Page:A Brief History of South Dakota.djvu/203

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THE UNEASY CAPITAL
197

During the next two years a very picturesque campaign was fought. In the campaigns of 1889 and 1890 large sums of money had been expended, more or less corruptly, in influencing votes, and the effect upon the morals of the state was very bad. Both Pierre and Mitchell, in the campaign of 1904, undertook to avoid the corrupt

Carnegie Library, Mitchell

use of money. The Northwestern Railroad Company was interested in the retention of the capital at Pierre; the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railway Company was equally interested in the removal of the capital to Mitchell. The campaign, therefore, became a fight between the two railway systems.

Early in the season each railway began to carry to the city in which it was interested persons selected from the