USA > Idaho > History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana : 1845-1889 > Part 89
USA > Montana > History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana : 1845-1889 > Part 89
USA > Washington > History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana : 1845-1889 > Part 89
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Conrad Korhs, born in Holstein, Germany, in 1835, shipped as a sailor in 1852, reaching New York and locating in Davenport, Ia, in the following year. In 1857 he removed to Cal., and in 1862 to Montana, where he en- gaged in buying, selling, and butchering cattle for market. That he was suc- cessful in acquiring a fortune was apparent by the following general inven- tory of his property in Montana: 840 acres of land adjoining Deer Lodge, 2,500 acres of stock range, 1,000 acres, 4 miles above Deer Lodge, of rich bottom land, 300 shorthorn cattle, 5,000 to 10,000 common stock worth §28 to $30 per head, imported bulls worth $2,500, a herd of several thousand sheep, and a band of fine horses. Besides, he owns shares in the largest ditch ever constructed in the country for mining purposes, and in the mines oper- ated by it. Mr Korhs was elected county commissioner in IS69, and helped to bring the county out of debt by able management.
Perry W. McAdow, born in 1838, in Mason co., Ky, of Scotch ancestry, in 1839 removed with his parents to the Platt Purchase, Mo., and in 1850 to California, but his father dying, Perry returned to Mo, and entered the Ma- sonic college. In 1857 he went to Fort Bridger, joining Gen. Johnston's ex- pedition to Utah in 1838, where he entered the service of Gilbert & Ger- vish as salesman until 1860, when he again returned to Mo. In the spring of ISG] he took passage on a Missouri river steamer for Fort Benton, which caught fire and exploded at the mouth of Poplar river, 350 miles below that place. By this disaster he lost all he possessed, and was compelled to walk to Fort Benton, whence he went to Fort Owens to winter. The following spring he discovered Pioneer gulch, taking out $1,000. From here he went to Bannack, and was one of the party which discovered Alder gulch, where he erected a saw-mill, which he sold in 1864, and with the proceeds located himself in the Gallatin valley, and erected the first grist-mill in the territory, selling flour for $25 per 100 pounds. He is still a miller and farmer, as well as a stock-raiser, and dealer in real estate in Billings and Bozeman.
B. Platt Carpenter, ex-governor of Montana, was born at Stanford, Dutchess co., N. Y., in 1837. He graduated from Union college in 1857, and in 1858 was admitted to the bar. In the same year he was elected dis- trict attorney of Dutchess co., and in 1864 was appointed internal revenue assessor for the 12th (now 16th) congressional district, holding the office until 1869. He was elected a member of the N. Y. state constitutional convention, and in 1872 of the republican state convention at Utica, where his talents attracted the attention of the party, which published his speech as a cam-
791
CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS.
tion and extravagant appropriation of public moneys, the interests of labor were carefully protected. It declared that the legislature might provide for a bureau of agriculture, labor, and industry to be located at the capital, and under the control of commissioners ap- pointed by the governor, subject to the approval of the senate. It was made unlawful for the warden of the penitentiary, or any officer of any reformatory institution in the state, or for any state officer, to let prison labor by contract.
With regard to revenue and taxation, the revenue necessary for the support of the state was to be pro- vided by a uniformn rate of assessment upon a just valuation of all property, except in cases provided; and a license-tax upon persons and corporations might be imposed by the legislature for state purposes. The property of the United States, the state of Montana, of counties, cities, towns, school districts, municipal corporations, and public libraries should be exempt ; and such property as should be used by agricultural and horticultural societies, or for educational purposes, places of religious worship, hospitals, places of sepul- chre, and charitable institutions of a public nature, were also exempted.
All mines and mining claims, both placer and rock in place, containing gold, silver, copper, lead, coal, or other valuable minerals, after purchase from the Uni-
paign document of that year. In 1875 he was elected state senator, and in 1877, declining reelection, was chosen county judge. He was commissioned governor of Montana in 1884, succeeding Gov. Crosby, and preceding Gov. Hauser.
