History of Dakota Territory, volume III, Part 79

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

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Professor Todd suggested as a plan of future investigation, that the artesian supply be again investigated in order to learn the depth and the pressure of the wells, the minerals contained in the water, boundaries of the artesian basin, and the sources of the artesian water supply, etc. Already much was known con- cerning these points. Up to this time South Dakota had made only small appro- priations, so that little research could thus far be made, but the state geologist had been employed by the United States Survey to study and work out some of the problems connected with the state geology. All that was lacking for a thorough investigation of these resources was a larger state appropriation, which sum would no doubt be supplemented by the United States Government. At this time the Government was giving substantial proof of its intention to make

VIEW OF THE CEMETERY AT SIOUX FALLS

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the most of irrigation and the most of the waters in the semi-arid region fit for that purpose. Already the Government had determined on a course of reservoir construction over a considerable portion of Western South Dakota and was like- wise planning irrigation systems on a large scale particularly at Belle Fourche. During investigations by government agents at the head waters of the Grand, Moreau, Bad and White rivers and the tributaries of the Cheyenne and the upper Missouri rivers, they had learned that much of the water there could be utilized to reclaim vast tracts of fertile lands.

The state geologist at this time, in view of his studies and investigations, made the following recommendations: (1) That there should be issued a bulletin concerning the water resources of the state, going into details showing the dan- gers of wastefulness, the values of reservoirs and how to supply the water; (2) that all of the state be examined and the natural resources be investigated; (3) that the collection of specimens of every description which was only well begun, be steadily pushed and continued at all times, as new specimens came to light and be kept in school museums for the benefit of the students. He thought that $2,000 should be spent to maintain these recommendations during each of the subsequent biennial periods.

In October, 1902, the state auditor made a report to the governor with many recommendations of great moment. His report showed that for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1902, warrants to the amount of $722,14I were issued and that this sum represented the cost of maintaining the state government for that year as compared with $559,368 required for the preceding year. The total expendi- tures for the biennial period ending June 30, 1902, amounted to $1,281,510. This was an increase of over $175,000 over the preceding two years. The increase was due to appropriation made for the erection of new buildings at the various state institutions. For this purpose the Legislature of 1901 had set aside about $200,000, which became available July 1, 1901. The cost of maintaining the several state institutions was gradually increasing from year to year, while the revenues to meet this increasing cost showed little change and were raised by deficiency levies. As the revenues for 1903 and 1904 would not be more than enough to meet the ordinary expenses of the state, it was clear that recourse must be had to another deficiency levy of from 11/2 to 2 mills. Thus it seemed necessary for the Legislature, not only to use the greatest economy in making appropriations for the support of the state, but also to devise ways and means to increase the revenues so as to meet its expenses. In addition to the expendi- tures above mentioned there was paid out of the local and endowment funds of the various state institutions about $60,000, which was received from the lease of endowment lands and receipts from all local sources. Up to this time these moneys had been disbursed by each local institution, but under the recent law they were now collected and paid into the state treasury the same as other state funds.

In June, 1902, the state bonds outstanding amounted to $427,500. This was a reduction in five years of $710,700. The payment of this large amount of bonds had saved to the state in interest charges more than $260,000. This large amount would have been paid out for interest had the bonds been permitted to run to maturity. By levying a small additional tax each year this result had been effected without making the additional tax burdensome and had resulted in Vol. III-36

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reducing the annual interest charges from $59,000 down to less than $10,000. The state auditor noted that his office was in receipt of many inquiries relative to the agricultural resources of South Dakota, but stated that he had no infor- mation other than that found in the returns of the assessors.

The law of the state placed in charge of the public examiner supervision of the state institutions, county banks, and building associations. In 1902 it was shown that the state institutions were never in better condition financially. The boards having control seemed to be in perfect harmony with schools, hospitals and penal and charitable institutions. It is probably true that at this time no state could show institutions of this kind in better condition proportionately than those of South Dakota.

During the previous year 23 counties of the state had no bonded indebtedness whatever; 33 had no outstanding warrants; 17 had neither bonded indebtedness nor outstanding warrants. The total valuation of county and state property as equalized by county and state boards in 1902 was $173,915,207. The total bonded indebtedness of 53 counties at the same time was $1,931,835. At this time there were in the state 157 state banks and 74 private banks, over which the public examiner exercised supervision. The total number in 1900 was 179; in two years there had been but one bank failure. The department, however, was entirely without the right of supervision over the preliminary arrangements in the organization of the banks. The public examiner asked for authority for checking abuses of over-loans, of poor securities, of acquiring and holding too much real estate, and the absolute right to take charge of banks which were not authorized by law and of banks which were insolvent. When all arrangements should have been complied with by new banks the public examiner was then to issue a certificate of authorization to commence business. The growth of the state was now so rapid and all other departments had become so large, that legislation should meet all necessary requirements in order to prevent placing a check upon growth and development. The public examiner recommended that an appropriation sufficient to provide for deputies, clerks and expenses should be given. He further recommended that every bank under his supervision be required to pay an annual fee of $15 if the capital stock should amount to $25,000 or less and $25 if the capital stock should exceed $25,000. At this time the total number of state and private banks was 196. Their total resources amounted to $15,157,678. The capital stock amounted to $2,341,918. The deposits subject to check amounted to $5,776,126 and the certificates of deposit amounted to $5,527,161.

