IDAHO 799 



The state appropriated $750,000 for work on the capitol building, which was nearly 

 completed in 1912, and $12,000 to purchase about 12,000 acres for a state park to be called 

 Heypurn Park in what was the Coeur d'Alcne Indian Reservation; the land was bought im- 

 mediately. A Game Preserve was created in Cassia, Twin Falls, Oneida and BearLakecounties. 



Among important labour laws was one making 8 hours a day's work on public works. 

 The state insurance department was organised and an act was passed to protect commerce 

 against monopolies and to prevent rebating. Sanitary laws provide for the inspection of 

 hotels and for sanitation in dairies and in peddling of dairy products; and forbid the sale 

 of adulterated, misbranded or impure foods or drugs. Lotteries are declared unlawful. The 

 white slave trade is forbidden and the penalty is imprisonment from 2 to 20 years, fine of 

 $1,000 to $5,000 or both imprisonment and fine. Other miscellaneous laws organise the 

 militia; make Columbus day (i2th of October) a legal holiday, and forbid advertising on 

 rocks or similar natural objects. 



Finance. The taxes collected in 1911 were $1,300,000 more than in any previous year, 

 and in 1912 the senate declared that the taxes had become oppressive and urged economy on 

 state officers. An ad valorem tax of $900,000 was laid for 1911 and 1912. In 191 1 the legis- 

 lature provided for the appointment of a state bank commissioner and for the control of 

 bank organisations, and in 1912 revised the tax laws. On January I, 191 1 the balance in the 

 treasury was $853,706, and on October i, 1912, $',280,654; the receipts in the interval were 

 $6,023,947; the expenditures $5,596,999. The debt (Oct. I, 1912) was $2,364,250. 



Education, The legislature of 1911 passed an elaborate educational code drafted by a 

 commission. This was partly amended in .1912. Among the important changes are the 

 following. The state board of education has larger powers and the superintendent smaller 

 ones; a new class of school districts is formed with enlarged powers and graduated scale for 

 the length of the school term in the different parts of the state. The system of certification 

 for teachers is improved. The state board is empowered to draft rules and regulations for 

 building schoolhouses and there is an important change in the method of apportioning the 

 school fund. This " Idaho plan " distributes two-thirds of the total fund among the different 

 districts on the basis of the school population except that each district is assumed to 

 contain at least 20 children; 5 % of the remainder goes to rural high school districts in propor- 

 tion to the number of actual high school teachers, not more than $300 for each teacher; one 

 half of the remainder goes to weak or poor school districts, and the other half to the districts 

 in proportion to their school population. The law forbids the employment of children 

 under 14 in any employment (formerly, only for certain stated employments) during school 

 hours and before 6 A.M. or after 9 P.M. There are the same limitations on the employment 

 of children between 14 and 16 unless they have met certain educational requirements. The 

 code makes education compulsory for children between 8 and 18 unless they are excused on a 

 doctor's certificate or are over 14 years old and have passed through the 8th grade. 



In 1912 the school population was 109,610; the total enrollment, 82,387; the average daily 

 attendance, 57,359; and the average length of school year about 7 months. The revenues 

 for the year ending in the summer of 1912 were $3,218,035, and the expenditures 2,910,301. 

 The percentage of illiteracy in the population 10 years and over in 1910 was 2.2 (4.6 in 1900). 

 The college of agriculture of the state university supervises agricultural extension work, 

 including farmers' institutes, "movable schools" and demonstration trains. 



Charities and Corrections. In 1911 the legislature established the Idaho State Sani- 

 tarium for feeble-minded and epileptics near Nampa, and created a prison labour commission 

 to investigate the state penitentiary. The punishment for murder in the first degree was 

 made either death or life imprisonment. 



History. James H. Hawley (b. 1847), Democratic governor in 1911-12, was re- 

 nominated but was defeated by John M. Haines, Republican, formerly mayor of Boise, 

 who received 35,056 votes to 33,992 for Hawley and 24,325 for G. H. Martin (Progres- 

 sive) and 11,094 for L. A. Coblantz (Socialist). The Republican nominees for Congress 

 (2; instead of i as under the previous apportionment) were elected and in the state 

 legislature the Republicans have very large majorities (56 to 4 in the lower house), so 

 that William Edgar Borah (b. 1865) was re-elected U. S. senator, January 14, 1913. The 

 governor appointed November 18, 1912, Judge Kirtland I. Perky, Republican, of Boise, 

 for the unexpired term (to March 4, 1915) ofWeldon Brinton Heyburn (1852-1912; U.S. 

 senator since 1903) who died October i7th. Senator Borah and Representative Burton 

 L. French (re-elected 1912) had considered Taft's nomination fraudulent, but had not 

 left the Republican party. Although the Progressive cause received a set-back when 

 the Supreme Court of the state decided 1 (October i, 1912) that electors of the National 



1 This decision was called "trickery- and chicanery" by Col. Roosevelt. The Boise 

 Capital News published this criticism and its editors were cited by the Supreme Court for 

 contempt, and were found guilty. 