James E. Callaway was born in Ky in 1835. His progenitors were all southerners, and his grandfather one of the Boone colony which settled in Ky, while his father was a minister of fine culture. James had a collegiate education, and studied law with Gov. Yates of Ill., being admitted to the bar in 1857. He became also a member of the bar of the U. S. supreme court. During the civil war he served from April 1861 to the close, entering the service as captain of company D, 21st regt Ill. vols-Gen. Grant's old regi- ment-rising to the rank of colonel, and part of the time commanding a brigade. He came to Montana in 1871, and served several years a territorial secretary. In 1884 he was elected a member of the house of representatives from Madison co., of which he was elected speaker, enjoying the distiuetion of being the first republican who ever presided over a legislative body in Montana.
792
PROGRESS AND STATEHOOD.
ted States should be taxed at the price paid the United States, unless the surface-ground had a separate value for other than mining purposes, when it should be taxed according to its independent value; all ma- chinery used in mining, and all property and surface improvements having a value separate from mines or mining claims, were subject to tax as provided by law, as was also the annual net proceeds of all mines and mining claims. . Municipal corporations only could levy taxes for municipal purposes; and taxes for city, town, and school purposes might be levied upon all subjects and objects of taxation, but the valuation of such property should not exceed the valuation of the same property for state and county purposes; and no county, city, or town should be released from its pro- portionate share of state taxes.
The power to tax corporations or corporate property should never be relinquished or suspended, and all cor- porations in the state, or doing business therein, should be subject to taxes for state, county, school, municipal, and other purposes, on real or personal property owned by them, and not exempted by the constitution. Private property should not be sold for corporate debts, but the legislature should provide by law for the funding of such indebtedness, and the pay- ment thereof, by taxation of all private property not exempt within the limits of the territory, over which such corporations had authority.
The rate of taxation in any one year should not exceed three mills on each dollar of valuation; and whenever the taxable property in the state shall amount to $100,000,000 the rate should not exceed two and one half mills on each dollar, and whenever it should amount to $300,000,000 the rate should not exceed one and one half mills to the dollar, without a proposition to increase the rate being submitted to a vote of the people.
No appropriations should be made or authorized by the legislature, whereby the expenditures of the state
793
CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS.
should exceed the total tax provided by law, and ap- plicable to such expenditure, unless the legislature making the appropriation should provide for levying a sufficient tax, not exceeding the constitutional rate; but this provision should not apply to appropriations made to suppress insurrection, defend the state, or assist in defending the United States, and no appro- priation should be made for a longer period than two years.
Particular attention was bestowed upon the article on corporations, with a view to prevent the evils aris- ing out of the assumption of power through which many commonwealths have suffered, and to make chartered companies amenable to law.15
15 All charters or grants of exclusive privileges under which corporations had not organized or commenced business before the adoption of the consti- tution were annulled. No charter of incorporation should be granted, ex- teuded, or amended by special law, except those under the control of the state; but the legislature should provide by general law for the organization of corporations to be thereafter created, which law should be subject to repeal or alteration by the same body, which should also have power to alter, revoke, or annul any existing charter whenever, in its opinion, such corpora- tion was injurious to the citizens of the state. In elections for directors or trustees of incorporated companies, every stockholder shall have the right to vote in person or by proxy the number of shares owned by him in such man- ner as he should see fit.
All railroad, transportation, and express companies were declared common carriers, subject to legislative control; were compelled to connect with railroads of other states at the state boundary. to permit intersecting roads to cross their lines, and were forbidden to consolidate with any parallel line, or unite its business or earnings; nor should any officer of one transportation company act as an officer of any other such company having a parallel or competing line. Discrimination was forbidden; but special rates might be given to excursionists, provided they were the same to all persons. No transportation company should be allowed, under penalties to be prescribed by the legislature, to charge or receive any greater toll for carrying passengers or freight a short distance than for a longer one; nor should any preference be given to any individual, association, or corporation in furnishing cars or motive power, or for the transportation of money or other express matter.