In June, 1902, the secretary of state made several important recommenda- tions concerning the operations of domestic and foreign corporations. There was required a charter fee of $10 from all corporations organized for profit, but this law, he declared, was inadequate and unjust. Corporations established with a small authorized capital stock, incorporated by residents of the state for legitimate business, whereby they developed the state's resources and added property to the assessment rolls, were required to pay the same charter fee as the concerns of immense capitalization from outside which, with few exceptions, did not transact their official business within the state nor bring any property here that could be assessed for taxation. He recommended that the law should be so amended as to establish a graduated charter fee to be granted upon the

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SOUTH DAKOTA: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE

authorized capital stock provided in the articles of incorporation; that there should be greater restrictions as to the kind of business which could be transacted by a single corporation, or that the law should be made plainer on this subject and on many others which vitally concerned corporations; that a corporation should not be allowed to own the capital stock of other corporations organized for like purposes; that the law should provide a penalty for the violation of, or non-compliance with, the law under which a corporation operated; that inasmuch as under the present law a large number of the corporations organized in the state and during the territorial period had been organized for a period of twenty years, and in many cases such period having nearly expired, a law should be enacted whereby legitimate corporations could renew or extend the time of their existence; that the law should compel the record of business transactions of corporations to be kept at the main office or at their principal place of business within this state; that several apparently conflicting provisions of the corpora- tion law should be remedied by the next Legislature, especially the law providing for amending the articles of incorporation and the appointment of agent with the register of deeds of each county in which such corporation intended to transact business; and that such copies be certified by the secretary of state. The secretary further called the attention of the governor and the Legislature to the fact that while insurance protection to the amount of $578,333 was carried on the various state buildings and institutions, the law made no provision in case of destruction of property or damage by fire as to how the insurance money secured from such loss should be spent. The law should provide how such insurance money should be used for purposes of re-building or repairing, he insisted. He called attention, also, to the dangerous surroundings of the public and Supreme Court libraries, of their great use and value, and insisted that such valuable property should not be left to become the prey of fires.

Commissioner of School and Public Lands D. Eastman, in June, 1902, recom- mended the repeal of the free range or fence law, which was then in force in that part of the state lying west of the Missouri River. To enforce and illus- trate his recommendation he exhibited several tables showing the number of acres of common school and endowment lands located in the respective counties of the state; the number of acres of each class of lands under lease; the leasing price, and the amounts leased. The governor inquired why he asked for the repeal of the law. The commissioner reviewed the condition of the sales and leases since the admission of the state in 1889. At first the lands west of the river were unsurveyed and consequently school sections in unsurveyed town- ships, because they had not been located, could not be offered for lease; but by 1896 practically all of the lands outside of the reservations had been surveyed, and therefore the school lands could be selected. The commissioner estimated that the loss which resulted from the free range law to the common school and endowment funds from October, 1892, to the close of the fiscal year 1897, amounted to about $192,595 on an aggregate of 1,088,950 acres, upon which leasing fees could have been secured had the free range law not been in exist- ence ; and had such lands been selected, which could have been done if the law had not been in existence or had been repealed. If these lands had been paid for at the minimum leasing rate of from 2 cents to 5 cents per acre per year, the common school and endowment funds would have been increased during

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SOUTH DAKOTA: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE

those six years by the above amount. If they had been leased at the five-year rate the amount would have reached $329,030.34. This, he maintained, was nearer the correct amount which the school fund had lost through the operations of the free range law. Thus the common school and endowment funds, he declared, had contributed to the stockmen west of the Missouri River for the past six years the following amounts.

