USA > Idaho > History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume I > Part 25
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By the act of March 9, 1895, the Legislature accepted the conditions of the Carey irrigation act, approved by the President on August 18, 1894, and the grant of lands to the state under the provisions of said act.
Three constitutional amendments were ordered to be submitted to the people at the general election in 1896. The first provided for giving the right of suf- frage to the women of the state, the second for the election of a prosecuting attorney in each county, and the third for the separation of the offices of pro- bate judge and county superintendent of schools.
Memorials were addressed to Congress asking for the passage of an act providing for the free and unlimited coinage of silver as prior to its demoneti- zation in 1873; for the allotment of lands in severalty to the Indians on the Fort Hall reservation and the opening of the remainder of the reservation to settlement ; and for submission to the states of an amendment to the Federal Constitution providing for the election of United States senators by a direct vote of the people. Among the appropriations made by this Legislature was one of
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$3,500 to J. M. Wells, to reimburse him for his services as commissioner to the Columbian Exposition.
A new mining law was passed which made a radical change in the system of locating mining claims, requiring certain work to be done by the prospector within a given time in order to hold his claim. Ex-Governor George L. Shoup was again elected to the United States Senate, receiving twenty-seven votes to twelve for Willis Sweet, former representative in Congress, and fourteen for A. J. Crook, the populist candidate.
POLITICAL CAMPAIGN OF 1896
The year 1896 was a "Presidential year," and also a full complement of state officers was to be elected in Idaho. In the national campaign interest centered upon the money question. The republican national convention, which met in St. Louis, nominated William McKinley, of Ohio, for president, Garret A. Hobart, of New Jersey, for vice president, and adopted a platform indors- ing the act of 1873 demonetizing silver and declared in favor of the gold dollar as the standard unit of value.
The democratic national convention assembled in Chicago. William J. Bryan, of Nebraska, was nominated for president, and Arthur Sewall, of Maine, for vice president. The platform adopted by the convention declared in favor of the free and unlimited coinage of both silver and gold as the primary money of the nation at the ratio of sixteen to one, and for a reform in the Federal judiciary.
In Idaho political affiliations and party lines underwent a transformation. On May 16, 1896, the republican party held a state convention at Pocatello to select delegates to the national convention at St. Louis. At that convention a resolution was adopted declaring the reinstatement of silver as primary money to be the paramount issue of the campaign. This resolution was in harmony with the' record of Idaho republicans for several years prior to its adoption, but the national convention declared in favor of the gold standard. When the republican state committee met in Boise on August 8, 1896, to fix a date for the nominating convention, there was a large element ready to "bolt" the action of the national convention and the committee divided into two factions, each claiming to be the "regular" party organization, and each filling vacancies until there were two republican state committees.
The republican state convention met at Boise on August 26, 1896, and in- dorsed the action of the national convention, both as to candidates and platform. David H. Budlong was nominated for governor; Vincent Bierbower, lieutenant- governor; Isaac W. Garrett, secretary of state; Elmore N. McKenna, state auditor; Frank C. Ramsey, state treasurer; John N. Bagley, attorney-general; Charles A. Foresman, superintendent of public instruction ; Drew W. Standrod, justice of the Supreme Court; Theodore Brown, inspector of mines (this office had been created by the preceding Legislature) ; John T. Morrison, represen- tative in Congress. Weldon B. Heyburn, George C. Parkinson and James F. Ailshie were nominated for presidential electors, pledged to the support of McKinley and Hobart.
The democrats and populists "got together" in the nomination of a ticket, which was placed on the ballot under the name of the "people's democratic
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party." Frank Steunenberg was nominated for governor by the fusion con- vention on August 21, 1896; C. C. Fuller, for lieutenant-governor; George J. Lewis, for secretary of state; James H. Anderson, for state auditor; George H. Storer, for state treasurer; Robert E. McFarland, for attorney-general; Louis N. B. Anderson, for superintendent of public instruction; Ralpl: P. Quarles, for justice of the Supreme Court; Benjamin F. Hastings, inspector of mines; James Gunn, for representative in Congress. The presidential elec- tors, pledged to the support of Bryan and Sewall, were: William F. Smith, William W. Woods and Lorenzo L. Evans. Early in October Mr. Fuller, the candidate for lieutenant-governor, withdrew from the race and the vacancy on the ticket was filled by the state committee by the appointment of George F. Moore.
