The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1908-03-26
A STATE OF
OPPORTUNITIES
South Dakota The Land of Sun.
Shine, Fertile Prairies,
and Happy Homes

Not elsewhere are SO many prom
ising opportunities for legitimate
enterprise found as in South Dakota.
This is proposition easily substan-
tiated: it is based upon 76, 600 square
miles of fertile and productive soil.
but as yet only partially developed,
and with but relatively few people
sharing in the productions thereof.
The result is that each one of the
population receives more cash re-
turns annually than do the people
upon the average in any other COM
monwealth.
Again the opportunities are more
nearly equal here than elsewhere, as
there are no few persons securing
the results Of the labor of the many,
leaving the laborers inadequately
rewarded. There is no System"
here. There are no interest" en-
Shaving the masses. Everyone, gen.
orally speaking, is upon an equality
with hts neighbor.
In round figures South Dakota has
50, 900, 600 acres of arabic lands, only
one-fifth of which has yet peen plow-
ed and only one third of it utilized
for any agricultural purpose, plow-
land, hayland or pasture. Only
half million people as yet occupy this
empire, and on every hand lie lands
at reasonable prices; farms awaiting
renters; positions awaiting farm
hands; high wages and good homes
for housemaids. Free homesteads
are still obtainable in the western
portion.
What can be done on these lands?
They produce the best wheat in the
world: annually the state averages
4O,O00,OOO bushels. They produce
splendid crops of corn; the annual
product ranges from fifty to eighty
million bushels. They return 10000
600 bushels of oats; 10000, 900 of
barley, flax, potatoes, vegetables,
fruit; everything and anything that
can be grown anywhere in the north
ern portions of the Union. These
lands turn off $35. .0OO,O 200 worth of
live stock annually; So, 900, 900 worth
of dairy products and $1,000, 900
worth of poultry and eggs. and all
the time bear in mind there are only
half million of us sharing in all
this.
The furry in finances through
which the country has come during
the past six months is quite unlike
any of the former great depressions,
and there is every reason to belevd
the effect will be temporary and
that real good rather than evil will
come from it. Particularly we be-
lieve the west will profit from 1T.
Such scares breed conservatism and
desire for more substantial invest
ments than are represented in COM
merclal paper, corporation stocks
and industrial bonds. In such times
money looks to the sol as the one
safe refuge, and South Dakota has
the soil, the mines and the resources
which are safe and sure to be re-
munerative. 1t is apparent that
capital under present conditions is
likely to look this way. The utmost
publicity, therefore, should be given
to our resources at this particular
time through the press and by cor
respondence, pamphlets and in every
way that intelligence of the great
opportunities which we possess may
be brought to the attention of the
investing pnblic.
The year 1908 may be made the
best of the many good years which
have come to South Dakota, but it
will require earnest and harmonious
effort from every interest to accom-
plish best results. South Dakota
State Review.