1897

$55,585.04

1898

52,053.66

1899

51,702.06

1900

55,686.12

1901

59,679.46

1902

54,324.00

Total

$329,030.34

The commissioner insisted that the school land should not be required to fatten the enormous number of stock that ranged over that region. Hundreds of train loads of live stock were shipped every year from Pierre, Chamberlain, Belle Fourche, and Rapid City ; and all were fattened for nothing largely on the school land under the sanction of the free range law. The quantity of leasing lands generally had advanced each year, and county leasing had also advanced. This fact proved that the price asked was not excessive, and further proved the great loss to the educational fund. The western part of the state, barring Gregory County and the mining region of the Black Hills, was at this time regarded as almost exclusively a grazing region. It was officially stated that a section of land when fenced would winter-pasture fifty head of cattle. The Hot Springs Star considered 7 cents an acre an exorbitant price for a five-year lease; yet admitted that 640 acres would winter-pasture fifty head of cattle. The pasture at 7 cents an acre for a five-year rate in Fall River County would cost $44.80 or about 90 cents for wintering each head of stock. This amount was a little less than the leasing price of $11.24 for the use of 160 acres, or was about the amount which would be levied in taxes against the land if owned fee simple. The repeal of the fence law would not, in the opinion of the commis- sioner, destroy the free range. All residents of the range country were inter- ested in having their stock run at large, and would individually or through the stock association pay their pro rata amount when leasing the school and endow- ment lands, and would let their stock run at large the same as at the present time. The commissioner admitted that the residents of this favored region could not be blamed for taking advantage of the generous law which practically made it unnecessary for them to pay for the land over which their stock could range at will; and that having enjoyed this privilege since 1885, and for the past thirteen years at the expense of the state, it would seem that they had been sufficiently subsidized, and that in the interest of the educational funds and in behalf of common equity and justice, some law should be enacted by which pay- ment for the use of the land wherever located might be secured. The commis- sioner could conceive of no enactment meeting the case other than a provision for fencing the school lands and thus in effect preventing stock from running at large over the same unless the lands should be first leased.

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SOUTH DAKOTA: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE

In January, 1903, Attorney General Hall complained that his salary was not sufficient for his office, because it did not enable him to maintain himself and at the same time pay the necessary expenses required by his duties. He accord- ingly asked the Legislature to increase his salary and his request was seconded by the governor. At this time his salary was the lowest of any of the state officers-$1,000 a year-and his official expenses among the greatest. The attorney general expressed the opinion that the salary raise granted by the Legislature of 1903 was legal because nearly all the officers affected were not constitutional officers. Among those who were entitled to an increase were secretary of the historical society, adjutant general, deputy superintendent of public instruction, state veterinarian, secretary to the governor, and State Board of Regents.

In May, 1903, the State Board of Pharmacy held its first session at Aberdeen and on that occasion passed twenty-five registered pharmacists and nine assistants. The next regular meeting was called to be held at Mitchell and the next at Deadwood.

The Legislature of 1903 provided for the appointment of a commission to settle the boundary dispute between South Dakota and Nebraska. This act was necessitated by the formation of a new bed in the Missouri River between the two states. Their work was completed by February, 1904. They conceded small tracts to each state. The commission consisted of S. H. Dickson, E. C. Ericson and John L. Jolly for South Dakota, and F. O. Robinson, C. J. Swanson and E. A. Lundberg for Nebraska. The commission met at the Mondamin Hotel, Sioux City, and perfected its organization by electing Mr. Ericson for president and Mr. Lundberg for secretary. The territory over which the com- mission was required to extend its work was from the junction of the Sioux and the Missouri rivers near Sioux City, up to the site of old Fort Randall in South Dakota. Above Fort Randall the river ran between hills which came close to its banks so that it had little or no chance to change its course. So much trouble had resulted to both states concerning the ownership of land along the river and in other matters resulting from the change of the river bed, that the legislators took action to establish, if possible, a permanent boundary over this course. While the middle of the river was supposed to be the line between the two states, the real boundary, as a matter of fact, was the line that marked the mid- dle of the river at the time the original survey was made. Since that survey the river had so changed its course that it no longer coincided with the original channel except in a very few places. The work of the commission was limited to twenty days. The object of the commission was to settle the dispute amicably regardless of whether small fractions of land were thrown in Nebraska or South Dakota. As a whole the State of Nebraska won most of the soil under the find- ing of this commission. In previous settlements South Dakota had won more land than Nebraska. The county surveyors along the line to be adjusted were employed to help the commission settle the boundary. Upon the completion of their report the commission turned it over to the legislatures of their respective states.

By 1903 the State Board of Health was making satisfactory progress in its duties. Three of the most eminent physicians of the state had been recently added to the board, namely: D. W. Robinson, H. E. McNutt and C. B. Alford. The board consisted of five members and the term of service of each was five

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SOUTH DAKOTA: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE

years; the last year each member served entitled him to occupy the president's chair.

The Legislature of 1899 passed a pure food law which remained wholly in- operative until the next Legislature, in order to effect its enforcement and regu- lation, created the office of food and dairy commissioner. The governor in this connection said in 1903, "The time has now arrived when the sale of adulterated goods should be treated as a serious crime against the people of the state and offenders be prosecuted to the full extent of the law."