On the 26th of September the silver republicans met in convention. The presidential electors of the fusion ticket were indorsed; William E. Borah was named for representative in Congress; Frank Steunenberg was indorsed for governor ; the state ticket was then completed by the nomination of the follow- ing candidates: Edward B. True, lieutenant-governor; Charles Durrand, sec- retary of state; Bartlett Sinclair, state auditor ; Timothy Regan, state treasurer; George M. Parsons, attorney-general; Matthias F. Cowley, superintendent of public instruction ; Benjamin F. Hastings, inspector of mines (this was an in- dorsement of the fusion candidate) ; Edgar Wilson, justice of the Supreme Court. The declaration of principles approved the nomination of Bryan and Sewall, and also the action of Senators Teller, Dubois and Cannon in with- drawing from the St. Louis convention.
The prohibitionists held a convention and nominated John E. Tourtelotte. John J. Armstrong and Charles F. Paulson for presidential electors; James T Smith, representative in Congress; Moses F. Fowler, governor; H. C. Mc. Farland, lieutenant-governor; William J. Boone, secretary of state; Paul T. Cann, state auditor ; E. P. Marcellus, state treasurer ; William A. Hall, attorney- general; James H. Barton, superintendent of public instruction; David Farmer, inspector of mines. No nomination was made for justice of the Supreme Court.
At the election on November 3, 1896, the people's democratic or fusion can- didates were all elected. The presidential electors on that ticket received 23,135 votes to 6,314 for those on the republican ticket and 172 for the prohibitionists. For governor, Steunenberg received 22,096 votes; Budlong, 6,441,; Fowler, 239. W. E. Borah, the silver republican candidate for Congress, received 8,984 votes. All three of the constitutional amendments submitted to the people at this elec- tion were adopted. The vote on the woman suffrage amendment was 12,126 in favor to 6,282 against it.
WOMAN'S SUFFRAGE
The first jurisdiction in the United States to confer full right of suffrage to women was the Territory of Wyoming in 1868. A considerable sentiment from that time on existed in most of the territories in favor of extending suf- frage to women. In 1870. at the sixth session of the Territorial Legislature. of Idaho, a bill was introduced by Doctor Morgan, a representative from Oneida County, conferring the suffrage upon women of Idaho Territory, and after a hard fight was defeated by a tie vote. Had it passed the House at that time
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the Council, as the Senate was then called, would undoubtedly have passed it and acting Governor Curtis declared that he would give it his approval.
The matter of woman's suffrage in Idaho continued to be discussed by many for a number of years, but did not again culminate in any particular endeavor to gain the right. In 1894, however, resolutions were passed by all of the state conventions favoring the movement and the Legislature elected that year passed a constitutional amendment submitting the matter to the voters of the state at the next election. In 1896 the matter was voted upon. As usual in the case of constitutional amendments, a great number of voters overlooked the amendment in casting their ballots and did not vote either way. Of those who voted, however, a majority favored the amendment. The State Election Board, however, took the view that it required a majority of all the voters who were registered to carry a constitutional amendment and as the suffrage amendment had not received such a majority the board declared it had not passed.
This action of the board caused considerable excitement not only among the women of Idaho, but among those in the older states who favored the suf- frage cause, and Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, then active head of the suffrage movement in the United States, and a number of other leaders came to Idaho and instituted legal proceedings to bring the matter before the Supreme Court, which tribunal, shortly after its submission, in a notable decision which has since been accepted as the law pertaining to all constitutional amendments, de- clared that the returning board had been mistaken in its conclusion and that the suffrage amendment had passed. Since that time the women of Idaho have very generally participated in all parts of the state in the various elections held. and almost without exception the people of the state have believed this exten- sion of the suffrage an incident that has done much to secure a safe and sane administration of the state's affairs, and in addition has marked Idaho as one of the really progressive states of the Union.
