History of Dakota Territory, volume III, Part 78

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1146

USA > South Dakota > History of Dakota Territory, volume III > Part 78

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

. The law of 1897 constituted the governor, secretary of state, state auditor, state treasurer, superintendent of public instruction, commissioner of school and public lands and the attorney general as the State Board of Assessment and Equalization. The same law provided that the board each year should fix the valuation of all railroad, telegraph, telephone, sleeping car and express com- panies doing business in the state, and that the board should fix the rate of levy for state purposes on all other classes of property. The law also provided that in making the assessment of railroads, the board should take into consideration the gross and net earnings per mile of each division thereof, for the year ending the 30th day of April preceding. The treasurer expressed the belief that this law was inadequate, for the reason that the board had been unable to receive

554

SOUTH DAKOTA: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE

any information relative to the gross and net earnings of the railroads, except such as had been furnished by the companies in their annual statements. As these statements quite often showed that the roads had been operated at a loss instead of at a profit, some system of ascertaining the net earnings should be adopted. The only reliable information the board had been able to obtain was from the railroad commissioner and from the decision of Judge Carland of the United States Court in an action against the Milwaukee Railroad. The treas- urer asked that the next Legislature make provision by law for the better guid- ance of the board in arriving at the correct valuation of railroad property. All of the above statement applied with equal force to the assessment of telegraph, telephone, sleeping car and express companies. The treasurer congratulated the people on the reduction of taxes for state purposes and called particular atten- tion to the levy of 3 mills made in 1898. The law of 1897 made the state treas- urer assume the duties of the treasurer of the regents of education.

The Legislature of 1897 passed a joint resolution empowering the governor to transfer to Mrs. Margaret Mellette the Mellette homestead property in Water- town; but the governor refused to act in the matter, whereupon the commissioner of school and public lands demanded rent from the persons occupying the prop- erty. They refused to pay on the ground that they were turning the rent over to Mrs. Mellette. The commissioner thereupon instructed the attorney general to commence ejection proceedings, but that official decided it was best for him to wait for additional instruction or authority from the next Legislature. In the meantime other tracts of land owned by Taylor's bondsmen had been sold on execution. Every effort to transfer the property to third parties before the state could secure a hold had been made by the owners. It was a question at this time whether the state would not gain more by a compromise and settle- ment with the Taylor bondsmen than by commencing a general course of litiga- tion. The commissioner recommended that the Legislature provide for such a settlement for an appropriation to pay the mortgages against such lands.

The constitution prohibited the auditor from drawing warrants except on deficits and specified appropriations already made. This being true, that official at every session asked the Legislature to appropriate all the money to be paid out by him before another session. There were other laws more or less ambigu- ous that were relied upon to meet some of the necessary requirements. This was a source of perplexity to the auditor, because of the confusion which resulted. The method or lack of method caused dissatisfaction, invited litigation and opened the door to improper expenditures. The auditor urged the Legislature to cut off every appropriation except those which were explicitly made at each session, and he insisted that all unexpended balances revert to the treasury at the end of each biennial period.

By December, 1897, radical changes had been made in the general policy of conducting the state auditing department. One of the measures introduced was the rule requiring sub-vouchers or receipts from disbursing officers and boards for all moneys paid out. by them. This rule was adopted in the interest of economy and better service. Its legality was tested before the Supreme Court and the rule was sustained. Owing to conflicting laws the early auditors had declined to issue warrants on several funds that were created for special pur- poses, because they were not specifically authorized to do so by the Legislature.

555

SOUTH DAKOTA: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE

This procedure rendered unavailable considerable sums of money, but as the Legislature took no action there was no remedy and the old custom continued to be followed. To settle matters the board of regents brought a test case before the Supreme Court, whereupon the court directed warrants to be issued on a certain class of cases without specific appropriations. This suit removed all embarrassment of that nature.

