
ton, Arizona and New Mexico. When thew
learn that South Dakota has ranged her.
self alongside Of the new suffrage
state of Wyoming, the intelligent Ameri.
can population will give the preference to
South Dakota. Parents will say:'Lst us 20
where u girls will grow up on an equa!-
ity with our boys Eastern bankers and
capitalists will say:ssThe men who respect
women so highly that they have given
them equal rights with themselves are
men who can be trusted" Capital will
fow in at lover interest. Your beautiful
and cities will grow, and your glori-
Gus grassy plains, no longer a wilderness.