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CHAPTER XIV FROM STEUNENBERG TO MORRISON
STEUNENBERG'S ADMINISTRATION-FOURTH LEGISLATURE-ELECTION OF 1898- FIFTH LEGISLATURE-LABOR TROUBLES IN IDAHO-MINERS' UNION TROUBLES ON WOOD RIVER IN 1884-COEUR D'ALENE TROUBLES IN 1892-FORMATION OF WESTERN FEDERATION OF MINERS LABOR TROUBLES OF 1899-MARTIAL LAW- POLITICAL CAMPAIGN OF 1900-HUNT'S ADMINISTRATION-SIXTH LEGISLATURE -POLITICAL CAMPAIGN OF 1902-MORRISON'S ADMINISTRATION-SEVENTH LEGISLATURE-ELECTION OF 1904-REVIVAL OF THE MORMON QUESTION.
Frank Steunenberg, the fourth man to serve as governor of the State of Idaho, was born in the City of Keokuk, Ia., August 8, 1861. His parents came from Holland and were of sturdy Dutch stock. At the age of sixteen years Frank left school and began learning the printer's trade, later becoming a com- positor on the Des Moines Register. After a time "at the case," he entered the Iowa Agricultural College at Ames, where he completed the course, and then became the publisher of the Knoxville (Iowa) Express. In 1886 he came to Idaho and with his brother, A. K. Steunenberg, purchased the Caldwell Tribune. He was elected a delegate to the Idaho constitutional convention in 1889 and the next year was elected a meinber of the lower house in the first State Legislature. In 1896 he was nominated by the democrats and indorsed by the populists for governor and elected in November of that year.
Governor Steunenberg's administration began with the opening of the fourth State Legislature in January, 1897, and upon his recommendation a number of important laws were enacted during that session. He was again elected governor in 1898 and during his second term occurred those unhappy events that resulted in his tragic death a few years later. The story of these events is told later in this chapter. By doing his duty as governor and acting promptly in the effort to stamp out lawlessness in the northern part of the state, he in- curred the displeasure of the lawless element of the miners' organization. This enmity did not cease with his retirement from the governor's office. On Satur- day evening, December 30, 1905, his enemies placed a bomb at the gate in front of his residence in Caldwell, so arranged that the opening of the gate would explode the bomb.
Previous to this time Mr. Steunenberg had received numerous anonymous
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letters characterizing him as "the tool of corporate greed," "a traitor to his country," "the enemy of human liberty," etc., and threatening his life for the activity he had displayed in the discharge of his gubernatorial duties, but to these threats he paid no attention. On the evening mentioned-probably soon after the bomb had been placed-he returned to his home from an errand down town, little thinking that the threats of his enemies were so near a culmination. The infernal machine did its work, for he had not opened the gate more than a few inches when the bomb exploded and he lived less than half an hour after- ward-Idaho's first martyr in behalf of law and order.
The explosion aroused the little City of Caldwell, but its full force was not disclosed until daylight the next morning. Then pieces of iron, copper, brass, and material used for wadding, were found for many yards in every direction from the gate, while fragments of the bomb were seen deeply imbedded in the fence boards, trunks of trees and the sides of houses near.
FOURTH LEGISLATURE.
The fourth Legislature of the State of Idaho began on January 4, 1897, and lasted until the 8th of the following March. The Senate was presided over by Lieutenant-Governor George F. Moore, and Albert H. Alford, of Nez Perce County, was elected speaker of the House. In his message Governor Steunen- berg gave a review of the indebtedness of the state, showing that on January I, 1895, the bonded debt was $378,000; that $85,000 of this had since been paid ; that the bond issues ordered by the third Legislature amounted to $100,000 ; that the bonded debt on January 1, 1897, was $393,000; and that there were outstanding warrants amounting to $243,638.82, making the total debt of the state, bonded and floating, $636,638.82. On the subject of woman suffrage he said :
"By a vote as flattering as it was just, the electors of the state, at the last election, conferred the privilege of the ballot upon women. I take this oppor- tunity of welcoming them to the ranks of voters and feel sure that, in their new capacity, they will exert the same influence for good that has characterized the sex since creation's dawn. I recommend such legislation as may be neces- sary to carry out the full purpose and extent of this amendment."