The plan of issuing emergency warrants was much criticized during 1896 and 1897. People objected to the custom of providing for current expenses as occasion required in such an irregular manner. However, the Legislature did not remedy matters and the authorities were compelled to continue such issue. In March, 1897, $75,000 of such warrants were issued, and provision for their payment when due was made. The financial condition of the state at this time was improving so fast that little thought was given to the cry of hard times and economy. The crops were excellent, the state was settling rapidly and the peo- ple felt safe at last. In 1897, for the first time, the auditor printed a full record of the proceedings of the State Board of Assessment and Equalization. The law seemed to contemplate this step, but state auditors before H. E. Mayhew had not published such records. The auditor in 1897 stated that as many of the wealthy corporations doing business in the state were not bearing their pro- portionate share of taxation, steps to assess railroad, sleeping car, express, tele- graph and telephone companies should be taken by the State Board of Assess- ment and Equalization. The reports of the corporations did not furnish satis- factory material to estimate correct valuations.

In 1897 the board appointed a committee to procure additional information which was contained in the reports now published for the first time, but the committee had no legal standing and therefore no power to obtain from the cor- porations information necessary before they could be adequately assessed. The auditor therefore recommended that the board be empowered by the Legislature to inquire into the affairs of all corporations to the extent necessary to enable them to make a just assessment of their property. The law directed the board to consider the earnings of railroads as well as their value in making these assessments. This provision did not apply to any other property and compelled the board to make a lower assessment of railroad property in some cases than they deemed just.

In June, 1898, the state auditor congratulated the people upon the improved condition of the finances of the state. The large indebtedness and an empty treasury left by Taylor in 1895 had been almost wholly corrected and the recov- ery therefront was complete. The bondcd debt had been increased by $98,000 to make good the deficiency in the school fund; but the floating debt had been reduced to $100,000 and there was on hand in cash, over and above the school fund and other trust funds more than $255,000 showing a total net indebtedness of about $983,000 thus indicating improvement in state finances since January, 1895, of over $277,000. On July 1, 1898, the bonded debt was $879,600 and the floating debt had all been paid. In the treasury was $315,581. Thus the net indebtedness of the state on the above date was $564,018. The only legislation that had materially affected the revenues or expenses up to this time was that concerning the liquor traffic enacted in 1897. From this source the state derived $60,000. The improved condition of the finances was mainly due to the policy

556

SOUTH DAKOTA: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE

adopted in 1896 by the State Board of Assessment and Equalization to materially increase the levy in order to provide for the payment of the outstanding bonds. After that time the levies necessary to meet these expenses and the steadily maturing obligations, were agreed upon by the treasurer and auditor, the two financial agents of the state. The levy of 1896 was maintained for 1897, but in 1898 the total levy for state purposes was reduced from four mills to three mills, and there was still found to be enough revenue to pay current expenses and meet all bonds at maturity. It was believed at this time that with reasonable economy and no misfortune, it would never again be necessary to levy more than three mills for state purposes. The plan of increasing the bond levy beyond the two niill limit of the constitution was severely criticised at the time it was proposed and put in operation, but time proved that the policy was wise and that though the act itself was condemned its results were applauded. During 1895-96 much of the floating debt was reduced, but during 1897 and the first half of 1898, when the fruits of the new policy began to be realized, all the balance of the floating debt was promptly paid and the total bonded indebtedness was reduced by more than $276,000. In addition there was in the treasury nearly $160,000 to be applied on future payments of bonds. None of the unpaid bonds were due, but at the option of the state many were called in and liquidated.

In 1898 the state auditor announced that he had endeavored to put into effect the following reforms connected with his office: (1) To require from parties seeking reimbursement for expenditures proof that the money had actually been paid out; (2) to require of the various state institutions that their several appropriations be used only in accordance with the purposes for which they were made; (3) to require outgoing officers to leave the personal expenses and emoluments of the auditor. These were not all the reforms needed and desired, but he stated that they in part had been put into effect.

