The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1904-07-01
KIMBALI, SOUTH DAKOTA,
CONCERNING STATE LANDS
They are Not All Around Pierre and
Capital Removal Will Not
Effect the Press

Capital Removal Will Not
Effect the Press
The Scotland CitiZcn-Republlcan in
an excellent article takes up this mat
ter of state lands and discusses it
thoroughly. It's reproduced below:
One of the arguments which the
supporters of Pierre are putting forth
is that the state lands, which are eX-
pected to help support the different
state institutions, all lie nearer to
Pierre than Mitchell. They assume
that proximity to the capital will en-
chance the value of these lands from
$5 to $40 per acre and try to make the
people believe that there Will be a
great financial advantage to the state
in leaving the capital in the vicinity
of these lands. There is only one fault
with this argument and that is that
proximity to the capital never has
and never will, make difference of
one cent in tile value of this land. A
glance at the state board of equaliZa-
tion will show that it is true. Ii
proximity 10 the capital enchances
the value of land we should find the
assessed value of land in Hughes
county higher than it is in other
counties in chat vicinity. but this is
not the case. The assessed valuation
of land in Hughes county in 1903 was
$3.50 per acre. Granting that the
assessed value is only one third of the
real value this would make the real
value 1890 per acre. If the proximity
to the capital has enchanced the value
OF this land $40 per acre then without
the capital it would be ten cents per
acre less than nothing. If, on the
other hand, after possessing the capi-
tai for IA years the value has not been
enchanced thereby what reason have
we to believe that 1T would be during
the next II years? But further we
find from this report that land values
in HYDE county, lying east of Hughes,
are placed higher BIZ the board of
equalization: in Hand county still
higher, and increased IN each county
as you 90 east and get farther from
the capital. But our Pierre friends
may claim that we are unfair in COM
pairing Hughes county land with that
lying further east in better developed
portions of the state. We will there
fore make comparison with lands
irectly north of them. Going direct
ly north from the north line of
Hughes county so miles we come to
Waworth county and here we find
the land assessed even higher than in
county, yet it is further north
and just as far west, has no better
railroad advantages, and is connected |
by rail with the capital only by the
way OF Aberdeen and
Wolsey, a distance of 250 to 500 miles.
We are also told by the Pierre sup
porters that by leaving the capital at
Pierre we shall hasten the time when
the school lands could be sold and |
thus increase the revenues IN the pub
lie school fund. To this argument il
is necessary to say that there are over
2a,0CO acres or public school lands in
Hughes county, and in IA years that
the capital has been located in Hughes
county less than so acres of this land (
has been sold, and not an acre sold in
an adjoining county, so the capital
seems to be poor promoter of school
land sales. There is but one conclu-
sion to draw from these facts, and
that is that the land values are de- |
termined by the productiYness of the
soil and convenience to market, and
that the capital location viii haye no
effect upon the value of our state
lands whatever.