USA > Louisiana > The province and the states, a history of the province of Louisiana under France and Spain, and of the territories and states of the United States formed therefrom, Vol. IV > Part 43
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In May, 1885, a strike occurred among the employes of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad Company. Some of the strikers armed themselves, to prevent other men from taking their places, though no acts of violence were committed. Several of the lead -
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ers of the Knights of Labor, under whose direction the strike was conducted, were arrested and tried for contempt of court. They were imprisoned from three to six months, the decision cansing wide-spread dissatisfaction in labor circles, and many harsh things were said of the Federal judge that rendered the decision.
A state census was taken on the first of June, 1885. It showed the population of the state to be 243,910, an increase of more than twenty-five per cent since the census of 1880, and this, too, in the midst of a period of depression. The depreciation in the values of lead and silver had closed several of the large smelting works of the state and many were out of employment. In the year 1886 the tide of immigration, that had for some time been pouring into Nebraska and Kansas, reached Colorado. During the year the land office at Denver reported entries amounting to 1,495,650 acres. Most of these lands were in the agricultural districts of Northeastern Colorado. Thus as the mining interests showed signs of being on the wane the agricultural interests came to the front to maintain the general prosperity. The Arkansas valley also received large accessions to the population and several new towns sprang up as centers of industry and trade.
The political canvass of 1886 was for a full set of state officers and representative in congress. On September 28 the Republicans held a state convention at Denver. William H. Meyer was nomi- nated for governor; Norman HI. Meldrum for lieutenant-gover- nor; James Rice for secretary of state; Darwin P. Kingsley for auditor; Peter W. Breene for treasurer; Alvin Marsh for attor- ney-general: 1 .. S. Cornell for superintendent, and George G. Symes for congress. A week later the Democrats met at the same place and a second time nominated Alva Adams as their candidate for governor, completing the ticket by the nomination of L. H. Gillespie for lieutenant-governor; Jerry Mahoney for secretary ; Cassimiro Barela for auditor; James F. Benedict for treasurer ; Erasmus I. Stirman for attorney-general ; Asa B. Cope- land for superintendent of publie instruction, and Myron W. Reed for congress. Resolutions were adopted declaring in favor of the free coinage of silver, first by our own government, to be followed by active measures to secure international co-operation ; for legislation to limit the power of railroad companies to charge exorbitant and arbitrary freight rates, or to water their stocks.
For the second time a Democrat was elected governor of Colo- rado. Adams received 28,129 votes to 20, 533 for Meyer. All the other Republican candidates were elected, however, by small pluralities. The Republicans also elected a majority of the legis-
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lature, the senate standing 18 to 8, and the house 25 to 24, in their favor. Three constitutional amendments, relating to the judicial department, were adopted. One of them gave the governor or the legislature power to call on the supreme court for decisions on important questions, "on solemn occasions," etc., and requiring the court to give an immediate decision in such cases.
Alva Adams, the fifth governor of the state, was born in Iowa county, Wis., May 14, 1850. His education was obtained in the common schools. About the time he reached his majority the family decided to hunt a climate that would be of benefit to an invalid son, and in the spring of 1871 crossed the plains to Colo- rado, settling first with the Union colony at Greeley, and later at Denver. Soon after going to Denver, Alva found employment with a railroad contractor, and for some time was engaged in hauling ties from the mountains and distributing them along the line of the Denver and Rio Grande road, then under process of construction. Toward fall he went to Colorado Springs; which was then but a small town, as a clerk in the hardware store of C. W. Sanborn. Later he purchased the business from Sanborn for four thousand dollars, and the next year admitted Joseph C. Wilson as a partner. In the summer of 1872 the firm established a branch house at Pueblo, Mr. Adams taking charge of the busi- ness there while his partner remained at Colorado Springs. Later the partnership was dissolved, Wilson taking the store at Colorado Springs. In 1873 Adams was chosen a member of the first city council of Pueblo. His business grew and in the course of a year or two he had branch stores at Del Norte, in Rio Grande county, and Alamosa, in Conejos county. When the state was admitted, in 1876, he was elected a member of the first legislature where he made a record that brought him into prominence in the councils of his party,and led to his nomination for governor in 1884. He was that year defeated, but in 1886 he again received the nomina- tion and this time was elected, as already stated. Soon after retir- ing from the governor's office he was elected president of the Pueblo savings bank, and was annually re-elected for a number of years. In 1896 he was again nominated and elected governor.
