USA > Colorado > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 21
USA > Nevada > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 21
USA > Wyoming > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 21
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43 Kinkead was born in Pa 1826, removing with his parents to Ohio when an infant. At the age of 18 years he began going west, first to St Louis, then in 1849 to Salt Lake, where he engaged in business and remained 5 ycars, coming to Cal. in 1854. In Jan. 1856 he married a daughter of J. C. Fall of Marysville, and went to New York city for a year, where he was in business, but returned to Marysville, and finally settled in Nevada in 1860, and was appointed territorial treasurer. From that time he has been con- nected with the political history of Nevada. In 1867 he visited Alaska with the government expedition under Gen. J. C. Davis. I have in my collection a manuscript narrative of his participation in public affairs, In Nevada and Alaska, in which is much valuable information,
HIST. NEV. 13
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STATE GOVERNMENT.
removed him beyond the possibility of reparation at some future time.4
In order to make more clear the anomalous condi- tion of Nevada politics, it is necessary to consider the local influences brought to bear upon elections. As has already been stated, the first constitution formed taxed all mines in the same manner that other prop- erty was taxed, and for that reason was rejected by a mining population, led by able and well-paid agents of the great mines. The accepted constitution ex- empted from taxation everything but the proceeds in bullion. The revenue law passed by the first state legislature provided that twenty dollars per ton, the assumed cost of reducing the ores, might be deducted from the gross products, and that only three fourths of the remainder should be taxed. This discrimina- tion in favor of mining property, though evidently unconstitutional, was not referred to the courts at that time. Meanwhile the Comstock mines were yielding an aggregate of $15,000,000 or $17,000,000 annually, and the amount which under the constitu- tion was due the state and Storey county, had accu- mulated to a vast sum on the Comstock mines alone. In 1867 suit was brought before Judge S. H. Wright of the 2d district, to test the constitutionality of the
" The republican candidates elected, besides those I have mentioned, were: Jasper Babcock sec. of state, L. L. Crockett treas., J. F. Hallock cont., A. J. Hatch sur-gen., Thomas P. Hawley sup. judge, A. M. Murphy atty-gen .. C. F. Bicknell clerk sup. court.
On the democratic ticket were Jewett W. Adams lieut-gov. (elected), George W. Baker sec. of state, R. M. Elstner cont., J. E. Jones treas., D. R. Sessions supt of public instruction (elected), S. H. Day sur .- gen., F. W. Cole snp. judge, J. R. Kittrell attorney-general, Richard Rule clerk of the supreme court.
Lewis R. Bradley, born in Va in 1806, began life as supt of a farm at $80 per year, being promoted to be purchaser of horses and mules. In 1843 he removed to Ky, and the following year to Mo., where he remained until 1852, when he migrated to Cal. with a band of cattle. The next year he returned to the states, and brought out horses, mules, and sheep, on which he made large profits. In 1862 he settled in Lander co., where he has fol- lowed stock-raising. His wife was Virginia Willis of Va. John R. Bradley was born in Va in 1835, and married in Mo. in 1857. The father settled in Elko co. in 1866, being a pioneer of that part of the state. He had been co. com. and treas. of Elko co., and his son, John R., has held the same offices after him. A. M. Hillhouse was nominated for U. S. senator. Nevada State Journal, Nov. 17, 1878.
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LEGISLATION AND TAXATION.
revenue law as it related to mining property, and at the same time an extra session of the legislature was called to deal with this particular subject. Before the decision of the court was rendered pronouncing the former law unconstitutional, the special legisla- ture had abolished it, and passed others still more favorable to the mining interest, and especially to the mines of Storey county, where the tax was limited to twenty-five cents on every $100 worth of bullion. These proceedings kept the matter in the courts and put off the day of reckoning when the bank of Cali- fornia, represented by William Sharon, and control- ling all the then paying mines on the Comstock, would have to pay up its indebtedness to the state and county.
