which will be submitted to the popular vote in November of the present year, under which, if adopted, Montana will apply for early admission. The provisions of this constitution, beyond all question, represent the convictions and wishes of the people as faithfully as if the convention that framed it had been provided for by an enabling act of Congress. The general desire of the people of Montana for early admission is prompted, not only by the natural desire for a vote as well as voice in the election of our national rulers and the enactment of national laws to which they owe submission, but still more as the only practicable escape from some very serious disabilities that cramp and retard the natural growth of our Territory. So long as the Territorial condition continues they can receive nothing from the school lands to help them in the time of their greatest need, and further, so long as Montana remains a Territory, all the franchises, rights of way, and all property thereon belonging to the Northern Pacific Railroad will remain as now, untaxable, leaving one-third of the property within the borders of the Territory exempt, and throwing the heavy burdens of taxation in a new country, where every public improvement has to be created, to fall with increased weight upon the comparatively small portion of wealth within the reach of the assessor. Territorial Delegates to Congress should have the same rights and privileges on the floor of the House as are granted members elected from States, and I also believe that the people should have the privilege and right of voting in the elections for President of the United States. There are many useful public institutions which the people would gladly provide for themselves, but, being entirely free from debt at present, our citizens are unwilling to incur any Territorial debt, which would be a bar to their admission to Statehood, and naturally hesitate to provide, by present taxation, so long as the larger portion of the property which will be equally benefited is exempt from bearing any part of the tax. With the constant and enormous increase of business pending before Congress, it is becoming each year more and more a physical as well as a moral impossibility for that body to give any serious attention to such legislation as the Territories need, even if the subject-matter of such legislation was within the knowledge of members, so that they could act intelligently thereon. Congress needs to be relieved of some of its present duties and responsibilities, and the national Treasury of the expense which the people of the Territories, particularly of Montana, are willing to assume. THE COURTS AND PENITENTIARY. If three were There is no re Montana is only provided with three judges, the same as when the Territory was organized twenty years ago, though her population has increased ten-fold, and her wealth an hundred fold. needed then, it would require twice that number now. sponse from Congress on this subject to appeals for relief which have been going up year after year. The United States Penitentiary at Deer Lodge has been conducted most loosely and in a reprehensible manner by the present United States Marshal. The institution is inadequate for the wants of a county, much less for a Territorial prison. This want of accommodation has been largely used as an argument for seeking and exercising executive clemency in years past, and the frequency of escapes is an undoubted cause of the growing tendency to resort to lynch law, and the infliction of extreme penalties for offenses of inferior magnitude. In the case of the United States courts, all effective administration of the national laws is nullified by the inadequacy of the fees to pay even the necessary traveling expenses and board of witnesses and jurors. The attention of Congress has been repeatedly invited to this fact, and a bill is before the House, I believe, to correct this folly and injus tice. Until it is remedied, it is little more than a farce to attempt to run United States courts. Either suspend their functions or furnish reasonable facilities for their exercise. GENERAL GROWTH. I would most respectfully renew the requests and recommendations which I urged in my report last year, and beg to state, in conclusion, that in spite of the general depression that has prevailed throughout the country during the year and the special disadvantages under which the people of the Territories labor, we have progressed steadily in every direction. Our cattle are estimated to number more than 900,000, and horses and sheep have multiplied proportionately. Our mines continue to pour forth in increasing value their precious metals. During the year the largest smelting works for the reduction of copper anywhere to be found in the West have been completed. The steady flow of wealth from our mines has not only prevented the approach of hard times within our own borders, but materially aided to shorten and lessen the depression all over the country. The work of building has never stopped for a day, and more substantial business blocks, elegant and commodious school-houses and churches, and private residences have been erected in Montana during the year past than in any former period. Her assessment list, when completed, will show between fifty and sixty millions of taxable property, and this does not include one-quarter of the real wealth of the Territory. