Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1895-03-15
LAST WORK OF THE so1oNs.
Items of Interest Regarding the Work
OF the Legislature.

PIERRE 8. D., March Sat last the
bill to repeal the law requiring COM
mercial agencies to put up deposit of
$4,000 in order to do businesslin South
Dakota has passed both houses Itwas
held in the senate for several weeks
and for a month or SO has has been tied
up in the house. This law has kept
Bradstreets from doing business in this
state, and it has been difficult for busi-
ness to get satisfactory rating. The
design of the law which has just been
repealed was; of course to protect
merchants against unfair ratings, but
the cure has been found to bes worse
than the disease. This bill gave good
opportunity for the lobbyists to at
tempt to bleed the agencies, but this
hasn't been a good year for professional
lobbyists. The house sitting committee
found the bill and it was passed in the
rush of business. A we'll known Sioux
Falls lawyer hi oeen here for several
weeks in the inter .st of this bill and
he has kept q close watch over it all
along, though he has never cared to
push it. Hereafter South Dakota bust
ness men will get full rating.
The county deposit bill is dead. This
is the bill which caused much excite
ment and ill-feeling last week on the
part Of house members against the
senate, and which led some members of
the lower house to threaten to kill all
the measures of the senate who op-
posed the bill. This feeling, which was
intense at first. gradually subsidized, and
the members Of the house decided to
treat bills on their merits. The bill
was put over in the senate and its
friends saw determination to 'shelve
it. Yesterday vote was forced, call
of the house made, and the bill lost by
vote of II yeas to %. The provisions
of the bill were that the chairman of
the county board, the auditor and the
treasurer were to name the banks in
which the county funds we're to be de-
posted. A great fight was made for the
bill but business will continue in the
old-fashioned way.
Yesterday there was great time in
the house' oNss the resolution author
izing the commissioner of school and
public lands to surrender filings upon
any indemnity or endowment school
lands and to make new selections upon
reservations opened or about to be
opened. This would allow the COM
missioner to select lands on the Yank-
ton reservation which will soon be
thrown open to settlement. This reso-
luton was passed once but a recon-
sideration was secured and further pro-
ceedings were vigorously opposed by
Lucas, Dowell, Colvin, and Russell on
the ground that the counties near this
reservation had been kept backward in
material progress because of a large
body of vacant land. Then hundreds
of settlers had been planning to get
these lands for actual occupancy. 1t
would be unjust, therefore, it was
argued, for the state to deprive these
people of these lands. Senator john
son, of Douglas, did some very effective
work in explaining the situation to the
members, and while at first it passed
without opposition, it could not get
through again. 1t is said that Com
missioner Lockhart was planning to
enter the entire reservation for the
benefit of the school fund. This would
be good for the fund but hard on that
locality.
At last it has been determined to
take the census of South Dakota this
year. The constitution makes it man
datory that the census be taken in
in 1895, but the matter of expense has
been serious question. Under the
ordinary methods of census taking the
cost would not fall short of $4,000.
Auditor Nipple, however, suggested
a plan by which the work could be done
for 5000. "A census bill was intro
duced in eachhouse early in the session.
The house finally passed bill placing
the work in the hands of the commits
sioner of labor and statistics with an