The sixth biennial legislature met on January 5, 1887. Several amendments to the constitution were proposed, to be submitted to the voters at the next general election. A new apportionment of members of the general assembly was made, the ratio of senators being one for each 9,381 of the population, and the ratio of repre- sentatives one for each 4,978. Acts were passed to prohibit aliens from owing agricultural or grazing lands to the value of more
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than five thousand dollars; to establish a bureau of labor statis- tics; to provide for the sale of the lands and lots given to the Territory of Colorado for the erection of a capitol building; to establish a state park of 6,406 acres in Saguache county ; to adopt a new civil code; to establish agricultural experiment stations in Bent, El Paso and Delta counties; to establish a girls' industrial school at or near Denver, and to prevent corporations from black- listing their discharged employes. When the constitution was adopted, in 1876, it contained a provision that mining property should be exempt from taxation for ten years. That time expired in 1886, and the sixth legislature passed a bill placing mining property on the taxable list, on the same basis as other forms of property.
No sooner had the lands acquired by treaty with the Utes in 1880 been opened to settlement than the territory began to fill up with settlers. Many of the Indians were not satisfied with their reservation in Utah, and made annual excursions into Colorado to hunt. On such occasions they committed frequent petty depreda- tions against the white settlers who were fast appropriating their hunting grounds. In August, 1887, a party of Utes, led by Colorow himself, crossed the line into Western Colorado, and soon after coming into the State stole some horses. The sheriff organized a posse and started out to arrest the thieves. A skir- mish occurred in which the Indians lost six killed and several wounded and the whites lost three killed. The posse then drove away six hundred horses, thirty-seven cattle and about two thon- sand sheep that belonged to the Indians. Colorow and his band were taken by surprise and after the skirmish they retreated toward the reservation. Reports of an Indian outbreak soon spread and the governor was prevailed on to call out the militia. The troops drove the Indians back to their reservation. There is not much doubt that the sheriff was unnecessarily zealous in what he con- sidered the performance of his duty, as the Utes were not really hostile and would probably have surrendered the horse thieves, upon the demand of the officer, without bloodshed. But the sheriff opened fire first, and made the demand for the surrender of the offenders afterward. It can be said in mitigation of the sheriff's course, that the people had been subjected to the imposi- tions of Colorow and his following until forbearance had ceased to be a virtue. The affair cost the State several thousand dollars for the movement of the troops, and the government had to make good to the Indians the loss of their live stock. At the next ses- sion of congress a bill was passed to remove all the Utes from
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Colorado to a reservation in Southern Utah, and T. C. Chills, of Washington, R. B. Weaver, of Alabama, and J. M. Smith, of Wisconsin, were appointed to negotiate with the Utes for their lands. An agreement was reached, in August, 1888, the Indians accepting the new reservation in Utah, and more than 1,000,000 acres of land were thus opened to settlement.
The election of Governor Adams in 1886 gave the Democratic party a considerable degree of encouragement, and they organized for a vigorous campaign in 1888, though they were the last party to hold a convention that year for the nomination of a state ticket. On September I representatives of the Prohibition party and the labor organizations of the State met at Denver and attempted to form a coalition. Committees were appointed from the two parties to report a plan of fusion. The union labor element refused to abide by the work of the committee and withdrew from the convention. Later they met in another place and nominated a ticket with Gilbert De La Mater as their candidate for goy- ernor. Political action on the part of the trades umions grew out of the decision of the Federal court, in the cases of the Knights of Labor, at the time of the strike on the Denver and Rio Grande railway. As might be expected under the circumstances the reso- lutions contained a scathing denunciation of the Federal courts as trampling on the rights of the people. The Prohibitionists went ahead, after the withdrawal of the labor delegates, and nominated the following ticket: For governor, W. C. Stover ; lieutenant-governor, W. R. Fowler; secretary, W. W. Waters; auditor, W. A. Rice ; treasurer, II. G. Schook ; attorney-general, J. II. Boughton ; superintendent of public instruction, J. A. Smith ; supreme judge, for the long term, A. W. Brazee; for the short term, D. E. McCaskell. The platform contained the usual declara- tions on the liquor question, and favored woman suffrage.