But in 1869 and 1870 new complications arose. Sharon had been able in the former year to induce the legislature to authorize Storey county to issue its bonds for $300,000 to constitute a gift to the Virginia and Truckee railroad company, his particular and favorite enterprise, a levy of one-half of one per cent to be made annually on the county property to meet the interest of these bonds and create a sinking fund. It became a question with the railroad company, namely the bank of California, how to avoid paying the tax upon one species of their property to discharge the interest on money presented to them by the county. As usual, resort was had to the legislature, and a new law passed which classified ores, and exempted accord- ing to class, those which were rated below $12 a ton being allowed ninety per cent for the cost of reduction ; under $30 and over $12 eighty per cent; under $100 and over $30 sixty per cent; and over $100 fifty per cent, provided it could be proved that this was the cost of reducing them. What was left of the pro- ducts of the mines was taxable, except in the case of those where the Freiberg process was used, when a further exemption of $15 was allowed. This law enabled the Comstock owners to work their low grade
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STATE GOVERNMENT.
ores without tax, for it was easy enough to show that the expense covered all or nearly all the proceeds ; and at this time the bonanzas in the old mines were worked out.
But almost simultaneously with this legalized de- fiance of the constitution, Fair and Mackay discovered the great bonanza in the Consolidated Virginia and California mines, which soon began to produce over a million dollars a month, making this firm a powerful rival of the bank of California, which did not desire the new money kings to enjoy the same exemption which had been so advantageous to itself. The Sharon interest, therefore, offered no opposition when, in 1874, the people at large, and Storey county in particular, elected their representatives with the pledge that they would enact a more righteous law than had yet been enacted concerning the taxation of the mines. To this end, Senator John Piper of Storey county prepared a bill which passed without opposition in February 1875, making the products of the mines taxable at the rate of $1.50 on every $100, or at the same rate that other property was assessed.
It was now the turn of the bonanza firm to protest, partly because the new law seemed to discriminate between them and the bank of California, which had been helped to evade paying a just tax on its property, and greatly because they were forced to pay so large a proportion of bonds of the Virginia and Truckee railroad, which they believed had instigated the change. They set up a plea that the new law was unconstitutional and refused to pay any taxes at all, by their action forcing the people to make up the deficit. The matter became a political issue at the election of 1876, both parties insisting on no more compromises with the great mining corporations, and every candidate being compelled to pledge himself not to vote for a reduction of the tax on bullion.
The report of the controller at the opening of the session showed a balance of the state debt unprovided
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RULE OF THE COMSTOCK FIRMS.
for amounting to $108,429.71, of which $74,678.53 was then due. Adding to this the estimated cost of running the state government for two years, or until another meeting of the legislature, $894,250.85, and the state would be owing about a million dollars, while the state revenue less the tax on mines would not reach $800,000.45 The mining tax, less the bonanzas, should the yield continue the same, would reduce the amount of debt $64,464, but there would still be a deficit of $193,255 to be met. This state of public affairs shook the nerves of the legislators. To add to the uneasiness of the Storey county mem- bers, it was seen that the refusal to pay taxes by Fair and Mackay would compel the county to borrow $100,000 to carry on its schools and pay for its court- house.
Two courses lay open to the legislature: to increase the state and county debt by borrowing, or compro- mise with the bonanza firm. They decided to violate their pledges and compromise. A bill passed both houses which was the essence of a contract entered into between Fair and Mackay on one side and Storey county officials and state officers of finance on the other. It reduced the bullion tax 31} per cent, which was equal to giving up 20 per cent of the entire property value of the state. The price agreed upon for this submission was the payment of the tax withheld in the past by the bonanza firm. After deliberating two or three days Governor Bradley vetoed the bill, and the question was left with the supreme court, where it was likely to be decided in favor of the state of Nevada.
In May another attempt at compromise was made, this time succesfully. The bonanza firm offered to pay all that was due from them under the law to the state and county, with the costs of the suits instituted to collect, if the recipients would agree that in case
45 The controller figured $12,643.47 too high on the expenses, and too low on the revenue by $93,626.20.
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STATE GOVERNMENT.
the decision of the United States supreme court was against them, the district court of Storey county would issue a stay of execution for the satisfaction of so much of the judgment as included the penalties for contempt and the percents, until the 1st of April, 1879. This offer being accepted, $290,275.72 was paid down two days before the svpreme court decided in favor of the state. The legislature, as had been tacitly understood, passed an act in 1879 releasing the bonanza firm from paying the penalties due the state and the county of Storey. The attorney-general of Nevada, however, requested that the constitutionality of the act might be tested, with the result that the court ordered the payment of $77,578.22, the amount of the penalties unpaid. 46
From what has gone before it will be perceived how really little national politics had to do with politics in Nevada during the rule of the Comstock firms. The republican majority in the legislature in 1879 was thirteen in the senate and thirty-two in the assembly, making secure the return of J. P. Jones to the Uni- ted States senate. Jones had, as chairman of the monetary commission in 1876, done himself and his state great credit by his report.