He recommended the enactment of a law providing for the taxation of mines ; a law to prevent stockmen from other states and territories from driving their herds into Idaho and taking them out again at such times as to avoid taxation, thus destroying the ranges that should belong to the residents of the state ; the enactment of a law providing for the arbitration of disputes between employers and their employes; and better methods of adjusting the distribution of water for irrigating purposes. Although President Mckinley had been elected the year before upon a platform declaring in favor of the gold standard, Gov- ernor Steunenberg made the following recommendation to the Legislature:
"The chief executives of Idaho have frequently called the attention of the country to the disastrous effects of anti-silver legislation by the national Con- gress. * * * Following the example of these illustrious predecessors, I urge upon you promptly to take such action as will, in your judgment, impress upon the minds of the people of the nation, and the Congress of the United States, that our people are unwavering in their devotion to bimetallism."
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Among the acts passed was one authorizing the governor to appoint three competent persons to serve as a state board of arbitration. One of the per- sons so appointed was required to be an employer, one a member of some recognized labor organization, and the third was to be appointed upon the recom- mendation of those two, unless they failed to agree upon some one within thirty days, when the governor was to make the appointment. If application was made to the board by any employer, who employed twenty-five or more persons, or by a majority of the employes in the department wherein the con- troversy arose, the board was authorized to hear evidence and render a decision, which should be binding for six months.
In case the board received knowledge of a strike or lockout, either actual or impending, in which twenty-four or more employes were involved, the mem- bers were authorized not to wait for an application, but to notify the employer and the employes that they were ready to use their efforts to adjust the diffi- culties. Each member of the board was to receive $6.00 per day for time actually employed, and necessary traveling expenses. Evidently the law was not to the liking of Governor Steunenberg, as he allowed it to lie without his signature for ten days after the adjournment of the Legislature, and it became a law by limitation on March 20, 1897.
A board of horticultural inspection was created in the place of the horticul- tural inspector authorized by the act of 1895. By the provisions of the act the professors of botany and zoology in the University of Idaho were to be ex-officio members of the board and three others were to be appointed by the governor. This board was to divide the state into not more than ten districts and appoint an inspector in each, who was to give information to horticulturists on the subject of insect pests and to examine all trees and plants shipped into his district from other states, etc.
Among the most important acts passed by the Legislature was one in re- gard to irrigation districts which provided that whenever fifty landholders, or a majority thereof, occupying lands capable of being irrigated from a common source, should make application to the "board of adjudication and control" created by the act, they should be organized into an irrigation district, with a board of adjudication and control to consist of the state engineer and two per- sons appointed by the governor, such board being empowered to settle all dis- putes and adjust water rights, etc.
The general law relating to incorporated cities and villages was amended ; the office of county superintendent of schools was created ; the acts of the trustees of the Village of Coeur d'Alene from June 4, 1891, to April 14, 1892, while the village was undergoing a reincorporation were legalized; the governor, sec- retary of state and attorney-general were created a commission to investigate the accounts of the various state officers and departments, with power to em- ploy three expert accountants and a stenographer, and $5,000 were appropriated to carry out the provisions of the act.
Two constitutional amendments were submitted to the people to be voted on at the general election in 1898. The first provided that no new counties should be created with an area of less than 400 square miles and a property valua- tion of at least one million dollars; and the second provided that all county officers should receive fixed salaries.
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A joint committee, consisting of two senators and three representatives was appointed to confer on the subject of action by the Legislature with regard to participation in the Trans-Mississippi Exposition, to be held at Omaha in 1898, and report by bill or otherwise. No bill was reported by the committee.
At this session Henry Heitfeld (populist) was elected United States senator over Frederick T. Dubois (silver republican) by a vote of thirty-nine to thirty.
ELECTION OF 1898
In the campaign of this year the democrats and silver republicans united in the nomination of a ticket, to wit: Frank Steunenberg, governor; Joseph H. Hutchinson, lieutenant-governor; Mart A. Patrie, secretary of state; Bart- lett Sinclair, state auditor; Lucius C. Rice, state treasurer; Samuel H. Hays, attorney-general; Permeal French, superintendent of public instruction ; Jay A. Czizek, inspector of mines; Isaac N. Sullivan, justice of the Supreme Court ; Edgar Wilson, representative in Congress.
The republicans met in state convention and nominated Albert H. Moss for governor ; James F. Hunt, lieutenant-governor; Robert S. Bragaw, secretary of state; James H. Van Camp, state auditor; George W. Fletcher, state treasurer ; Frank T. Wyman, attorney-general; Lucy T. Dean, superintendent of public instruction; Drew W. Standrod, justice of the Supreme Court; John W. Stod- dard, inspector of mines ; Weldon B. Heyburn, representative in Congress.
