IDAHO. 



423 



Finances. The following is a summary of 

 the State debt on Oct. 1, 1890: Bonds of 1877 

 due Dec. 1, 1891, $46,715.06 ; Capitol-building 

 bonds of 1885, $80,000; insane - asylum bonds 

 of 1880, $20,000 ; outstanding warrants unpaid, 

 $92,552.89; total debt, $239,267.95. The large 

 amount of outstanding warrants is due to ap- 

 propriations of the last Legislature for improve- 

 ments upon the Capitol grounds, the insane asy- 

 lum, and the university lands, and to unusual 

 expenditures caused by the destruction by fire 

 of the insane asylum at Blackfoot on Nov. 24, 

 1889. In January, 1891, the county treasurers 

 make their settlements with the State, and it is 

 believed that enough money will then come into 

 the treasury to meet these warrants. Before the 

 end of December the wagon-road bonds, amount- 

 ing to $50,000, authorized by the last Legisla- 

 ture, were sold at a premium to be delivered as 

 fast as money for the road should be needed. "It 

 is expected that the entire sum will be issued 

 during 1891. The balances' in the various funds 

 of the State treasury on Oct. 1, 1890, were as 

 follow : General fund, $799.39 ; Capitol-building 

 fund, $20,774.95 ; library fund, $198.89 ; univer- 

 sity fund, $78.32 ; common-school fund, $758.60 ; 

 insane fund, $334.57 ; general school fund, $10,- 

 919.40; total, 33,864.12. The Governor esti- 

 mates the necessary expenses of the first year of 

 statehood at $177,535, to meet which a tax levy 

 for 1891 of 6 mills will be necessary, exclusive 

 of the |-mill levy for the State University and 

 the -mill for the wagon road. 



Education. The public schools of the State 

 are prosperous, and the system is reasonably sat- 

 isfactory. The following table presents a com- 

 parison'of school statistics for the two years end- 

 ing Aug. 31, 1888, and Aug. 31, 1890 : 



The University of Idaho was established at the 

 town of Moscow, Latah County, by an act of the 

 Fifteenth Legislature, and the sum of $15,000 

 appropriated for the purchase of a site, and for 

 procuring plans and specifications for a building. 

 Under this act a site has been obtained and the 

 ground made ready for the erection of buildings 

 which will be begun as soon as a sufficient fund 

 has accumulated from the proceeds of the half- 

 mill university tax. 



Penitentiary. On Aug. 1 there were 75 

 State prisoners in the Penitentiary at Boise City 

 and 6 United States prisoners. They have no 

 employment. During 1889 an appropriation of 

 $25,000 was made by Congress for constructing 

 an addition to the present building. The work 

 was begun in March, and completed before the 

 close of the year. 



Militia. The Idaho National Guard consists 

 of 6 companies, aggregating about 350 men. 

 Each company has been supplied with uniforms 

 and other necessary equipments from the appro- 

 priations made to the State by Congress. 



State Wagon Koad. The act of the Legis- 

 lature of 1889, appropriating $50,000 for the 



construction of a wagon road from Mount Idaho 

 to Little Salmon Meadows, and authorizing the 

 isstie of bonds to raise the money therefor, was 

 ratified by Congress, and in June, 1890, the com- 

 missioners appointed under the act began their 

 duties. Before the end of November nearly one 

 third of the work had been completed, the ex- 

 penditure being $10,370.05. The entire issue of 

 bonds, amounting to $50,000, and bearing 6-per- 

 cent, interest, has been sold at a premium, but 

 only a part ($11,000) has been delivered to the 

 purchasers, the remainder being delivered as 

 funds are required by the commissioners. This 

 road, when completed, will, for a time, be the 

 only means of communication within the State 

 between the northern and southern counties. 



Decision. The United States Supreme Court, 

 on March 18, in the cases of Clough vs. Curtis 

 and Burkhart vs. Reed, rendered a decision re- 

 specting certain laws of the Fifteenth Territorial 

 Legislature passed after the expiration of the 

 sixty-day limit for the sessions of that body. It 

 was sought to obtain writs of mandamus from 

 the court directing the Territorial Secretary to 

 strike from the laws of Idaho all acts passed 

 after the sixty-day limit, on the ground that the 

 Legislature had then no authority to act. The 

 Idaho Supreme Court refused the writ, and that 

 decision is affirmed. The court says that it is 

 not one of the functions of the court to inquire 

 into the records of a legislative body and to de- 

 termine whether the body assuming to be a legis- 

 lature is legal or not, the safety of our institu- 

 tions depending largely on the departments of 

 government being kept separate. 



The Test Oath. Early this year, in the case 

 of Davis vs. Beason, the validity of the Terri- 

 torial legislation designed to exclude Mormons 

 from the suffrage, was brought before the United 

 States Supreme Court for decision. The Terri- 

 torial statute provides that no person shall be 

 entitled to register or vote at any election who 

 is "a member of any order, organization, or 

 association which teaches, advises, counsels, or 

 encourages its members, devotees, or any other 

 person to commit the crime of bigamy or polyg- 

 amy, or any other crime defined by law, as a 

 duty arising or resulting from membership in 

 such order, organization, or association, or which 

 practice bigamy, polygamy, or plural or celestial 

 marriage as a doctrinal rite of such organiza- 

 tion." To enforce this provision, it is further en- 

 acted that every person applying for registration 

 shall take a stringent oath, known as the test 

 oath, to the effect that he does not and will not 

 practice bigamy or polygamy, and is not and 

 will not be connected in any way with the Mor- 

 mon organization, or aid it or teach its doc- 

 trines. It was claimed by the Mormons that 

 these statutes violated the first amendment to 

 the Constitution of the United States, which 

 forbids the passage of any law " respecting an 

 establishment of religion or prohibiting the free 

 exercise thereof." The decision of the court, 

 rendered on Feb. 3, denies this contention, and 

 fully establishes the constitutionality of such leg- 

 islation. It contains the following statements of 

 the law : 



Bigamy and polygamy are crimes bv the laws of 

 all civilized and Christian countries. They are crimes 

 by the laws of the United (States, and they are crimes 



