536 



MONTENEGRO. 



crats in the Council, and 15 Republicans and 9 

 Democrats in the House. 



Counties and County-Seats. The following is a 

 list of the counties and county-seats : 



COUNTIES. COUNTY-SEATS. 



Beaverhead Dillon. 



Ohoteau Fort Benton. 



Custer Miles City. 



Dawson Glendive. 



Deer Lodge Deer Lodge. 



Gallatin Bozeman. 



Jefferson Boulder Valley. 



Lewis and Clarke Helena. 



Madison Virginia City. 



Meagher White Sulphur Springs. 



Missoula Missoula. 



Silver Bow Butte. 



Yellowstone Billings. 



Tax Exemption. Section 2 of the charter of 

 the Northern Pacific Railroad Company is as 

 follows: 



That the right of way through the public lands be 

 and the same is hereby granted to said Northern Pa- 

 cific Railroad Company, its successors and assigns, 

 for the construction of a railroad and telegraph, as 

 proposed, and the right, power, and authority is here- 

 by given to said corporation to take from the public 

 lands, adjacent to the line of said road, material of 

 earth, stone, timber, and so forth, for the construction 

 thereof. Said way is granted to said railroad, to the 

 extent of two hundred feet in width on each side of 

 said railroad, where it may pass through the public 

 domain, including all necessary ground for station 

 buildings, workshops, depots, machine-shops, switch- 

 es, side-tracks, turn-tables, and water-stations, and 

 the right of way shall be exempt from taxation with- 

 ia the Territories of the United States. 



The construction given to the foregoing pro- 

 vision of the act of Congress by the best law- 

 yers is that the right of way of two hundred 

 feet on each side, with necessary depot-grounds, 

 etc., was a grant, and that all buildings and 

 fixtures of every kind thereon attached to the 

 realty, and are exempt from taxation. This 

 question arose within a few months after the 

 railroad entered the limits of Montana, in the 

 case of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company 

 against Willis W. Garland, Treasurer of Custer 

 county, which was decided by the Supreme 

 Court of the Territory, at the January term, 

 1884. In that decision the Supreme Court, in 

 effect, decided that none of the- property of the 

 Northern Pacific Railroad Company, its right 

 of way, or anything attached thereto, is tax- 

 able, or, in other words, the only property of 

 the railroad company that is, under its charter, 

 taxable within Montana, is the personal prop- 

 erty that may come to the knowledge of the 

 assessor ; that the right of way, including lands 

 for necessary depots, machine-shops, etc., also 

 station buildings, workshops, switches, side- 

 tracks, turn-tables, and water-stations, is ex- 

 empt from taxation within the Territory of 

 Montana. It is the opinion of some of the 

 ablest lawyers of the Territory that, when 

 Montana becomes a State, the property of the 

 Northern Pacific Railroad Company can be 

 taxed like the property of an individual. 



MONTENEGRO (Czernagora, u Black Mount- 

 ain "), a principality in eastern Europe. The 

 government is an absolute monarchy. The 



legislative and executive powers, and the con- 

 trol of the revenue, remain practically in the 

 hands of the Prince, though organic statutes 

 of 1852, 1855, and 1879 introduced the repre- 

 sentative principle in the form of a legislative 

 body, called the State Council, of eight mem- 

 bers, one half elected by the male inhabitants 

 who bear arms or have done military service. 

 The throne is hereditary by male primogeni- 

 ture in the family of Petrovich Njegos, who 

 liberated the country from the Turks, and was 

 proclaimed Vladika, or Prince-Bishop, in 1697. 

 Danilo I, who succeeded his uncle, Prince 

 Peter, the celebrated poet and reformer, in 

 1851, abandoned the title of Vladika, and as- 

 sumed that of Hospodar. He was assassinated, 

 Aug. 13, 1860, and was succeeded by Nicholas 

 I, the present reigning Prince. The inhabit- 

 ants of Montenegro are divided into forty 

 tribes, each governed by elected elders and a 

 chief, called the Knjas, who acts as judge, and 

 in time of war is the military commander. By 

 the administrative statute of 1879, the country 

 was divided into eighty districts and five mili- 

 tary commands. There is no standing army, 

 except the Prince's body-guard of one hun- 

 dred men; but in case of war all Monte- 

 negrins are soldiers from the time when they 

 can first bear arms until they have no more 

 strength. 



The Ministry. The Ministry of Justice was 

 vacant in 1884. The Minister of Foreign Af- 

 fairs is S. Radonich ; the Minister of the Inte- 

 rior, B. Petrovich; the Minister of War, J. 

 Plamenatz; the Minister of Education, the 

 Metropolitan Monseigneur Ljubicha. The Di- 

 rector of Finance, who does not sit in the Coun- 

 cil of Ministers, is M. Matanovich. The Coun- 

 cil of State, composed of eight members, 

 presided over by Petrovich Njegos. 



Area and Population. The area of the princi- 

 pality is about 3,470 square miles. The popu- 

 lation is officially estimated at 236,000. 



The exports are estimated at 2,000,000 flor- 

 ins. The revenue is about 445,000 florins, of 

 which 125,000 come from direct taxes, 200,000 

 from the salt monopoly, and 100,000 from du- 

 ties on spirits and tobacco. The Prince has 

 civil list of 9,000 ducats. 



Political and Social Conditions. Various im- 

 provements, carried out under the paternal di- 

 rection of the ruler, indicate steady progress 

 in the little principality. The towns of Nik- 

 sich and Podgoritza have been rebuilt. A 

 railroad from Plovnitzi to Lake Scutari is pro- 

 jected, and the plan is entertained of extend- 

 ing this, the first Montenegrin railroad, which 

 will possess a certain strategical importance, 

 through to Niksich. The regulation of the 

 Turkish boundary has made no progress, not- 

 withstanding the friendly manifestations of the 

 Sultan. The Turkish commissioners raised 

 difficulties at every step, and interrupted the 

 work, to wait for the answer of the Constan- 

 tinople authorities. The Prince desires the 

 powers to appoint a European delimitation 