No railroad, express, or other transportation company in existence at the time of the adoption of the constitution should have the benefit of any future legislation, without first filing in the office of the secretary of state an accept- ance of the provisions of the constitution in binding form. The right of eminent domain should never be abridged, nor so construed as to prevent the legislative assembly from taking the property and franchises of incorporated companies, and subjecting them to the public use in the same manner as the property of individuals; nor the police powers of the state be abridged or so construed as to permit any corporations to conduct their business in such a manner as to infringe the equal rights of individuals, or the general well-being of the state.
No corporation should issue stocks or bonds, except for a real considera- tion in labor, property, or money, aud fictitious issues of stock should be void.
794
PROGRESS AND STATEHOOD.
The article on elections declared that an elector must be a male person of legal age, a citizen of the United States, have resided in this state one year, and in the county, town, or precinct such time as the law prescribed, not a felon; but no person having the right to vote at the time of the adoption of the constitution should be deprived of the right to vote on the adop- tion. And it was provided that after the expiration of five years no person except citizens of the United States should have the right to vote. No person should be elected or appointed to any office in the state who was not a citizen of the United States, and who had not resided one year in Montana. The legislature should have the power to pass registration and other laws necessary to secure the purity of elections. Women should be eligible to hold the office of county superintendent, or any school district office, and have the right to vote at any school district election. And upon all questions submitted to the tax-payers of the state, or any political division thereof, women who were tax-payers, and possessed of the qualifications for the right of suffrage required of men by the constitu- tion, should, equally with men, have the right to vote. In all elections by the people, the person receiving the highest number of votes should be declared elected.
The question of the permanent location of the capi-
The stock of corporations should not be increased except in pursuance of a general law, nor without the consent of a majority of the stockholders. For- eign corporations must have one or more known places of business, and an authorized agent or agents upon whom process might be served, and should not be allowed to exercise or enjoy greater rights or privileges than those enjoyed by other corporations created under the laws of the state. It was made unlawful for any corporation to require of its employés, as a condition of their employment, or otherwise, any contract or agreement releasing the company from liability or responsibility on account of personal injuries re- ceived by them while in their service by reason of the negligence of the company or its agents, and such contracts were declared void. No incorpo- rated or stock company, person, or association of persons, in the state of Mon- tana, should combine or form what is known as a trust, or make contracts with persons or corporations for the purpose of fixing the price or regulating the production of any article of commerce, or of the product of the soil, for consumption by the people. The legislature should cause adequate penalties to be enforced to the extent, if necessary, of the forfeiture of their property and franchises, and in the case of foreign corporations, prohibiting them from carrying on business in the state.
795
CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS.
tal should be submitted to the qualified electors in the year 1892, after which it would require a two-thirds vote of the electors to change it, and the legislature should make no appropriations for capitol buildings until the seat of government should be permanently located. Ample provision was made for a school fund. The legislative and executive departments of the government had their powers carefully defined and guarded. The session of the state legislative assembly should meet at noon on the first Monday of January, 1890, and each alternate year thereafter, except the first, which should be determined by the proclamation of the governor after the admission of the state into the union, but not more than fifteen nor less than ten days thereafter.
The executive department should consist of a governor, lieutenant-governor, secretary of state, attorney-general, state treasurer, state auditor, and superintendent of public instruction, each of whom should hold office four years, or until his successor was elected, beginning on the first Monday of January next succeeding his election, except that the terms of office of those chosen at the first election should begin when the state was admitted, and end on the first Monday of January 1893.
The judicial power of the state was vested in the senate sitting as a court of impeachment, in a supreme court, district court, justices of the peace, and such inferior courts as the legislature might establish in cities or towns. The supreme court should have ap- pellate jurisdiction only, and hold three terms yearly. The supreme court should consist of three justices, a majority of whom should be necessary to pronounce a decision. Their terms of office should be six years, except the first chief justice, who should hold until the general election in 1892, and one of the associate justices, who should hold until the general election of 1894, the other holding until 1896, and each until his successor was elected and qualified. The terms, and
796
PROGRESS AND STATEHOOD.
