Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1925-09-30

10 Editor OF GranJ 20. Herald,
Lancaster, Wis.
| Dear Sir:
1 notice in your paper printed Aug.
10Th last, where your Grant County
Agent, J. B. Keenan,, mustered up
enough courage to cross the Missls-
sippi river and go west and take a
look at South Dakota, but evidently af-
ter crossing the Father of Waters he
became homesick and did not see much
of the country through his tear filled
eyes, as when man can travel
across the state of South Dakota and
only report that he saw nothing but
few fields of wheat, now and then
patch of fax and once in while
patch of alfalfa and last but not least
a patch of squaw corn or prairie SOD,
there was certainly something wrong
| with his eyesight or he does not want
to make a fair report of what he saw
in South Dakota to the readers of your
valuable paper, for fear that some
young couple or several that are start
ing out on their journey to prosperity
and happiness read an article telling
| the truth of the many opportunities
offered them in this state, they would
muster up enough courage to move to
South Dakota, the land of sunshine,
happy homes, fertile plains and noun
tains of precious metal and beautiful
scenery, inhabited by prosperous peo-
pie, where corn is king and alfalfa
is queen and prosperity is their only
child.
Now, Mr.. keenan,, why don't you
play fair? You know you saw fine
cities and beautiful farm homes, with
many fields of just as good corn and
other grains on your trip through
| South Dakota as you ever saw in WIS
consin. Of course I cannot blame you
very much for not letting your read
ers know these things, for after all
you are getting your bread and butter
out of the farmers of Grant county
and you want to keep them and their
sons and daughters right there.
The writer has lived for 35 years in
Wisconsin, most of the time in Grant
county, and has also lived in South
Dakota for IL years, so ought to be
posted on the conditions of both
states.
When you speak of the hardships
the farmers of South Dakota are hay
ing more than the farmers of W1scon-
sin, [ cannot agree with you at all.
! You also spoke about the banks being
not so numerous in South Dakota as
they were five years ago and the state
was now going through stage of fl
nancial adjustment
From reports that I have received
of the bank failures in Lancaster and
other Wisconsin towns you must be
passing through stage of financial
adjustment also, and I notice the Grant
| County Herald has published the pro-
ceedings of several farm foreclosures
in the last five years, to say nothing
of the many decided back for the mort
gage without foreclosure proceedings,
and all in a dairy country where ev-
erybody is supposed to have plenty of
money.
| Now, Mr.. keenan,, I will give you
some statistics of what South Dakota
really produces. The state produced
more wealth per capita than any state
in the union for the last Is years, in
succession, being $1400 per capita for
each man, woman and child. We also
have more automobiles per capita than
! any state in the union except Call
| fornia. Does that look like the people
all live in sod houses and drive oxen
today?
The 1923 corn crop production is
estimated at 145, 176,000 bushels, av-
erage production per farm 1915 BUSH
els; average production per farm
81 DOL so. Eighty-seven per cent mer-
charitable Rank in quantity of mer-
charitable corn, 18th. Rank in percent
age of merchantable corn among all
states. LIST. In 1900 South Dakota was
the twenty-third state in the union IN
the production of corn with 32,4OO,0O0
bushels. Ten years later she was 18th,
producing over $4,000 900 bushels, haV-
ing passed Michigan, Wisconsin, Penn
sylvania, in the north, and Georgia,
Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina,
Alabama and Mississippi in the south.
In 1920 with yield of 1O5,6OO,OO0
bushels she had passed Oklahoma,
Tennessee and Kentucky, and took
tenth place, and in 1921 she passed
Kansas and took ninth place with a
WELD of over 125,000,000 bushels. In
| 1923 South Dakota produced 1876
| 900 bushels of corn and took eighth
place in total corn production, and
| seventh in the amount of merchant
able corn Our percentage of mer-
charitable corn, accepta Die in the ter
minal elevators was greater than of
any other state.
In ten years d913-1923) the value
of South Dakota's farm crops has in
creased from s94 1897 100000 to $780,
466 10000: the total marketings from
1929 100000 to $175,893, $4,000: the
deposits in banks from $93,341 ,9351S
to s239, 1904, 1897 SO; the number of acres
in farms from. IS million to 35 million;
its improved acreages from Is mil
lion to IS million; the average value