The question of organizing life insurance companies on the basis of old line insurance companies was agitated in South Dakota in 1904. The purpose was to retain within the state premiums which heretofore had gone to outside com- panies. There was good reason for this demand as revealed by the report of the state insurance commissioner. He showed that the risks written and re- newed for 1903 reached $8,789,270.08, on which premiums to the amount of over $1,021,000 were paid. The losses paid in the state amounted to over $207,000, leaving a balance to the companies, less their expenses, of more than $814,000. Besides the old line life business, fraternal insurance was unusually well patronized in South Dakota, there being in force, late in 1904, policies amounting to $72,596,300. Assessments paid on these policies for 1904 aggre- gated over $494,000, and losses amounting to over $364,000 were paid. Not- withstanding the stringent laws against foreign fire insurance companies, they continued to do well, however, in this state in 1904. They wrote risks amount- ing to nearly $40,000,000, upon which the premiums paid were over $677,000 and losses paid over $251,000. The state mutual companies wrote risks amount- ing to $13,789,487, and paid losses of over $111,000. The total amount of premiums paid by the people of the state during 1903 for insurance of all classes -- life, fire, accident and miscellaneous-amounted to $2,622,438. "Why not keep the money in the state?" it was asked.

For the year ending June 30, 1905, the state veterinarian reported that he had destroyed forty-seven head of horses affected with the glanders. The object was to prevent the spread of the disease. The owners were entitled to in- demnity from the state. Generally, glanders did not appear in epidemic form but usually in isolated cases. Occasionally owners lost several head, and with proper precaution the disease was usually confined. During the previous five years horses affected with glanders were destroyed in every county east of the Missouri River, with the exception of Beadle and Hanson. One man during the year contracted glanders. His case was reported to the State Board of Health, but he died after an illness of about two weeks. Three of his horses were found affected, and from them no doubt he contracted the disease.

The horse disease known as maladie du coit had prevailed for several years on Pine Ridge and Rosebud Indian reservations. Later it was found in Custer, Fall River, Pennington, Lyman and Stanley counties. The United States Bureau of Animal Industry in 1905 was engaged in examining this disease and in checking its spread.

Anthrax prevailed to an alarming extent in the state during the fall of 1901. The disease extended from Sully County on the north to Charles Mix County on the south and included Sully, Hyde, Hughes, Buffalo, Brule and Charles Mix counties. The losses sustained by owners were high, amounting to seventy head

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SOUTH DAKOTA: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE

in three days. As this disease could be controlled by vaccination, several thou- sand head were thus treated soon after the outbreak. The state veterinarian cautioned people to destroy thoroughly carcasses of all animals that died of anthrax, and warned all persons that the disease was contagious and was com- municable to men.

Tuberculosis among cattle was found in four cases in the state in 1905. As this disease was certain to become more prevalent, it was advised that cattle should be more generally stabled and kept for dairy purposes. The state veter- inarian cautioned cattle owners to be particularly on their guard. The animal disease called Ophthalmia or pink eye was prevalent in certain portions of the state and affected horses particularly. The disease ran its course in a few weeks and nearly always ended in a complete recovery, but was distressing while it lasted. Mange or Texas itch was another disease which had come into the state, probably from Texas. The cases were found on the increase. For the purpose of suppressing this disease, the Legislature, at its ninth session, passed an act entitled "An Act to create a State Live Stock Commission, defining its duties, providing for county cattle inspectors and for the eradication of con- tagious, infectious and communicable diseases among domestic animals," and appropriated money for the purpose of enforcing the provisions of the act. The commission was appointed immediately after the act had been passed, the mem- bers being as follows: President, F. M. Stewart; vice president, D. R. Jones ; secretary, C. L. Eakin ; and F. C. Huss and D. J. Stafford. The work performed by this commission was extremely important and effective. Although they en- countered many perplexing problems, they performed their duty effectively and with ability. In a few instances drastic measures were necessary. Particularly was Mr. Eakin active and enthusiastic in his work. He labored without inter- mission, even neglected his own business and spent considerable time in the interest of the commission. J. E. Scott, who served as clerk of the commission, performed a large amount of labor in keeping the records of fifty-three organized counties and issuing 7,235 certificates for dipping, ranging from I to 3,400 head on each certificate.

Other diseases which occurred in the state were black leg, which caused very little loss and hog cholera, which was confined in the southern part of the state, but had appeared in the northern part and was reported from several counties.

In 1905 suit was brought by the State Dental Board to restrain two dentists from operating and conducting dental parlors in South Dakota. The defendants were restrained and were compelled to pay a fine of $50 and costs. Dr. G. W. Collins, of Vermillion, was summoned as a witness in this case, which was tried at Sioux Falls. He was secretary of the State Dental Board. He announced publicly that all infringers of the dental law of South Dakota would thereafter be punished.

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History of Dakota Territory, volume III, Part 79

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