"With the average state official drawing $1,800 a year and devoting most of his time to his own affairs; the public examiner filling two offices and drawing two salaries and no doubt using two expense funds; the governor getting $2,500 a year salary and in office only a part of his time, it seems very pertinent to inquire why the members of the Supreme Court who are at their post of duty all the time should be favored with only $2,500 a year and be precluded from giving their active attention to private business and be completely shut off from the traditional expense fund and even hampered in the appropriation for the nec- essary law books that justice demands and the needs of the court require. The Register believes the court should declare in an agreed case that the salary of all judges of the state was increased by the last Legislature, the veto of the governor to the contrary notwithstanding."-State Register, December, 1899.

In regard to insurance in South Dakota, Governor Lee in 1899 made the fol- lowing observations: "I am satisfied that our only refuge from the extortion and difficulties of the present insurance system is the adoption of state insur- ance, and I renew my recommendation of two years ago to that effect. During the last ten years foreign fire and life insurance companies have written risks in South Dakota aggregating $287,760,810.04, for which they have charged premiums amounting to $9,014,947.59. They have paid back in losses $3,759,- 263.81, or about $1 for every $2.50 received in premiums. Allowing them 50 per cent for expenses, they have made about 100 per cent profit. This had been

557

SOUTH DAKOTA: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE

a tax of at least $12 per capita on the people of the state in support of a busi- ness purely predatory in character."

State Treasurer-Elect Schamber in 1899 was unable to secure the necessary bondsmen at Pierre; he thereupon returned to his home town, visited the neigh- bors, farmers and business men and secured the signatures of ninety-three of them to his bond. All of the signers qualified for a total of $600,000, his bond being for $300,000. It was promptly approved by the governor and the chief justice. In May he had on hand sufficient of the bond interest and sinking fund to warrant retiring $38,000 normal school bonds of 1902, providing the holders would surrender them before they were due; they refused unless a premium was paid them for so doing. He endeavored to retire the $30,000 constitutional bond issue also.

In 1901-2 a thorough investigation and study of the affairs of all state departments was conducted by the governor and assistants, with the result that many leakages were found and removed and many improvements and reforms were instituted, greatly to the financial advantage of the state. Among other things it was learned that a few years earlier the postoffice department at Washington, D. C., was paying $1.34 for the same dozen quarts of ink that the Government printing office paid $4.32 for. In the other departments the price varied from $2.50 to $4. Mucilage cost the Government all the way from $1.65 to $3.83 per dozen quarts. Blotting paper cost from $4 to $7.74 per ream. Careless business methods were the cause of these variations, which it was found extended to all purchases by the Government. These points came out during the state investigation from 1901 to 1904. Many similar instances were noted in the management of public affairs in South Dakota. The result was an effi- cient elimination of many such mistakes and errors in the management of the various state departments. In all several thousand dollars was saved thereafter annually by this crusade against unjust charges and loose business methods.

The statute forbade the state auditor from allowing warrants for the expenses of state officers and state boards at meetings called at the same time and place as a political convention or any general state gathering. This statute was de- feated in the Circuit Court by A. E. Hitchcock, a member of the state board of regents, but the Supreme Court upon appeal decided in favor of the state.

In May, 1901, the finances of the state were in excellent condition. There was on hand $650,260.36. There was also on hand of school funds $294,832.68. Much of this money was deposited in the Illinois Trust and Savings Bank of Chicago; $90,000 was in the banks at Pierre.

At a meeting of the State Historical Society held in the State House at Pierre in January, 1901, for the purpose of organizing the department of history, there was a large attendance. Lieutenant-Governor Snow served as president and Doane Robinson as secretary. Addresses were made by Dr. T. N. Shane- felt, Prof. R. F. Kerr, Charles M. Daly, Dr. H. K. Warren, T. L. Riggs, C. E. Deland, Doane Robinson and others. Every speaker was enthusiastic in his support of the movement thus to establish the State Historical Society on a permanent basis and for the appointment of a state historian. A committee was appointed to select a board of eleven directors. They reported as follows : F. G. Ochsenreiter, Hans Myron, Seth M. Bullock, T. L. Riggs, D. W. Robinson, C. E. Deland, R. F. Kerr, B. A. Cummins, C. M. Daly, John Hays, and T. M.

