The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1905-05-11
One Side Of the Rate Problem
SIOUX FALLS, S. D., May s, 800

X
An unthought of opposition has aris-
en- in South Dakota to the regulation Of
passenger and freight tariffs by a gov
eminent board That opposition de-
velopedtirst among the land and immi-
grafton agents who are looking to the
settlement of the large areas of cheap
lands, that fear that government con-
troll would lack fexibility and that the
state of South Dakota would not have
the advantage of the low excursion
rates that are made during the entire
year into all parts of the state. They
also point to the fact that immigrants
coming into the state are brought in
with practically no experse by the
railroads, in so far as carload lots of
household and other effects are con-
cerned. They also fear that the agents
of the various land companies would be
compelled to pay full rate railroad fare
while in territory from which they
draw the large number of land buyers
that come into South Dakota annually.
They seem to think that such system
of controlling rates may be all right for
the old and settled states, but that it
will work great detriment to the prop
erty interests of the unsettled West,
and will retard the rapid increase in the
price of farm lands and will practically
stop the development Of many Of the
thriving towns dependent upon the ag-
ricultural and mining prosperity that
have been so marked in many parts of
the West during the past seven years.
1t is safe to say that in no other state
in the Union is the feeling of the peo-
pie toward the great railway lines in
the state more cordial and friendly
than in South Dakota. This is due to
the fact that South Dakota owes its
present prominence in the sisterho"d
of states to the liberality and encour-
agement given it by the railroads.
When railroads were first extended
into what is now the state of South Da-
kota this region was classified as the
Great American Desert. The railroads
were the advance guard of the present
civilization, for when they had extend
ed into and opened up the country, far
mers and others by the thousands came
to occupy the rich lands lying along
the newly-constructed railroad lines.
At the time of the great railroad con-
struction era early in the eighties, Da-
kota had only small settlements here
and there outside of the town of Yank-
ton in the extreme southern part, and
few other frontier settlements along
the Missouri river, and in the eastern
part of the territory now embraced in
the state Of South Dakota. Such towns
as already We're in existence were mere
struggling settlements, none of which
attained any size or prominence until
after railroads had extended network
of lines through the territory. Then
the towns already in existence took on
new life, scores Of other towns were
started at convenient points along the
new railroads, and where a few short
months before had been solitude, whose
silence was broken only by the whirr
Of the rattlesnake, the yelp of the coy
ote and the cries of other wild animals
or the whoops Of the Indians who
roamed at Will over the vast region,
became scene Of animation and ac-
tivity.
In all the vast work of
opening up a new country, the rail
roads never failed to render what as
sistance they could. Reduced rates
| were made for the benefit of the poor
men who had been crowded out of the
East, and who were imbued with the
determination to wrest fortunes from
the virgin soil of Dakota.
Without these reduced freight and
passenger rates many of the pioneer
settlers of Dakota would not have been
| able to cast their fortunes in this re-
gion. But the railroads were equal tc
the emergency, and as stated, fixed
! special rates for the new settlers and
gave them every assistance in estab
| fishing new homes on the praines O.
| Dakota. AS the country settled uI
and developed branch lines of rail
roads were constructed tointerior points
which had become we'll settled, ant
thus the pioneer farmers were givel
the best facilities for shipment of thei
surplus products to the markets of tht
East. There is not the slightest doub
that the liberal policy adopted and fol
| lowed by the railroad corporations hac
everything to do with the settlemen
Of Dakota.
In the first place, the railroads az
! parently assumed great risks whel
they, at cost Of millions of dollar;
extended lines through what at tn
time for the most part was an unoccl
pied region, and whose possibilities
the way of prod uctiveness were abst