who should be chief justice, should be designated by ballot at the first and all subsequent elections, one justice being elected every two years. No person should be eligible to the office of supreme judge who had not been admitted to practise law in the supreme court of the territory or state of Montana, who was not thirty years of age, not a citizen of the United States, or who had not resided in the territory or state for the two years next preceding his election. Much the same restrictions were imposed upon the choice of district judges. Taken as a whole, the constitution framed at Helena between July 4 and August 26, 1889, is perhaps the most complete and well-considered instrument of the kind ever perfected by a new state,16 althoughi in the address to the people of Montana, in which it is submitted for their ratification or rejection, it was said: "We do not claim that it is a perfect instrument. No constitution ever reflected the con- census of public opinion upon all questions. All constitutions are the result of compromises."
The day set for a general election of state officers, and the adoption or rejection of the constitution, was the 1st of October. The election took place under the election laws passed by the sixteenth legislature requiring registration and proofs of citizenship. T. H. Carter, the recently elected delegate to congress, was the republican nominee for congressman. T. C. Power17 was candidate for governor on the same
16 It is impossible in the limits to which I am confined to give a more ex- tended review of the Montana constitution, only some of its chief features being selected as instances of the sagacity of its anthors, which is everywhere apparent.
17 T. C. Power was born at Dubnqne, Ia, in 1839, and received his pre- paratory education in that state, which was completed at Sinsiniwa Mound college, in Wisconsin, where he studied engineering and took a scientific course. From 1858 to 1862 he was engaged in teaching, putting in his sumn- mer vacation hy surveying in Iowa and Dakota. He followed surveying for several years, trading meanwhile in land-warrants until 1866, when he began sending merchandise to Montana, locating himself permanently at Fort Benton in 1867, where he was in merchandising, forwarding, and freighting business until 1874, when he built the steamer Benton in company with I. G. Baker and others, which they loaded in 1875 at Pittsburg for her long voyage. In 1876 they built the Helena, and in 1878 the Butte, burned in 1883. In 1879 they purchased the steamer Black Hills. Mr Power introduced the first
797
ELECTION OF STATE OFFICERS.
ticket, and J. E. Rickards for lieutenant-governor; for secretary of state, L. Rotwitt; for treasurer, R. C. Hickman ; for auditor, E. H. Kinney; for attorney- general, Henry J. Haskell; for superintendent of public instruction, J. Gannon; for chief justice, H. N. Blake; for associate justice for the long term, W. H. De Witt; for associate justice for the short term, E. N. Harwood; for clerk of the supreme court, W. J. Kennedy,-completed the republican ticket.
The democratic candidate for congressman was Martin Maginnis; for governor, J. K. Toole; for lieutenant-governor, C. E. Conrad ; secretary of state, J. A. Browne; state treasurer, T. E. Collins; state auditor, Fitzgerald ; attorney-general, W. Y. Pember- ton ; superintendent of public instruction, P. Russell; chief justice, Stephen De Wolfe; associate justice for the long term, Waller M. Bickford; for the short term, F. K. Armstrong ; clerk of the court, Cope.
The election gave a very large majority for the con- stitution ; gave Montana a republican congressman,18 and a democratic governor ; a republican lieutenant- governor, and all the other state officers republican. That, however, was not so much a matter of concern to the political parties as the complexion of the legis- lature, which was to elect two senators to the congress of the United States. The democratic party, which for twenty-five years controlled Montana, whose lead- ers were among the wealthiest and most enterprising citizens, naturally were averse to see the sceptre pass- ing from their grasp,19 while the republicans, having
reapers and mowers in Montana. He had a business house in Bozeman, and in 1878 established a stage line from Helena to Benton, and has been a suc- cessful stock-raiser. He was a member of the first constitutional convention of 1884. He removed to Helena in 1876.
le Carter's majority was 1,648; Toole's, 754; Rickard's, 1,386; Rotwitt's, 1,584; Haskell's, 604; Hickman's, 1,293; Kinney's, 1,015; Gannon's, 189; Blake's, 1,455; De Witt's, 473; Harwood's, 871; Kennedy's, 1,573. It should be remarked that these are approximate figures, the election being contested; but near enough to show that the state went republican.