The Republicans held their State convention at Denver on Sep- tember 4. Job A. Cooper was nominated for governor on the fifth ballot, after a spirited contest in which a number of candi- dates were presented. The rest of the ticket was made up of William G. Smith for lieutenant-governor; James Rice, for secre- tary ; L. B. Schwanbeck for auditor; W. H. Brisbane for treas- urer; Samuel W. Jones for attorney-general; Fred Dick for superintendent ; Charles D. Hayt for supreme judge, long term, and Victor A. Elliott, for the short term. The platform endorsed the work of the national convention; and declared in favor of liberal pensions, the free coinage of silver, and legislation to pro- hibit Chinese immigration. On state issues the resolutions
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demanded legislation to prohibit railroads from pooling their interests, granting rebates to favorite shippers, or otherwise dis- criminating, and to punish all public' officials accepting passes or free transportation from the railroad companies.
The Democratic State convention met at Denver on the 19th of September, and selected the following candidates: For gov- ernor, Thomas M. Patterson ; lieutenant-governor, John A. Por- ter ; secretary, W. R. Earhart ; auditor, Leopold Meyer ; treasurer, Amos G. Henderson; attorney-general, J. M. Abbott; superin- tendent of Public Instruction, J. A. Hough; supreme judge, for the long term, M. B. Gerry; for the short term, A. J. Rising. On national questions the work of the national convention was ratified ; the free coinage of silver advocated ; and a demand made that all public lands in Colorado, not actually needed for govern- ment use, be thrown open to occupation and settlement. On state issues the platform demanded the substitution of salaries for fees in the payment of county officers ; favored the Australian bal- lot system; recommended that state funds be placed at interest ; declared Chinese immigration to be the product of Republican legislation ; and opposed the further sale of school lands belong- ing to the State.
The entire Republican ticket was elected in November, the vote for governor being as follows: Cooper, 44,490; Patterson, 39,197 ; Stover, 2,248; De La Mater, 1,085. Three propositions were submitted to the people for their approval or rejection. Two were in form of amendments to the constitution providing for an increase in the rate of taxation for state purposes of one mill on the dollar, and permitting counties to contract indebtedness under certain conditions and for certain purposes. The other was to permit the State to increase its indebtedness to six hundred thousand dollars. All were defeated.
Job Adams Cooper, who was elected governor in 1888, was the sixth state governor of Colorado. He was of English and Dutch descent, and was born in Bond county, Ill., November 6, 1843. After the ordinary common school training he entered Knox col- lege, but his studies there were interrupted by the Civil war. He entered the Union army as a sergeant in the One Hundred and Thirty-seventh Illinois infantry, and was at Memphis when Gen- eral Forrest made his raid in August, 1864. He continued in the service until the expiration of the war when he again entered the college. and graduated with high honors the following year. A year or so later he was admitted to the bar and began the practice of law at Greenville, Ill. In 1868 he was elected clerk
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of the Bond county circuit court. At the expiration of his four years' term he removed to Denver and opened a law office. He soon became well and favorably known, and in 1876 was elected vice-president of the German national bank. For the next twelve years he was intimately associated with the affairs of the bank, being cashier the greater part of the time. The election of 1888 occurred on his birthday, and at the age of forty-five he was chosen chief executive of his adopted state. His administration was distinguished by his broad views on all public questions and his honesty and incorruptibility. After his term as governor he accepted the presidency of the National Bank of Commerce in Denver, and returned to his old occupation. Besides his banking interests he was a large stockholder in several corporations, and in the Cripple Creek mines. He was inangitrated at the begin- ning of the legislative session succeeding his election.
