GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURK 



town. It was not long- before they began to 

 think of him as a fit candidate for Repre- 

 sentative from his county. He has been a 

 life-long Prohibitionist; but as there was 

 no organization of the Prohibition party 

 there, the Republicans insisted on his run- 

 ning as a Representative. He protested 

 that he was not a Republican, that he had 

 never had any inclination to get into poli- 

 tics, and he much preferred to stay out of 

 it. But tremendous pressure was brought 

 to beai", with the result that he consented to 

 have his name used, with the understanding 

 that his friends would not expect him to do 

 a single thing toward his own election. 



" You leave that to us," they said. It is 

 unnecessary to say that he was ovenvhelm- 

 ingly elected. 



When he went down to the legislature he 

 was anything but a nonentity. In fact, he 

 soon become one of the leaders in the House. 

 As might well be expected, while he bore 

 the Republican label he was still a Prohibi- 

 tionist at heart. A temperanec wave was 

 sweeping through Idaho, and many mem- 

 bers of the General Assembly were elected 

 on that issue. Mr. York was not afraid to 

 show his colors, and the result was he was 

 regarded by every one as one of the real 

 leaders among the Republicans and Demo- 

 crats of the House. So far as we can ascer- 

 tain, he was the real leader in temperance 

 matters, but this he denies. 



Both the House and Senate were over- 

 whelmingly temperance; but a few of the 

 minority in the upper house attempted to 

 filibuster. The House passed one temper- 

 ance bill unanimously. Mr. York and 

 his colleagues finally told the bunch that 

 the House would not pass a single bill of 

 any kind until they passed the temperance 

 hill. The wet Senators concluded that it 

 was a mere bluff. Things went on in this 

 way for a couple of weeks without the 

 House passing a single Senate bill. Fi- 

 nally when they saw that the members of 

 the House meant what they said, they pass- 

 ed the bill, and shortly after passed other 

 temperance bills that will make Idaho in 

 iniR the dryest of all diy states in the 

 TTnion. A great deal of credit, no doubt, 

 belonged to our old friend York for this. 



Some of his colleagues told us that he 

 was tactful, courteous, and had a way about 

 him that would melt all opposition. When 

 it was necessary to fight to the last ditch, 

 Mr. York Avould be found in the fore front. 

 He disclaims any credit for what he did for 

 the temperance and other measures. 



We have before said in tliese colunuis he 

 was the father of one of the most drastic 

 foul-brood bills that was ever put before a 



legislature. It passed the House and Sen- 

 ate by a large majority; but the reform 

 governor, not properly understanding it, 

 vetoed it. For particulars see page 258. It 

 was certainly no fault of Mr. York that the 

 bill did not become a law. He and his 

 friends interviewed the Governor, and ex- 

 plained the thing in all its details ; but ap- 

 parently His Excellency did not understand, 

 and vetoed it on the ground that it provided 

 for too many inspectors, not noticing that 

 the law was properly safeguarded on this 

 point, by a limit on the general appropria- 

 tion — $5000 — a modest sum in this day and 

 age. Other states have used as high as 



GEORGE W. YOKK 



$10,000, and some have gone as high as 

 $30,000. 



We saw Mr. York busily at work in the 

 House before he knew we were in town. He 

 seemed to be one of those legislators who 

 ai'e always on the job. 



This legislature of which our friend was 

 a member presented a remarkable conti-ast 

 to what tlie former one had been; and the 

 fact that there was one man, or several of 

 them, who believed in churches and Sunday- 

 schools, in this General Assembly, provoked 

 no little comment. Mr. York was in gener- 

 al demand to speak before churches and 

 Sunday-schools, and it seemed almost a 

 novelty for a Representative to stand up in 

 the pulpit and talk about God. 