19 The names of Marcus Daly, S. T. Hauser, W. A. Clark, and C. A. Broadwater, were frequently associated as managers of the democratic party in Montana, and during this election their owners became known as the 'big four.' The Butte Inter-Mountain says of them: 'These four men
798
PROGRESS AND STATEHOOD.
wrung victory from their powerful hold 20 by the hardest, were equally determined not to lose the ground heretofore gained, but to add to it the choice of United States senators. The election of represen- tatives was, therefore, the field on which the hardest battle was to be fought.
The most serious charge brought against the repub- licans previous to election was, that the sixteenth legislature, which was republican, had passed a regis- tration law, which they denominated "an infamous thing," although at the time it was passed both democrats and republicans had voted for it. Now it was called an act to disfranchise the farmers, miners, and stockmen of Montana, who were, nevertheless, counselled to register, and thus rebuke the party which enacted the law.
On the other hand, the republicans claimed to be in possession of information that in one county a large number of miners who had been brought- in from abroad had been furnished with declarations of inten- tion to become citizens, which would entitle them to vote, and were instructed to vote for certain candidates.
are the democratic party in Montana. They have kept it in their power when they wanted to, and when they fell out, the party went to the dogs to the music of 5, 126 republican majority. They are very wealthy men. There is nothing that cau be said against them personally. Every one of them came up from the ranks by superior merit and hard licks. Each has had the control of large enterprises and of considerable bodies of men. Accustomed all their successful business lives to handle men, to expect obedience, to en- force discipline, these four men have carried into the politics of Montana the ideas which have been ingrained by their business experience. There is the evil. Messrs. Daly, Hauser, Clark, and Broadwater are not leaders in their party. They are autocrats-bosses of the strongest type. It is only nat- ural that they should be so, but that does not make the situation any the less unfortunate. The theory of the millionaire employer that he can com- mand the suffrages as well as the services of the employed is bad; and at- tempts to carry out such a theory are to be condemned, whether they occur in Pennsylvania or Montana.'
20 Marcus Daly, perhaps the largest capitalist in Montana, and manager of the Anaconda mine and smelter, was born in Ireland in 1842. He came to Montana in 1876, and was appointed general manager of the Alice silver mine at Butte, after which Haggin and Tevis made hion manager of the Ana- conda mine. He is a practical miner and assayer, and an unerring judge of mines and mineral lands. He was elected a member of the constitutional convention of 1884. Even the republican papers admitted Daly's greatness of character as well as of fortune, and were loth to connect him with the alleged frauds in his district. Anaconda Review, Sept. 12, 1889.
799
CONTEST OVER THE ELECTION.
These persons, holding questionable certificates, could, under the registration law, be challenged, and if chal- lenged, the law required the voter to produce his quali- fication. Several hundred challenges were filed on the ground of the issuance of illegal certificates.
This was the position of affairs when the election took place, which resulted, if the returns as first an- nounced were correct, in a democratic majority in the legislature of from three to five. But now the re- publicans refused to accept the count in Silver Bow county, alleging that in one precinct, which returned 174 votes, 171 were democratic, and that these 171 were instructed by their employer to vote that ticket or be discharged; also that the count in this precinct was illegal, being done by the board of judges of elec- tion in secret, and certified to by the county clerk, who had no authority in the matter. The canvassing board threw out the vote of this precinct, which action gave the republicans a small majority in the legisla- ture.21 But it was not only the democrats who were accused of taking dishonorable means to insure a ma- jority. They also complained that in one county, at least, the republicans had counted votes which should have been thrown out.
The action of the county canvassing board in throw- ing out the precinct accused of fraud caused the democrats of Silver Bow county to procure the issu- ance of a writ of mandamus by Associate Justice De Wolfe of that district, who was himself a candidate for the chief-justiceship on the democratic state ticket, which was served upon the board immediately after their rejection of the returns, requiring them to be counted. This command being disobeyed, there began one of the most stubborn political contests ever wit- nessed in a northern state, in which the canvassing board of Silver Bow county finally obeyed a peremp- tory mandate of the court, but not until after the
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