This commission particularly concerned Nevada as a silver-producing state, its duty being to inquire into the change which had taken place in the relative value of gold and silver, the causes thereof, and whether permanent or not; its effect upon trade, commerce, finance, and the productive interests of the country, and upon the standard of value in our own and foreign countries ; also into the policy of the restor- ation of the double standard in this country, and the legal relations between the two coins if restored; and
46 The case was appealed in Nov. 1880, and decided in the sup. court against the company. Another attempt was made by the legislature in 1881 to release the bonanza company, but Gov. Kinkead vetoed the bill. His ac- tion was applauded by the majority. Carson Index, March 4, 1881; Virginia City Chronicle, March 4, 1881; Lamb's Early Mining Camps, MS., 4.
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MONETARY STANDARDS.
further, into the policy of continuing legal-tender notes concurrently with the metallic standards, with the effects thereof upon the labor, industries, and wealth of the country; lastly, also, into the best means of providing for the resumption of specie pay- ments. Nothing so thoroughly exhaustive of these questions had ever been presented to congress, and the view taken was favorable to the interests of Nevada, and particularly, at that time, to the Com- stock mines. Therefore, he received the votes of all the republicans in the legislature, and one of the democratic members. The legislation of congress upon the question of a double standard for money had affected the mining interests of Nevada sensibly. In July 1870 an act was passed to refund the national debt, the government engaging to pay at some future time $2,000,000,000 in coin of the value of the coin- age of that date. The units of value of coinage were dollars consisting of 4122 of standard silver and 25g grains of that of standard gold. In 1873 the holders of the United States bonds, and bonds of the French government, made a movement in Europe to demonetize silver in order to compel the payment of these bonds in gold only, Germany being the first to come into the arrangement. Such influences were brought to bear in the United States that congress, in revising and codifying the mint and coinage laws of the country, omitted the silver dollar from the list of coins, and it being the only silver coin which was a full legal tender, became thereby demonetized, and the people were compelled to pay the national and private indebtedness in gold alone. The product of gold being irregular, and growing less with the increase of population, as well as the decrease of the metal, it was considered to work not only a present hardship by raising the price of gold in the market, but to threaten at some future time to make the people slaves to the bondholders, by compelling them to yield so much more of their labor and property for
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STATE GOVERNMENT.
a dollar in gold than they would have to do were there a double standard as before. Silver had already depreciated twenty per cent in 1878, when congress required the secretary of the treasury to purchase, at the lowest market price, not less than two nor more than four millions a month to be coined into standard dollars for circulation, the government speculating in the difference in commercial value, but without restor- ing the silver dollar to its equality with the gold one. This was the status of silver in the currency of the United States, while the question of restoring it to its former value was becoming one of the foremost subjects with which statesmen had to deal, and one of vital importance to the state of Nevada. By 1885 the silver question was regarded as a political issue, and the public was much interested in knowing what course a democratic administration would pur- sue with regard to it. A silver convention was held at Carson January 31st. The voice of the conven- tion was that demonetizing silver would double the riches of the rich, and in the same proportion increase the burdens of the laboring and producing classes. The Nevada Silver Association was formed, with a constitution and by-laws, the object of which was to insist upon the retention of silver as money. The meeting also indorsed the proceedings of the silver convention held at Denver, Colorado, at which Kan- sas, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Idaho, Wyoming, and Arizona were represented.47
47 Proceedings of the Nevada Silver Convention, 1885; Pacific Coast Mining Review, 1878-9, 97-103; Jones' Speech on the Silver Question, April 24, 1876; Jones' Speech on the Optionul Standard, June 28 and July 15, 1876; Jones' Speech on Silver Demonetization, Feb. 14, 1878; Carson Appeal, July 14, 1876; S. F. Chronicle, March 2, 1885; Proceedings of the Nevada Silver Convention, 1885.
A monograph upon the silver question called A Plea for Silver Coinage and the Double Standard, pp. 139, written by T. B. Buchanan, and published at Denver in 1885, attempts to explain the money question as affecting values. It is a good, common sense treatise, but shows what its author claims, that the science of political economy cannot all be contained in one book, and has never been completely formulated. A much more trenchant treatment is that contained in a dictation on The Silver Question by Wm M. Stewart in my possession, the body of which is also contained in a pamphlet
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DEMONETIZATION OF SILVER.
