Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1899-09-28
Statement of the Financial COndi-
ton Of South Dakota Bank
ing Institutions.

To the Editor of the ArgusLeader. Some time since the various barking
institutions in South Dakota were requested to furnish me with a statement OF
the total amount on deposit at the close Of business, June 80. 1899. also to
classify them SO that an accurate record could be compiled, showing the ag-
segate deposits, and their classification.
Nearly every bank responded, and l am thus enabed-for the first time
in the history of our young stateto lay before your readers and the gen
eral public. the facts reiaive thereto
/ am confident the showing made will do much to dispel the idea, some
what prevalent in the East, that South Dakota is a drouth stricken and IN
profitable field for human endeavor. The tabulated statement is as follows:
Total deposits of all the banks $685.. :. !. :. :. =. :. =. .s12 7450ss 2s
Deposits Of merchants and BUSINESS men. 49,. 49,. !. 49,. 80. 4s5ss2374
Deposits OF farmers asaer aa saoeHnen n.... ...... ...... 49,. :. - 20 ~
Deposits epposits Of capitalists and those retired .'... ssss5215
Deposits Of professional men. lawyers. doctors, etc).. !. :. :. 2l7e34Ss
Deposits Of public funds. state. county. and municpaD !. -. 1,0ss5s74s
These deposits. that represent only a portion of the money in the state
give a per capta-on a basis of 100000 populaton-of s31S6.
The merchants and business men have $3.50 Der cent of the total; the
farmer and stock men have s2os per cent; the laboring people have s47 per
cent. the miners 7o per cent; the capitalists have $3.50 per cent; professional
Grouped together in another form, W e find that Q very surprising result
is obtained, and one hardly looked for in this state.
Take the merchants, capitalists and professional men, and their aggre-
gate deposit is s5s4s!sos7s; while the total of the farmers, snck-men, la
boring people and miners. amounts to s5soS76e5S; o $6f@675 more than
the first class named.
The last of June is about as unpropitous a time as could be selected to
his resources are being exhausted, and when but small returns arec coming in;
but if he is able to have a deposit of over ss,sss0oo, what might we not X
pect in November, when the crops have been garnered and sold. and the
cattle, hogs and other stock turned off?
Even the laboring man is taken at a disadvantage; Is many OF them ar
compelled, by the rgor of winter, to lay idle for some mooths, and thus
would encroach upon the funds in bank, that would be again augmented in
the fall, when the seasons labors were just ended.
Again; many farmers and labortng men never use a bank as a repository
for surplus funds, and the proverbial stocking bages with its hidden treas
ure. Wilde the rule with business and professional men is to employ the bank
to do their clearngs.
The magnitude o fte deposit in itself proves that u people are making
rapid and substantial progress IN these fertile plains, and evidences the fact
that well directed effort in South Dakota brings ample reward. While the
equitable distribution among the various industries shows that every branch
of industrial activity is securing its fair proportion of the profits
South Dakota is o be congratulated upon the splendid showing made and
urs, and then correct their estimate Of the glorious Sunshine state" Re-,
sDsstf'l'' National afG Bank f Eaaninet.