MONTANA. 



565 



Population. The following table presents 

 the population of the State by counties, as ascer- 

 tained by the national census of this year, com- 

 pared with the population for 1880 : 



Finances. The balance in the treasury on 

 Jan. 1 was $38,251.54. During the year about 

 $350,000 was received from the State tax levied 

 in 1889 and from miscellaneous sources, but only 

 a part of it was disbursed, on account of the fail- 

 ure of the Legislature of 1890 to pass appropria- 

 tion bills. Only such sums were paid out of the 

 treasury as the Territorial statutes, which still 

 remained in force, would justify. Nothing could 

 be paid for the support of the State Penitentiary, 

 or the State charitable institutions, or in salaries 

 to members of the Legislature. The State in- 

 stitutions were kept in operation, however, and 

 supplies were furnished on the faith that the 

 next Legislature would reimburse the advances. 

 Under these circumstances, the balance in the 

 treasury increased to $187,181.49 on Dec. 31, while 

 there were claims outstanding at the same date 

 amounting to $167,810.95. 



The total assessed valuation of property, which 

 was $79,376,944 in 1889, increased to $116,767,- 

 204 in 1890. The valuation of real property (in- 

 cluding railroad property) was $68,256,914, and 

 of personal property, $48,510,290. The rate of 

 State taxation in 1890 was 20 cents on each $100. 

 County Debts. The total debt of Montana 

 counties in 1890 was $1,937,150, an increase of 

 $1,258,538 in ten years. Of this total all except 

 $218,736 was a bonded debt. No county in the 

 State is free from debt. 



Legislative Session. The first State Legis- 

 lature, which assembled at Helena on Nov. 23, 

 1889, failed to pass a single act during its session 

 of ninety days. This failure was caused by a 

 dispute regarding the election of members of the 

 Lower House from Silver Bow County, which led, 

 at the outset of the session, to the assembling of 

 two bodies, each claiming to be the House, and 

 to the subsequent election of four persons claim- 

 ing to be United States Senators (see " Annual 

 Cyclopaedia " for 1889, page 571). At the begin- 

 ning of this year there was pending in the local 

 district court, before Judge De Wolfe, a suit 

 against State Auditor Kenney, in which thejela- 

 tive rights of the rival delegations from Silver 

 Bow County were indirectly involved. The suit 

 was brought by Roberts, one of the Democratic 

 claimants from that county, to.compel the Audi- 

 tor to issue to him a warrant for his salary as a 

 member of the House, and was decided early in 



January substantially in favor of the plaintiff. 

 The case did not reach the State Supreme Court, 

 and was therefore not conclusive. But late in 

 January the questions in dispute were brought 

 before the latter court in the case of Thompson 

 vs. Kenney. This was a suit against the State 

 Auditor by one of the Republican claimants from 

 Silver Bow County, demanding, as in the former 

 case, that the claim of the plaintiff for per diem 

 and mileage as a member of the House be al- 

 lowed and audited. It was expected that the 

 relative value of the certificates issued by the 

 State Board of Canvassers, which the Republican 

 claimants from Silver Bow County held, and the 

 county clerk's certificates held by the Democratic 

 claimants would be conclusively decided in this 

 case. But the court, in .its opinion, rendered on 

 Jan. 27, was careful to renounce all jurisdiction 

 or authority to try the ultimate right of the 

 plaintiff to a seat in the House, and conceded to 

 that body the sole right to judge of the qualifi- 

 cations and election of its own members, the 

 only duty of the court being to decide what con- 

 stitutes sufficient prima facie evidence of mem- 

 bership in the House to 'entitle the plaintiff to 

 the relief which he asks. The court says : 



It is contended by the respondent that a statute of 

 the Territory, existing prior to the act of Congress ad- 

 mitting Montana, and prior to the acceptance of the 

 Constitution, provided contrary to the act of Congress 

 and the Constitution and ordinances above quoted, in 

 that this statute provides that the canvass of the votes 

 cast for members of the Legislative Assembly shall be 

 made by the boards of county commissioners of the 

 respective counties in the Territory and certificates of 

 election shall be issued by the clerk of the board of 

 county commissioners. This position is untenable. 

 There is no statute of the Territory of Montana 

 brought over and adopted by the people of this State 

 contrary to or in conflict with the Constitution thereof, 

 for this plain reason: It is provided by the act of 

 Congress above quoted, enabling the people of said 

 Territory to form a constitution and State govern- 

 ment, that " all laws in force, made by said Territories 

 at the time of their admission into the Union, shall be 

 in force in said States, except as modified or changed 

 by this act, or by the constitutions of the States re- 

 spectively." To declare that the county clerk's cer- 

 tificate of election to the office in question is the high- 

 est prima facie evidence of title to the office as 

 against the certificate of the canvassing board consti- 

 tuted by the act of Congress, and the ordinance framed 

 by the Constitutional Convention and adopted by the 

 people, would be in effect to declare that the provisions 

 of the statute in this respect stand without modifica- 

 tion by the act of Congress and Constitution and ordi- 

 nances, and prevail over them. 



It was therefore decided that the plaintiff 

 had the better prima facie title, and was entitled 

 to have his claim audited. It would seem to fol- 

 low, also, from this decision that if the Lower 

 House should at any time reach a valid decision 

 ousting the plaintiff from his seat, his right to 

 the salary would then cease. The Democrats re- 

 garded this decision as settling nothing except 

 the right of the Republican claimants to draw 

 pay, until a House legally organized should de- 

 cide who were its members. They saw no reason 

 for yielding to their opponents, and the rival 

 Houses, each containing thirty members, con- 

 tinued their separate sessions and pretended to 

 do business. 



Meanwhile, in the Senate no business had been 

 transacted, the eight Democratic Senators either 