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Governor. Hon. HENRY M. TELLER, Secretary of the Interior. owned entirely by the Mormons and used by them for irrigation pur poses. At Shoshone, in Alturas County, 25 miles north of Snake River, Little Wood River has been turned on the desert and a thriving town with its outlying farms has grown and is growing, where but two short years ago was a sage-brush covered, desert plain. In the Bruneau Valley some 60,000 acres are already under cultivation and a canal has been started to cover from 25,000 to 30,000 acres more. In Wood River Valley a canal has been constructed and irrigates over 20,000 acres, while below these now fruitful acres lie 50,000 acres which will shortly be covered with water and cultivated. The Idaho Mining and Irrigation Company of New York is constructing a canal with a capacity of 4,000 cubic feet of water per second, which takes the waters of the Boise about 75 miles above its confluence with the Snake River. This canal will irrigate and reclaim about 600,000 acres of land lying on the north side of the Snake River and south of Boise City. On the Payette River two canals are nearly completed that will cover about 50,000 acres, while a third is contemplated that will reclaim 30,000 acres more. On the Weiser there are about 75,000 acres being brought under irrigating ditches, there being three or four different canals now building. In addition to the above a plan is maturing to take the waters of the Snake River and reclaim nearly 2,000,000 of acres of valley land. This, if carried into effect, will give Idaho land enough to supply the entire Pacific slope with cereals, fruits, and vegetables, and make her the richest of the Territories. THE NOBLE SON. The Indian population of the Territory, though gradually fading away before the encroachments of civilization, continues to present a vexed question for the solution of the dominant race. As foot by foot they have sullenly retired before the tread of the white man, their numbers have dwindled away. Civilization has been to them a moral canker that has eaten to their heart cores and polluted the blood of their progeny. If ever there existed the necessity of a war of extermination, that period has surely passed by. As with the skin of the Ethiopian, the spots of the leopard, so with the restless, essentially free, roving nature of the Indian, a radical change is perhaps impossible. Certainly a sudden one is not to be hoped for. Centuries of continued defeat and disaster have taught him to respect the power of the Government, but it is the respect born of the dread in a naturally courageous heart. The Indians in the Territory are now peaceable and have given up the notion of organized resistance. They rather seem to submit sullenly to their Part of our common humanity, there is surely something akin to good in their hearts that might be appealed to effectively to better their own lives and make at least some of them useful and profitable citizens. While I should not expect universal success at the offstart, I would recommend that the General Government assume charge of them as wards in minority, give them farms, start them in business of tillers of the soil, free them from taxation for the time, keep a paternal watch over them and enfranchise them as they become independent. As they. become interested in their new avocations, the discontent will work out at their finger ends; activity and labor will cure the disease of unrest and revolt, fostered by brooding, herding, and idleness. By this plan, too, they could be separated. Their traditions of wrong inflicted and avenged would grow dim and gradually fade out among the rising generation. I am strongly of the opinion that herding them on reservations in indolence as pensioners, paupers on the Government, only tends to keep alive the spirit of insubordination and the yearning for revenge they dare not openly attempt, but nevertheless secretly desire. There is every inducement for the inauguration of some such farming experi ment that would be humanely, wisely, honestly, and at the same time patiently supervised by men who would carry out in good faith the full spirit of the intention. RAILROADS. Our system of railroads grows rapidly from year to year, but all too slowly for the necessities and possibilities of the Territory. During the past year 236 miles have been completed and equipped, and the roads are seemingly doing a profitable business. The Territory needs a railroad from the northern part of the domain down along the Snake River to Boise City, which would connect the northern and southern portions, and so practically settle the vexed and vexing question of the annexation of the northern counties of the Territory to Wash ington Territory. The Oregon Short Line will be completed within a month which will make a continuous line of road from Granger to Portland, Oregon. There are at present 820 miles of railroad completed in Idaho, as follows: Under the present regulation the secretary of the Territory is ap pointed by the President. He may or may not be a resident of the Territory. While Idaho is happy in the existence of a thorough harmony and complete unity of purpose between the executive and the secretary-the only strife being a friendly contest as to who shall work the more zealously for the welfare of the Territory--I can but feel that it is the result of chance or the keen discernment of the appointing power, rather than a wise system of appointment. There should be the pleasantest relation between the executive and the secretary. An accident, the death or resignation of either party, in this Territory might change the fortuitous harmony that now so abundantly exists into a bickering, warring, jealous, partisan malignity, which would not only retard the healthy growth of the Territory, but really move back the hands on the dial of its prosperity for years. In view of this possible contingency, in the exercise of that wise foresight which ought to distinguish man from the lower order of creation, I would suggest that the governor be permitted either to appoint his own secretary of the Territory, or at least nominate a list of several names from among those having acquired the rights of citizenship in the Territory. In this way continuous harmony, that is so very essential to the success of any enterprise, would be assured. |