284 



DAKOTA. 



The executive power is vested in a Governor and 

 Lieutenant-Governor, elected for two years, the latter 

 being ex officlo President of the Senate. The Gov- 

 ernor has a veto-power on legislation, which may be 

 overridden by a two-third vote of both houses. He 

 may veto items of an appropriation bill and approve 

 the rest. 



There shall be chosen by the qualified electors of 

 the State a Secretary of State^ Auditor, Treasurer, 

 Superintendent of Public Instruction, Commissioner 

 of School and Public Lands, and Attorney-General, 

 who shall severally hold their offices for the term of 

 two years, but no person shall be eligible to the office 

 of Treasurer for more than two terms consecutively. 



The judicial power is vested in a Supreme Court, 

 circuit courts, county courts, and justices of the peace, 

 and special courts for cities and incorporated towns. 

 The Supreme Court, consisting of three .judges elected 

 from districts, has appellate and supervisory jurisdic- 

 tion only. After five years from the admission of the 

 State, the number of judges and districts may be in- 

 creased to five. Those first elected are chosen for four 

 years ; subsequently the term is to be six years. The 

 circuit courts are the courts of general original juris- 

 diction. The number of judges fixed by the Consti- 

 tution is six, one elected in each circuit for four years. 

 The Legislature by a two-third vote may increase 

 the number of judges and circuits. 



Every male person resident of the State, who shall 

 be of the age of twenty- one years and upward, not 

 otherwise disqualified, belonging to either of the fol- 

 lowing classes, who shall be a qualified elector under 

 the laws of the Territory of Dakota at the date of the 

 ratification of the Constitution by the people, or who 

 shall have resided in the United States one year, in 

 this State six months, in the county thirty days, and 

 in the election precinct where be offers his vote ten 

 days next preceding any election, shall be deemed a 

 qualified elector at such election : 



1. Citizens of the United States. 



2. Persons of foreign birth who shall have de- 

 clared their intention to become citizens, conforma- 

 bly to the laws of the United States upon the subject 

 of naturalization. 



The Legislature shall at its first session after the 

 admission of the State into the Union submit to a vote 

 of the electors of the State the following question, to 

 be voted upon at the next general election held there- 

 after, namely : " Shall the word ' male ' be stricken 

 from the article of the Constitution relating to elec- 

 tions and the right of suffrage ? " 



Any woman haying the qualifications enumerated 

 in section 1 of this article, as to age, residence, and 

 citizenship, and including those now qualified by the 

 laws of the Territory, may vote at any election held 

 solely for school purposes, and mav hold any office in 

 this State except as otherwise provided in th'is Consti- 

 tution. 



It is made the duty of the Legislature to establish 

 and maintain a general and uniform system of public 

 schools, wherein tuition shall be without charge, and 

 equally open to all. 



The sale, investment, and management of educa- 

 tional lands and funds are carefully guarded to secure 

 them for the objects for which they were intended. 



Corporate powers are restricted, and the right of the 

 State over them is maintained. It is provided that 

 the temporary capital shall be voted for at the time 

 when the Constitution is voted on, and that the Legis- 

 lature at its first session after admission shall make 

 provision for a vote of the people on a permanent 

 capital. 



The real and personal property of any woman in 

 the btate, acquired before marriage, and all property 

 to which she may after marriage become in any man- 

 ner rightfully entitled, shall be her separate property, 

 and shall not be liable for the debts of her husband. 



A prohibitory article, and one providing for minor- 

 ity representation, were submitted to a separate vote. 



The power of taxation, appropriating the public 



moneys, and of incurring indebtedness on the part of 

 the State and localities, is restricted. Taxation for 

 ordinary State purposes is limited to two mills on the 

 dollar. The State debt is not to exceed $500,000. 



The debt of any county, city, town, school district, 

 or other subdivision, shall never exceed 5 per centum 

 upon the assessed value of the taxable property 

 therein. 



The general appropriation bill shall embrace noth- 

 ing but appropriations for ordinary expenses of the 

 executive, legislative, and judicial departments of the 

 State, the current expenses of State institutions, inter- 

 est on public debt, and for common schools. All 

 other appropriations shall be made by separate bills, 

 each embracing but one^object, and shall require a 

 two-third vote of all the* members of each branch of 

 the Legislature. 



The Legislature is compelled to tax corporations 

 like individuals, according to the value of their prop- 

 erty, by a uniform general law, which applies to corpo- 

 rations and individuals alike, and by the same method 

 by which it taxes individuals. It is forbidden to sur- 

 render the power to tax corporations. It is also given 

 power to prevent unjust discrimination or extortion, 

 in freight and passenger rates, on the railroads. 



Party Con volitions. The Republican State Con- 

 vention was held at Huron on Oct. 21. The 

 following nominations were made : Governor, 

 Arthur 0. Mellette ; Lieutenant-Governor, A. 

 E. Frank; Secretary of State, H. S. Murphy; 

 Auditor, Frank Alexander; Treasurer, D. W. 

 Diggs; Attorney- General, Robert Bollard; 

 Superintendent of Schools, A. Sheridan Jones; 

 Commissioner of School and Public Lands, W. 

 H. H. Beadle ; Representatives in Congress, T. 



D. Kanouse, O. S. Gifford ; Judges of the Su- 

 preme Court, A. G. Kellam, D. Coreon, and J. 



E. Bennett. 



Among the resolutions adopted were the 

 following: i 



That we fully indorse the action of our last Territo- 

 rial Legislature in calling a Constitutional Convention 

 of South Dakota, and that we are in hearty accord 

 with the action of that convention, and recommend 

 the Constitution framed thereat to the people of the 

 proposed new State of Dakota, and pledge our hearty 

 support to its adoption at the polls. 



That the people of the proposed State of Dakota are 

 firmly and unalterably opposed to any and all schemes 

 for the admission of the Territory as a whole, and 

 pledge our continued and loyal support of the division 

 of the Territory on the forty-sixth parallel, and ad- 

 mission as a State, until recognized by Congress. 



That while this convention is met to put in nomi- 

 nation persons representing the Republican party, the 

 entire movement to form and submit the Constitution 

 was non-j 

 addressee 



gate capacity, wholly free from party 

 no way obnoxious to party action : and we observe 

 with regret the action of a Democratic conclave of this 

 Territory, recently held at Mitchell, condemning the 

 action of the Constitutional Convention at Sioux 

 Falls. 



That this convention invokes the immediate action 

 of Congress by wise and humane legislation, opening 

 to actual settlement the great Sioux reservation, now 

 an unoccupied wilderness, containing over 30,000 

 square miles within our borders, capable of furnish- 

 ing homes to over 1,000,000 people, securing first to 

 each Indian thereon land in severally of his own se- 

 lection, granting him full protection under our laws 

 and liberal appropriations for his assistance, civiliza- 

 tion, and education. 



The platform also affirms the right of the 