President Cleveland in Febuary 1885 expressed views contrary to the retention of silver in circulation on a par with gold, and immediately the conflict over silver revived, and was carried on vigorously, the battle being chiefly between eastern bankers and western silver producers. In his message to congress in December he elaborated his views more fully. It brought out some interesting facts and figures. The statement of the director of the United States mint for the year ending June 30, 1885, was that the decline in gold production on the Pacific coast from 1881 to 1885, inclusive, was $8,070,438.07. The deposits of gold and silver at the San Francisco mint was $25,399,707.10, or $5,000,000 less than the preceding year. The Nevada mint was closed this year, the mining industry once centering in Carson "being practically reduced to nothing," and the institution being conducted simply as an assay office. It has since been closed. With regard to the country in general, there was deposited at the United States mints during the year $52,894,075.09 in gold, and $36,789,774.92 in silver, the total coinage value of which was $89,683,850.01, an increase over the pre- vious year of $1,728,726.09. The imports of gold bullion into the United States during the year was $11,221,846.45 ; the exports of gold bullion, $395,750, being a gain in gold of $10,826,096.45. The imports of silver bullion amounted to $4,530,384 ; the exports to $20,422,924, being a loss of $5,066,444. The pro-
with that title issued in San Francisco in 1885. The sub-title is an expres- sion of the author's views, running as follows: 'Bondholders' conspiracy to demonetize silver; legislation affecting national debt, and gold and silver; unfaithful treasury officials; hostility of national banks; independent finan- cial policy for the United States; free coinage or enforcement of existing laws.' Mr Stewart shows the absurdity of permitting foreign bondholders to regulate American finance, and ridicules President Cleveland's action in sending a commissioner, Manton Marble, to Europe to import the views of the purchasers of American bonds. He prophecies the oppression of the people, the growth of a bond-holding aristocracy, the mortgaging of prop- erty, and the impoverishment of the agricultural classes. The loss of mil- lions of mining property, rendered valuless, is, he thinks, one of the least in- jurious effects of the disturbance of the relative values prevailing in our prescut currency.
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STATE GOVERNMENT.
duction in the United States during the year had been $30,800,000 in gold, and $48,800,000 in silver. Of this amount of silver $28,000,000 had been coined and $6,000,000 used in the arts, which, with the bul- lion exported and wasted, left little or nothing on hand. The production of the whole world in the year ending June 30, 1885 was $95,292,569 in gold, and $115,147,878 in silver, gold production having fallen off over $5,000,000 since 1882.
There would appear to be nothing very alarming in the relative qualities or values of gold and silver at this time, but agitation has made it a party question in congress. The repeal of the act of 1878 being insisted on by the monometalists, various schemes for preventing the demonetization of silver were broached, such as certificates of deposit with a market value, the government being obligated to coin the bullion and use it in redeeming certificates when presented, and other proposed devices for keeping silver in circu- lation. An English writer, Morton Frewen, proposed that the Pacific ports should be made free to the east- ern nations of China and Japan, buying their tea, coffee, sugar, rice, jute, etc., in exchange for the silver of Colorado, Nevada, and California, and building up a mercantile marine to rival England. This propo- sition, which might be considered were it not for the Isthmus canal and the Canadian Pacific railway, would doubtless be received with caution. A meet- ing of the Nevada Silver Association was held at Nevada City October 20, 1885. The resolutions passed declare that the agitation of the silver ques- tion is "especially aggravating, since the success of such a policy involves the annihilation of millions of dollars worth of capital locked up in their mills and mines," threatening to bankrupt an industrious and loyal people. A convention of silver men, and another of bankers, was held at New Orleans in December, but congress alone had the settlement of the ques- tion; and the president's message was distinctly
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CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS.
adverse to silver coinage. Later legislation was more favorable.