James H. Anderson was nominated by the people's party for governor; T. E. Miller, for lieutenant-governor; Joseph S. Bonham, for secretary of state; Arthur G. Whittier, for state auditor; Thomas L. Glenn, for attorney-general ; David Farmer, for inspector of mines; James Gunn, for representative in Con- gress. No nominations were made by this party for state treasurer, superin- tendent of public instruction and justice of the Supreme Court.
The prohibitionists held a convention and nominated a ticket, with the ex- ception of inspector of mines and justice of the Supreme Court. The candi- dates of this party were: Mary L. Johnson, governor; James Ballentine, lieu- tenant-governor; John W. Knott, secretary of state; Naomi McD. Phelps, state auditor; John J. Anthony, state treasurer; William A. Hall, attorney-general ; John N. Reynolds, superintendent of public instruction; William J. Boone, representative in Congress.
At the election on November 8, 1898, the fusion ticket was elected. The vote for governor being: Steunenberg, 19,407; Moss, 13,794; Anderson, 5,371 ; Johnson, 1,175. Both constitutional amendments were adopted by substantial majorities.
FIFTH LEGISLATURE
The fifth session of the State Legislature commenced on January 2, 1899, in the capitol building at Boise, and continued until the 7th of March. At the beginning of the session Governor Steunenberg entered upon his second term and the other state officers elected in November, 1898, were inducted into their respective offices. By virtue of his office, Lieutenant-Governor Joseph H. Hutchinson was president of the Senate, and David L. Evans, of Oneida County, was elected speaker of the House.
The acts passed by the fifth Legislature filled a volume of 468 pages, though
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much of the legislation enacted at this session was of an amendatory nature. A code commission was created and authorized to make a thorough revision and codification of the laws of the state ; provisions were made for fully organiz- ing and equipping the normal schools at Albion and Lewiston, which were established by the Legislature of 1893; and appropriation of $500, "or so much thereof as may be necessary," was made for the purpose of presenting an en- graved certificate of honorable service to each Idaho soldier who served in the army during the Spanish-American war; and by the act of February 7, 1899, the design for a state seal submitted by Miss Emma Edwards was offi- cially adopted.
On February 15, 1899, Governor Steunenberg approved an act providing for the establishment of the State Reform School at Mountain Home, Elmore County, in accordance with the act of 1893, and appropriating $10,000 out of the proceeds of land sales for the benefit of the institution.
Another act of this session was that establishing a uniform system of weights and measures for the state. By this act the secretary of state was made ex- officio state sealer, and the auditor of each county was designated as the official sealer, under instructions to test the weights and measures of dealers at least twice a year. The legal weights of certain classes of produce were fixed by this law, to wit: Wheat, clover seed and potatoes, sixty pounds to the bushel ; Indian corn, rye and flax seed, fifty-six pounds; barley, forty-eight pounds; oats, thirty-six pounds; buckwheat, forty-two pounds; green apples and pears, forty-five pounds; dried apples and peaches, twenty-eight pounds. Any one buying and selling the above mentioned products, who took more or gave less than the amounts fixed by law, was liable to a penalty of double the value of the products falsely weighed and $10.00 in addition, to be recovered by the wronged party in any court of competent jurisdiction.
The Legislature of 1899 accepted the provisions of the act of Congress, approved on July 2, 1862, authorizing the states to establish agricultural col- leges, and the act of Congress, approved on March 2, 1887, relative to the estab- lishment of agricultural experiment stations in connection with agricultural colleges, and all acts supplementary thereto.
By resolution the governor was authorized to appoint five commissioners, to serve without compensation, to the Paris Exposition in 1900; a constitutional amendment relating to the loaning of school funds on first mortgage security was ordered to be submitted to the people at the general election in 1900; and it was declared to be unlawful for any employer to make a contract with an employe, or a person about to enter his employment, not to become a member of a labor organization. The penalty for the violation of the provisions of this act was a fine of not less than $50 nor more than $300, or imprisonment in the county jail for not more than six months, or both fine and imprisonment at the discretion of the court.
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