The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1904-06-17

tur Is now S1218.5 50 O at each Sos.
sion than 1t would be were the capital
at Mitchell, to which can be added the
extra mileage of every state officer,
attorney and private individual who
has business at the state capital.
Every person who goes to Pierre by
rail must pass through WOlsey and
when they get to WOlsey they are
ffty-twO miles nearer to Mitchell than
to Pierre.
Can the farmers and business men
of South Dakota afford all this un.
necessary expense for the sake of .
sentimental geographical center"
idea and hypothecated ~generalities %
to the future of the state west of
Pierre which the history of the whole
country west of the Missouri shows
to be visionary and unreasonable?
Pierre is making the specious argu-
ment that the removal of the capital
will NEAR an expense to the state in
%lessening the value of the endowment
lands west of the Missouri, while the
retension of the capital at its present
inaccessible location will tend to
build up that part of the state. The
fallacy of this line of argument is
shown from the fact that in the ten
years Immediately following the loca-
ton of the capital at Pierre that city
lost one-third of it's population and
its county (Hughes) showed a proper
tlonate loss. In the campaign which
ended in Pierre's success in 1890 it
claimed that 200, 900 new settlers would
make their homes west of it IN the
next two years. 1t required ten years
for Stanley county, which is as large
as ten ordinary counties in the eastern
part OF the state, to add 313 to its
populatiOn-Indians and all.
1t required no capital building to
develop the Black Hills. 1t required
no state house within it's borders to
add l 10000 to the population of Rob-
erts county, in the northwestern part
OF the state, when the Sisseton reser-
walton was thrown open. 1t requires
no seat OF state government to draw
the attention of loo, 900 people to the
Rosebud lands. 1t requires no costly
capital building to put two hundred
pounds OF flesh on a t~wo-year-old
steer during the summer months nor
to make a thoroughbred out of a
scrub.
If the millions of unoccupied acres
west of Pierre are adapted to the
uses OF general agriculture and is fit
for that purpose as the state east of
the Missouri and that part of it just
west of it in the southern part. "all
the Kings men, cannot retard it's
development. If it isn't a dozen state
capitals cannot help it.
Thirteen years has not only demon
strated that the geographical CENTER
sentiment is costing the state and the
general public thousands of dollars
annually, but more than that, those
who are paying the bulk of the taxes
are the most inconvenience.
The total amount of state taxes
extended by the state auditor for 1902
was S656, 3l5.71 OF this mount the
counties east of the Missouri river
pay all but $40, 900 of it.
The vast area of the state lying
west of the Missouri, outside of the
Black Hills, pays less than SIS, 900 of
the state tax-and the state has been
settled for thirty years.
The territory within 100 miles of
Mitchell alone pays an annual state
tax of 1856, 1876. 26, or over 70 per cent
of the total.
Why not make a business PROPOSE.
ton of it and place the capital handy
to those who foot the bills?