558

SOUTH DAKOTA: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE

Shanafelt. These directors met at the close of the meeting and elected T. L. Riggs for the first president, T. M. Shanafelt for vice president, and Doane Robinson for secretary.

The report of the food and dairy commissioner in 1902 showed satisfactory progress in this department. Like nearly all the other department heads of the state government, the commissioner of this department found that he did not have a sufficient amount of funds with which to suitably and properly conduct the affairs of his office. To maintain a well equipped food and dairy depart- ment and carry on the work of inspection, enforcement and promotion required a much larger appropriation than was placed at his command. However, already the department was established on a firm foundation and was getting excellent results. Numerous articles sold by retail merchants had already been examined and proper labels were insisted upon. At this time there were in the state 153 licensed creameries and ten licensed cheese factories. There had been licensed, also, 194 butter makers upon written statement of their education and experi- ence, accompanied with suitable recommendations. The department sent out numerous circulars showing what the law demanded and insisting on a compli- ance with all health requirements. The department really conducted a bureau of information on a small scale, listing creameries wishing buttermakers and likewise conducting something of an employment bureau. The dairymen wanted an official inspector, provided by law and authorized to devote all his time to their interest and had asked for such legislation by resolutions passed at the State Dairy and Buttermakers' Association. This state had not yet suffered much from the presence of oleomargarine, because there yet was no general use for this product in South Dakota. Besides the laws of the United States already controlled the sale of oleomargarine. The food and dairy commissioner said that the cheese manufactured in the state was generally of excellent quality. There were ten cheese factories, all located away from the railroad in communities where there were not enough cows to support a creamery. He stated that the dairy industry was steadily improving in the state at this time. More cows were milked than ever before. There was an increase throughout the state within a short time of about sixty-five thousand head of milch cows. In several coun- ties the hand separator was utilized and the cream was shipped to churning plants or creameries. The high price of butter had stimulated the dairy busi- ness, because the farmer found that at the end of the year the sale of milk and butter yielded him a handsome and satisfactory revenue.

The inspection and analysis of store goods used for food was well advanced at this time in South Dakota. The state chemist, Professor Shepard, made scores of analyses of all these products and numerous adulterations were found. All such goods were promptly excluded from the market. The commisioner recommended a few amendments to the existing law concerning food and dairy supplies. He suggested that a state analyst be appointed, and that a laboratory be established at the agricultural college with a sufficient appropriation for its maintenance. The penalties for the violations of the pure food law were too high, the commissioner contended, because they compelled the starting of every case in the Circuit Court. In other states such cases were started before justices. He recommended that the maximum penalty be $100 fine, with commitment until the fine was paid. He further recommended that the law concerning in-

559

SOUTH DAKOTA: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE

toxicating liquor should require a certain standard of purity, so that the state chemist would have a basis upon which to work.

In September, 1902, Prof. J. E. Todd, state geologist, reported what he had accomplished during the biennial period. The last Legislature had passed a more liberal appropriation in order that he might examine more fully the re- sources of the state. This program included the study of the fauna as well as the flora. He was given two assistants, one in zoology and the other in botany. Dr. D. A. Saunders, of the agricultural college, became his assistant in charge of botany and Prof. C. P. Lommen, of the state university, assistant in charge of zoology. In addition, Dr. C. C. O'Hara was given the task of examining the mines of the Black Hills and preparing a report on the metalliferous resources of that region. The state geologist was asked to collect data concerning the non-metallic resources of the whole state. During the summer of 1901 all parties visited the localities assigned them and made a thorough investigation of the natural resources. During this time the state geologist, Professor Todd, filled an engagement on the United States Geological Survey, and also served as dele- gate to the International Gold Mining Congress, which met in Idaho. However, on his way back from the West, he inspected the quarries and mineral deposits in the Black Hills region and later visited the gas wells of Sully County. The article prepared by Professor O'Hara on the mines of the Black Hills was read before the Mining Congress, which met in Idaho and received prominent men- tion in mining journals and favorable consideration from speakers and writers. In the work he was assisted by the School of Mines, which issued his article as a special bulletin.