James G. Fair, though never an aspirant for office and taking so little interest in political affairs that he never voted for a president but twice, was prevailed upon by the democrats to become their candidate for the United States senate. The course of Sharon as senator had not been without distinction or profit. He had offered himself for renomination purely on his merits, without the usual golden cross on the palms of his constituents, and the election, which may be said to have gone by default, threw everything into the hands of the democrats, who had a majority of over. 800 for presidential electors. George W. Cas- sidy, their candidate for congressman, was elected by over 1,200 majority, and Charles H. Belknap supreme judge in place of W. H. Beatty. By this election Nevada lost her able and working congressman, Dag- gett, and an able and incorruptible jurist. 48
There were offered at this election the following amendments to the constitution, which were accepted :
48 Cassidy was reëleeted in 1882 by a majority of 1,258 over his opponent. J. W. Adams, democrat, was elected governor by about the same majority. O. R. Leonard, republican, was elected judge by even a larger majority, and all the other state offices were filled by republicans. Reno Gazette, Dec. 30, 1SS2; Biennial Rept Sec. of State, 1884, 3. Rollin M. Daggett was born in Richville, New York, in 1832. In 1837 his father removed to north-western Ohio, and young Daggett received his education and a knowledge of print- ing at Defiance in that state. At the age of 17 years he crossed the plains to Cal. on foot, supporting himself with his rifle. After mining for two years, in 1852 he established the Golden Era, a literary journal, in S. F., and in 1860 the Mirror in the same place, the latter being merged in the S. F. Herald. His reputation as a journalist was wide-spread. He settled in Nevada iu 1862, and was a member of the territorial council of 1863. The following year he became connected with the Territorial Enterprise, and re- tained his place upon that journal for many years. In 1876 he was presi- dential elector, and in 1878 congressman. Moran's Pen Pictures of the State Officers, Legislators, Public Officials, and Newspaper Men, at the Capital During the 9th Session of the Nevada Legislature, Virginia, Nevada, 1879. Contains 72 biographies. W. H. Beatty was born in Monlova, Ohio, Feb. 18, 1838, removed to Ky in infancy, and to Cal. in 1853. Being still a lad, he re- turned cast and spent 3 years at the university of Va, coming back to Cal. in 1858, studying law in Sae., and being admitted to practice in the sup. court. In 1863 he went to Austin, Nevada, and was elected judge of the 7th district court in the following year. The legislature, in 1869, appointed hin judge of the new distriet of White Pine county, to which office he was cleeted in 1870. His promotion to the supreme bench followed in 1874. Later he re- moved to Cal., and in ISS8 was elected chief justice sup. court of Cal.
4
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STATE GOVERNMENT.
The elimination of the word "white" from section 1, article 2. The addition of article 18, granting rights of suffrage and office-holding without reference to race, color, or previous condition of servitude. The addi- tion of section 10 to article 11, forbidding the use of public moneys for sectarian purposes. Chinese immi- gration was disproved by a vote of 17,259 against 183.
Of the sixty-one members of the legislature elected, only nine were republicans. Two of these were sen- ators, who with the republicans holding over gave a majority of five in that branch of the legislature, whereas they had but seven members altogether in the assembly. The aspirants for the senatorship, besides Fair, of the democrats, were Sutro of the independents, who desired to keep the Comstock out of politics, and Thomas Wren, nominated by the republicans in place of Sharon.49 Sutro was not put in nomination. Fair was elected on the first ballot. Wren received twenty votes and Daggett one.
49 William Sharon was born in Smithfield, Ohio, Jan. 9, 1821. After graduating at college he studied law, practising for a time at St Louis, Mo. Afterward he engaged in a mercantile business at Carrollton, Ill. Coming to Cal. in 1849, he opened a store at Sac., later engaging in real estate in S. F. When the bank of Cal. opened an agency at Virginia City the inanage- ment was entrusted to him, and in connection with his associates in the bank bought up the greater portions of the Kentuck, Yellow Jacket, and Chollar mines, and obtained control of the mining mills, incorporating the Union Mill and Mining company, and the Virginia and Truckee R. R., the state of Nevada granting a liberal subsidy in aid of the latter. The road was finally completed to Reno, where it connected with the C. P. R. R., the cost being three millions. Sharon and W. C. Ralston also purchased the Belcher mine, receiving large returns therefrom. In 1875 Mr Sharon was elected U. S. senator from Nevada, serving with honor and credit. Mrs Sharon was formerly Miss Maria Mulloy, a native of Quebec, and the result of their union was five children, two surviving, Frederick W., who married a daughter of Lloyd Tevis, and Florence E., who became the wife of Sir Thomas Hesketh. Mrs Sharon died in 1875, and Mr Sharon in 1SS5. After setting apart $100,000 for charitable purposes, and the embellishment of Golden Gate park, the property fell in equal parts to his son, daughter, and son-in-law, F. G. Newlands.
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