Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1906-03-29
NEwSY STATE NOTES.

G. June 5 was the date set for the
gathering but owing TO the fact that all
political state conventions, under the
South Dakota caucus law, will meet on
June 5. Grand Chancellor Wade post
poned the date of meeting one day TO
accommodate those members of the
grand lodge who may be delegates to
some one of the party conventions.
There is a decided shortage on farm
horses in the vicinity OF Watertown
the demand for animals for spring
work is so great that it cannot be sup
piled. Prices have advanced rapidly,
but even the higher prices seem to be
unable to attract stock to that neighbor
hood. Many farmers owing to the high
prices paid for stock last fall, disposed
of a majority of their farm animals, and
now with spring work coming on there
are not enough animels available to
supply the. demand.
The report of the bureau of vital
statistics for the month of February
show a birth rate of twenty-eight a
day, bringing the total number of
births since July last to 6,263. There
were 292 deaths, of which 40 resulted
from pneumonia 20 from tuberculosis,
90 from accident, ~ from heart failure,
and 10 from cancer There were five
spic;doc apd opa nprdar Tbara mara
BAL marriages for the month. Thirty
one divorces were granted. Only five
were residents of the state.
The Northwestern railroad from
Pierre to the Black Hills will run prac-
tically all of the way through a belt of
timber, The line runs directly up the
wooded Teton river valley, crossing
that stream seventy.six times. From
the Teton it crosses a short divide of
less than ten miles into Bull creek
valley, down which it run to the Chey-
enne, then doubtless back up the Chey-
enne to the Boxelder, up which it runs
to Rapid City. 1t will be an attractive
stretch of road, much more picturesque
than the average line through a prairie
country.
Robert Read, formerly a prosperous
merchant of Artesian, Sanborn county,
is now in the grasp of Uncle Sam, with
the serious charge of perjury pending
against him. Read in the spring of
1904 filed a petition in voluntary bank
ruptcy in the United States court in
Rapid City, and his present predicament
is an outgrowth of this. His state
ments when on the the witnesses stand
and in an affidavit are alleged to be
directly contrary. AS the result Of his
preliminary hearing before a federal
commissioner he was held for D
ance before a United States grand jury
which convene in Sioux Fails on
April 3.
The bill of Congressman Burke
authorizing the sale of a portion of the
Lower Brule reservation in South
Dakota meets with the approval of the
administration, it is announced, and
will pass. Approximately So, 900 acres
of the reservation lands will be sold at
an appraised value to be fixed by the
secretary of the interior. The lands
will be sold on the installment plan,
one-fifth to be paid at the time of entry
and the remainder in five annual INSTALL
ments. The bill will open up a con-
siderable tract of land to settlement,
and will prove of benefit to South
Dakota as well as to the homeseekers
who may purchase the land.
The agricultural department at WASH
ington will build a mile of model road
in each state for the purpose of in
ducing farmers in the construction of
good roads and creating public senti-
ment in favor of the good roads move
ment. Secretary of Agriculture Wilson
has decided to build a mile of modern
road at ~Brookings, near Brookings col
lege. His idea in this, is that the
students at the college may become
familiar with the manner of building
a modern road bed and that in enlist
ing young men of the agricultural col.
lege in this movement it will be a
movement toward creating more gen.
eral opinion Of the subject. The work
will be under the supervision of experts
sent out by the agricultural department.
The Office force of the collector Of
internal revenues Office has just COM
pleted the record Of the cigar trade for
this district, which includes the states
Of North and South Dakota, which
shows the number OF cigars that were
manufactured in those states during the
fiscal year. The number made was
9,366,615. The government tax on these
was 30 cents per hundred, which
amounts to $50. 800. rs. The cigars
when sold would average Z cents apiece,
which mean that the price paid for
them BY cigar smokers was S697, 66S .O5.
This il said by the cigar makers and