An investigation and study of the water resources of the state was regarded equally important as the other natural resources. Methods of securing a better and more certain and steady supply of artesian water were studied and con- sidered. Plans to measure the flow in a simple way and to distribute the water were duly considered. A tabulated list of nearly all the artesian wells in the state was prepared, and the department endeavored to keep in communication with all portions of the state so that the rapidly increasing number of wells could be very closely approximated at any time.

The study of the mineral resources involved an examination of the coal deposits of the state; also the oil and gas. An attempt to explore the north- western part of the state was planned in 1901, but was stopped by an outbreak of smallpox in the Indian reservation. In 1902, however, the plan was carried out. Professor Todd accompanied by R. W. Ellis, Henry Ramsey, Sheridan R. Jones, Clyde King, and A. B. Collins, interpreter, explored and examined a considerable portion of the state west of Pierre. Several hundred pounds of specimens were gathered on this trip. Frequent stops were made and numerous short side trips were taken to examine certain localities. Special examinations for lignite were made and many inquiries were propounded to residents and natives concerning this substance. Much of this region had been visited in 1885 by a party of United States geological surveyors to ascertain where the work- able beds of coal existed in that region. This report was used by Professor Todd and his party to aid them in ascertaining the condition of lignite mines and beds in this portion of the state. The result of the season's work by this party was summed up by Professor Todd under eight headings as follows:

560

SOUTH DAKOTA: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE

(1) No traces of oil or gas were found except of the latter in wells already known near the Missouri River; (2) no trace of coal or lignite nor any sign of its possible occurrence was found in the Fox Hills formation; (3) workable beds of good lignite, but of no pure coal, were found at various points in the Laramie strata. In 1895 the state geologist reported beds of pure lignite in the Cave Hills and Slim Buttes and eastward along Grand River, which he stated attained a thickness in some cases of five, seven and eleven feet. Professor Todd's party confirmed or corroborated in the main the report made by the United States Survey in 1885, on the regions farther east. Along the northern line of the state, beds of lignite occurred at several horizons as far east as the Missouri River, but the quantity greatly increased to the southward and eastward. It was found developed only in quite limited and occasional areas. In some cases where a bed of lignite three or four feet in thickness was found, it was replaced within a short distance by shale or nodules of iron ore. In many cases the beds had suffered from spontaneous combustion, so that the carbonaceous matter had been burned entirely out, leaving the clay the color of brick or slag. Occasion- ally specimens of good lignite were found on the Laramie strata, but no beds capable of being worked were found further south than a line drawn from the south end of Slim Buttes to township 17 north, range 23 east, nor further east than a line drawn northwest from the latter point to the place where Dakota Creek enters the state. The localities where lignite was used to a considerable extent for local purposes were as follows: On Black Horse Creek from Coil Spring to its mouth; at Coal Spring, where there was a bed 47/2 feet thick; on or near section 31, township 20 north, range 20 east; on Black Horse Creek a bed variously reported at from twelve to twenty feet in thickness was found to have only about one foot of good lignite; a few localities along Cottonwood Creek, one bed being about six feet in thickness with about two feet in the mid- dle of shale; at the head of Firesteel Creek, where there was a bed of about five feet in thickness of good quality ; about seven miles northwest of the sub-agency on Rock Creek, a few other small outcrops were known to exist; (4) valuable observations concerning geological formations, the number and height of various river terraces and other topographical features, including character of soils, were made; (5) a valuable collection of birds and mammals and of insects and fishes of this section was made; (6) numerous photographs to illustrate the characteristic features of the country and the crops raised in different localities there and other points of geological interest were taken; (7) a valuable collec- tion of fossils from the Fox Hills and Laramie formations was made.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Dakota Territory, volume III, Part 78

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920 Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company Number of Pages: 1146

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1146