That legislature, the seventh since the admission of the State into the Union, assembled at Denver on January 2, 1889, and organized with Lieut .- Gov. W. G. Smith as the presiding officer of the senate and H. II. Eddy as speaker of the house. One duty that devolved upon this general assembly was the election of a United States senator to succeed Thomas M. Bowen. The Repub- lican caucus nominated Edward O. Wolcott, and the Democrats gave their support to Charles S. Thomas. The final joint ballot was taken on January 7, and resulted in sixty-two votes for Wol- cott to twelve for Thomas.
Edward O. Wolcott, at the time of his election to the senate was forty-one years of age. He was a native of Massachusetts, grad- uated from Yale college in 1866, and from the Harvard law school in 1871. Soon after being admitted to the bar he removed to Denver where he succeeded in a few years in building up a lucrative practice. He was chairman of the commission appointed by President Mckinley to visit Europe and endeavor to secure international bimetallism.
The rapid growth of population in the agricultural districts made the division of some of the larger counties desirable, and the legislature of 1889 created thirteen new counties, viz: Baca, Cheyenne, Kiowa, Kit Carson, Lincoln, Montezuma, Morgan, Otero, Phillips, Prowers, Rio Blanco, Sedgwick and Yuma. All of these except two were in the eastern part of the State. Baca was formed from Las Animas ; Kiowa, Otero and Prowers from Bent; Kit Carson from Elbert ; Cheyenne and Lincoln from Bent and Elbert; Morgan from Weld; Phillips and Sedgwick from Logan, and Yuma from Washington. In the southwest the IV-20
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county of Montezuma was cut out from La Plata, on account of the recent acquisition of the Indian reservation in that part of the State, and in the northwest the county of Rio Blanco was formed from part of Garfield.
A compulsory school law was passed. It required all children between the ages of eight and fourteen years to attend school at least twelve weeks in each year unless they lived two miles or more from a schoolhouse. If the parents were unable to furnish the necessary books or clothing for their children the authorities were empowered to supply them. An act was passed fixing the license fees of saloons at $600 in cities; $500 in incorporated towns, and $300 elsewhere. The effect of the law was to decrease the number of drinking places.
In the matter of appropriations the seventh assembly broke all previous records. Several new institutions were established and appropriations made for their support. A normal school was ordered to be located at Greeley, and $10,000 appropriated, the money to be available whenever the people of Greeley donated $15,000 and a suitable site. An appropriation of $20,000 was made for a new orphans' home at Denver. For a state reforma- tory, to be located somewhere in Chaffee county, $100,000 was voted, and so on. Altogether the appropriations amounted to nearly $3,000,000. Of this amount $1,750,000 was to be drawn from the general fund, which the auditor of state estimated at $1,200,000. In September, 1890, Governor Cooper sent an item- ized list of the appropriations to the supreme court, and asked them to determine, among other things, which were invalid, pro- vided the appropriations of the seventh general assembly exceeded the limit prescribed by the constitution, and whether the auditor would be justified in refusing to draw his warrant on the treas- urer for such appropriations, when in his judgment the limit had been reached. In answer to the governor's interrogatories the court held that by section sixteen, article ten, of the constitution "each and every general assembly is inhibited, in absolute and unqualified terms, from making appropriations or authorizing expenditures in excess of the total tax then provided by law. If the general assembly pass acts making such appropriations or authorizing expenditures in excess of consti- tutional limits, such acts are void. They create no indebtedness against the state, and entail no obligation, legal or moral, upon the people, or upon any future general assembly." With regard to which of the appropriations took precedence, in the matter of validity, the court decided that the ordinary expenses of the
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COLORADO FROM 1881 TO 1892.
executive, legislative and judicial departments of the state govern- ment nmust be met first, and after that, in the absence of a special decision the auditor might refuse to draw warrants at his own risk, and the treasurer might decide whether or not he would pay such warrants, in case they were presented for payment. Under the decision the auditor refused to draw the warrants for the reformatory, the normal school, the board of immigration, the state land board, and for new buildings at the agricultural col- lege. For a time it was contended by some that the decision affected warrants outstanding, that had been drawn on appro- priations made by previous legislatures, but the people of Colorado had no desire to repudiate any of their obligations and all out- standing warrants were paid. One appropriation made in 1889 was allowed to stand, and that one of one thousand dollars for the erection of a monument to Governor Pitkin.
