Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1895-05-30
r,ED,>vrr,t,rINs: ,rNE cor N.s.

on Caftn Honor Llic ilNc> VI lHc oiu
soldiers for what they did
REDI>TrrsIgINt; 'EIIs: COUNTY.
BY request of the city council. of Pierre
the city attorney has rendered :n opin
ion concerning the rctlistricling OF the
county. He holds that the commls.
soncrS can be compelled by law 10 re-
district, Pierre is DESTROYS of gaining
control of lie board which it has not
had for several years AT the last clcc
ton ,:;l votes were cast i'll the county
dor attorney general of which number
Pierre polled less than one half. In
ORDER to cover two-thirds the population
and secure three commissioncrs the lines
OF the districts would haYcto he brought
far enough east TO cover range "a,
which includes Canning and De''rey.
Well there are already three commits
siomer districts west OF that line now
w hat more can they ask. Perhaps they
would like these three districts cut up
like pic With the points i'll Pierre sothcy
could elect all three members. To Il
man up II tree il would seem that only
by Il very unfair method OF carving up
the county could TIE districts be pmi in
better shape than nj present. Blunt
tiuA
Brother Bcsancon should not make
such wild statements without first look
ing up the figures He will then find
that no sane man who is unprecedented
will deny Picrrc's right TIC ask for new
apportionmcnt OF commi-sionerdistrictS
and have it. Passing by the figures he
gives, which are wrong, we wi II briefly
analysc the situation.
First, we find that there were ia
votes cast for governor nj the last gen
cral election, of which the city OF Pierre
cast 3G1-a few more than one-halt.
Tho First district consists ofthe Third
ward of Pierre, with 81 votes; the
Fourth with g.; Byron township with 10;
DRY Run with %, and two sections of
Buckeye with | vote, making Il total of
| 1873 votes
The Second district consists of the
First ward of Pierre with Il votes; the
Second with l33; Peoria with G; Mentor
with Is and Buckcye with II, making II
/ total of 2Gl votes.
The Third district consists of Harold
with - votes. Breton with 10: Webster
with Ii, ana Pleasant Valley with 3,
making Il total of 81 votes.
The Fourth district consists of Can
ming with 40 votes; Rousseau with Ii and
DeGrey with a6, making !, total of s.
votes.
The Fifth district consists of Blunt
with - votes and Logan with 10, max
ing total of S. votes.
Now how the Advocate can claim that
there is injustice in Pierre asking for
larger representation on the board is
more than anyone can comprehend. If
either 81, 81 o.. IS votes in one of the
outside districts is un Offset for either
1913 or POI in one of the districts of which
Pierre is !; part. then we knock under.
Dividing the to,a! vote of the county
into five parts the average is II little
more than li3, while the vote OF the four
wards of the city is 56l, which of itself
would cntitie ii to ut least two commits
sioncrs, With ~ votes 10 spare. Adding
to I'll. latter the vote of the five town.
ships that are now included with Pierre
we would have lGS-cnough TO cnttlc
Austo another commissioner with % votes
TO spare The vote is the only basis fol
Il division of the county into districts
and the redistricing board is required
to make us nearly an equal division rs
: possible, and should it consent to amy
such disparity say as now exists bctwce,
the Blunt district and either of the Picrr,
districts, ii should be required to repca
its efforts until j: ca:, do Justice.
Blu: if we were going by the assessed
valuation instead of the vote Pierre
districts would be entitled to more near
ly four out of the five districts than onl,
q part OF two, az at present constituted
Following is a statement of the valua
tons as returned and cqualZcd for til,
year 1891, not including railway prop
crty:
First two districts
Pierre. ...............Sl.g %, 81,