Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1904-09-30

ClfCul0I1 OF WuHt uOt, 0uU ~ - ~ W
shot that it is oil on one strain: Mitch.
oil is knocking the state. /" Defeated
and driven back at every point and
without valid reason for ever secur.
ing the capital in the first place and
even less for retaining 1t. Pierre is max.
ing last desperate stand on the prop.
osition that capital removal would
retard settlement in the western part
Of the state because il would be an
endorsement Of the slander uttered by
Mitchell agents against the Missouri
river country and the region beyond. :
From the first Mitchell has appealed
to the reason and intelligence Of the
voters by submitting facts and figures
which Pierre has made no attempt to
dispute for obvious reasons, and with
the single aim Of showing the absurd.
ity Of the statements made by Pierre
with no intention Of injuring OF reflect
ing upon any part Of the stste. the
capabilities and resources Of which.
from Big Stone to the Black Hills, are
common knowledge wherever South
Dskota is known. Meanwhile Pierre
has appealed to the passions and
prejudices Of the people by misreprs-
senting the true reasons for capital
removal and has magnified trivial
newspaper paragraphs Of no particular
Importance into whole volumes Of slsnd-
er and abuse Of the country west Of the
Missouri ther west of Pierre or
not and without distinc.ion-and
christened Mitchell the godfather Of
them al.
The removal Of the capital to Mitch.
ell will not effect the value of land
west of the Missouri q dollar nor lessen
the demand for it, which every intel
ligent man knows is based upon moro
foundation than the prox.
unity Of . state capital. Does anyone
believe that If the capital was removed
from Pierre to Rapid City that the
change would detrsct from the selling
price or the demand for farm land In
Union, Brown or Grant counties?
A thousand men might preach from
the housetops that the removal was .
virtual acknowledgement that the
named were no good, but to
the hard headed farmer, raising fifty
bushels Of corn, eighty bushels Of oats
and thirty bushels Of wheat to the
acre, they might howl until the crack
Of doom for Ill he cared. 1t Is q
reasonable to ray that the removal Of
the capital to central railroad point,
would be blow to the mining of gold
In the Black Hills.
The country west Of Pierre has ito
and Disadvantages in com.
mon with . great many other sections
in the Northwest. but neither one nor
the other can be hidden or advanced by
the permanency Of . stste capital.
What 10 meat to one man is poison to
another, and tho old saying applies
we'll to the great plains stretching from
the Texas panhandle to the Queens
dominion. This so.cslled knocking"
can hurt none Of It no more than Utah
can be harmed by saying that the
water Of Great Salt Lake isn't fit TO-
drink. Both are pretty well known
after fifty years Of exploration. and it
il for the individual himself to pass
upon the merits Of the case. Land
stampedes passed with the
early eighties. Men no longer believe
all they read. Most of them are from
Missouri Any county in south OAK
ota that can show Z bountiful crop year
after year will increase in population
II all the newspapers in the
land were knocking 1t, while less
favored locality would slide down hill
with all brakes set and the sand box
wide open. in spite Of the efforts Of the
greatest group Of liars that ever came
down the pike, simply because 1t