In July, 1889, the grand jury of Arapahoe county returned indictments against James Rice, secretary of state, and various contractors for supplies furnished the legislature. The cases came up for trial in January, 1800, but the judge of the district court found the indictments defective and they were dismissed. Another grand jury, then in session, framed new indictments and the cases were a second time brought to trial on April 22, 1890. The first case was that against the secretary, and Collier & Cleaveland, contractors for the state printing. The trial lasted three weeks at the end of which time the jury returned a Scotch verdict. The accused were acquitted, but the jury submitted the following statement : "We are convinced that the Secretary of State did not have that regard for the interests of the people that . a proper appreciation of the duties of his office demands; that there was gross carelessness and neglect in the procuring of sup- plies and arranging for the economical purchase of the same- such carelessness and neglect as call for like censure. Though other State officials are not on trial at this time, we feel that equal if not greater carelessness prevailed in the office of the State Auditor and on the part of the measurer of State printing, for without such neglect of duty on the part of these officers it would not have been possible to secure warrants in settlement of accounts that were manifestly wrong not only in the items charged, but also in the computation which should have been apparent to an accountant of the most limited experience."
After the failure of the jury to convict the secretary in the case mentioned it was not thought worth while to try the others and they were accordingly dismissed. The attorney-general, how-
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ever, notified the state treasurer that some of the warrants for printing, stationery, furniture, etc., were probably invalid, and the treasurer refused to pay such warrants to the amount of one hundred and thirty thousand dollars. Late in the year 1890 one of these warrants, drawn in favor of Collier & Cleaveland, for five thousand dollars, found its way into the hands of a New York firm of brokers who brought suit in the district court to compel the treasurer to pay it. Being carried to the supreme court, the Collier & Cleaveland warrants were legalized and paid.
State Treasurers Brisbane and Breene, and their predecessors, had been in the habit of appropriating to their own use the inter- est on the public funds under control. In January, 1890, suits were commenced by the attorney-general to recover the interest thus appropriated and punished the officials who had been guilty of the speculation. Indictments against Brisbane and Breene were returned by the grand jury of Arapahoe county, proceedings against the others being barred by lapse of time. The statute under which they were indicted imposed a fine of ten thousand dollars upon any state treasurer who appropriated to his own use any profit on the public funds entrusted to his keeping. On an appeal to the supreme court the law was decided unconstitutional, because of a defect in the title. The criminal proceedings were therefore discontinued, but civil suits to collect the interest were begun. There being no statute applicable to the case they were dismissed.
Early in August, 1890, a call was issued for delegates from the various Farmers' Alliances, the trades unions, etc., to meet at Denver in the latter part of the same month and nominate can- didates for the several state offices. The full ticket nominated when the convention met was as follows: For governor, J. G. Coy ; lieutenant-governor, J. H. Brammeier; secretary, E. S. Moore ; auditor, W. S. Starr; treasurer, J. N. Carlile; attorney- general, W. T. Hughes; superintendent of public instruction, J. M. Long; regents of the university, L. II. Smith and S. G. Duley ; representative in congress, J. D. Burr.
On September 15 the Prohibitionists met in State convention at Pueblo. J. A. Ellett was nominated for governor; Eugene Ford for lieutenant-governor; P. A. Rice for secretary ; R. W. Anderson for auditor; G. S. Emerson for treasurer; John Hipp for attorney-general ; J. A. Ferguson for superintendent of public instruction, and George Richardson for congress.
The : days later the Republicans held their State convention at Denver. Ex-Gov. John L. Rontt was nominated for governor;
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William W. Story for lieutenant-governor; Edwin J. Eaton for secretary; John M. Henderson for auditor; John S. Fesler for treasurer ; Attorney-General Jones and Superintendent Dick were both renominated; O. J. Pfeiffer and W. 11. Cochran were named for regents of the university, and Hosea Townsend was nomi- nated for congress. Resolutions were adopted recommending the abolition of the fee system and the payment of salaries to all public officials ; the enactment of a law to compel the payment of interest on the public funds into the state treasury ; the establish- ment of a railroad commission ; a revision of the irrigation laws, and the creation of a state board of charities and corrections.
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