Eureka post. (Eureka, McPherson Co., S.D.) 18??-19??, 1907-02-08
SCHOOL LAND BILL
BY C. B. F0hCANUN
BELIEVES INTEREST ON
PRESENT PRICE WOULD
MO RE THAN BE
EQUAL TO I'M
CREASED VALUE.

Representative G. b. Foncanol of this
city, has introduced the following bill
to have some 0! our state and school
lands sold, and gives some facts in sup.
portsof the same. Following is the bill:
Section !, The board of school and
public lands shall classify all endowment
indemnity and common school lands in
to three classes asfollows, to.wit:
Glass l. To include all lands which
are more valuable for agricultural than
any other purpose.
Glass 2. To include lands probably
suitable for agricultural purposes.
Glass g. To include lands suitable for
grazing only.
The said board shall complete said
classification and file its report of same
in the Office of the commissioner of
school and public lands not later than
January |, 1907. The said report shall
contain description of each tract Of
land set apart for endowment, indem-
nifty or common school purposes and
shall designate the classification of each
and every tract.
Section 2. 1t shall be the duty Of the
board of school and public lands. on or
before February lst in each year, t. di
rect the selection Of, as nearly as may
be practical, one twentieth of the com.
mon school lands, one.twentieth of the
endowment lands and one-twentieth OF
the indemnity lands in each county, to
be offered for sale, beginning with the
year 1908 and continuing annual,
thereafter uutil one.fourth of said lands
shall have been sold; Provided that If
at the time when such direction is TO be
made in any year there shall be in the
state treasury one hundred thousand
dollars, proceeds of the sale of said lands
not loaned out upon interest, then the
selection OF said lands for that year shall
be deferred for one year.
Section 3. Nothing in this act shall
be deemed to apply to or affect lands
set apart for capitol building purposes.
Section 4. All acts and parts of acts
IN conflict with this act ale hereby re.
pealed
Mr.. Foncanon says in support of his
bill, that while it has seemed popular to
say that we must not sell any more OF
our state lands, and hold them for high
er prices, yet he believes that when the
people thoroughly investigate the propo-
sition, they will heartily endorse the
provisions of his bill. The argument is
often put forth hat il would have been
much better for the people OF the state
had all Of the school lands been held un-
I'll the present time. The facts in the
case do lot bear out this statement. BY
looking up the records, we find that the
average price received for lands sold in
1891, l6years ago, was little over $l3. .0C
per acre, and the average price received
for the sales of 1905 and 1906 was trife
over 100 per acre. One can readily
see that the price received l6 years ago
together with the interest received Il
date on the same has produced practic
ally the same as the land sold the past
two years, and the amount Of money re,
ceived for these lands in the way of tax.
es, both state and local, will to large
extent affect the income that would
have been received from the lands had
they retained and leased, SO that in re-
ality the people Of South Dakota have
not lost anything on the lands sold years
ago.
AT the present rate, our common
school lands have been sold, it would re
quire 300 years to dispose of them ane
the question naturally arises, why should
we retain these lands for the benefit o
the people Of the distant future instead
of the present generation and the com
ing generation getting some benefit from
them. We little know what will be tn,
conditions in hundred or two hundred
years from now, and while no one woulc
be in favor of squandering or disposin,
of all Of these lands, yet the people 0
the state at the present time are en-
titled TO their share of the benefits TO b
derived from these lands. A brief state
ment Of the benefits that would resul
from the enacting of this bill into la,
are these: II would provide for the sal
of one fourth OF our common schoc
lands within the next five to ten years
The income to be derived from the pei
manent school fund increased by thes
sales, would increase the annual appoI
tionment OF the interest income fund .
the state TO approximately $1,000 pc
capita for each child in the state. Thi
: amount in large number Of the di:
tricts would entirely support the school