DAKOTA. 



DAVIS, DAVID. 



281 



This increase makes the total number of 

 miles of completed road in operation in Da- 

 kota, June 30, 1886, 2,897'67. 



According to the returns made by the com- 

 mission there are in Dakota 344 elevators and 

 306 warehouses, having an aggregate capacity 

 of 13,843,000 bushels. Of these there are in 

 North Dakota 206 elevators, 54 warehouses, 

 9,012,000 bushels, and in South Dakota 138 

 elevators, 252 warehouses, and 4,831,600. 



Political. The Republican Territorial Con- 

 vention met at Yankton on September 22, and 

 nominated 0. S. Gilford for re-election as dele- 

 gate to Congress. The platform demands " the 

 immediate reduction of all the Indian reser- 

 vations within the limits of the Territory," 

 and denounces the President's vetoes of pen- 

 sion bills, and the administration of the Gener- 

 al Land- Office under Commissioner Sparks. It 

 contains, also, the following planks: 



That recognizing the liquor-traffic as an evil, this 

 convention declares in favor of the home as against the 

 saloon, and pledges the party to such legislation as is 

 necessary to protect the people of the Territory from 

 the evil influences of the sale of intoxicating liquors as 

 a beverage. 



That the will of the people of all Dakota in favor of 

 division of the Territory, on an east-and-west line, has 

 been so clearly and so frequently expressed during 

 the past fifteen years that there is no reasonable 

 doubt of the determined purpose of a large majority 

 to hold on steadfastly till this purpose is accomplished, 

 and we earnestly ask Congress to pass such a measure 

 without delay, said admission to be on the boundary- 

 line of counties nearest the forty-sixth parallel. 



That we heartily believe in the legality of the move- 

 ment of the people of South Dakota to organize a 

 State government, and that the defeat of the Harrison 

 Senate bill in the House of Eepresentatives was a 

 blow at civil liberty. 



The Democratic Territorial Convention met 

 at Aberdeen on September 29, and nominated 

 M. H. Day as delegate to Congress. A reso- 

 lution favoring admission of the Territory into 

 the Union as a whole was voted down. A 

 resolution favoring the submission of the di- 

 vision proposition to a vote of the people was 

 then adopted. The convention expressed it- 

 self in favor of division, and asked that the 

 people confirm that sentiment at the polls. 



The platform demands a graduated salary 

 law for all county officers ; denounces the Ter- 

 ritorial Railroad Commission; demands the 

 taxation of corporation property ; asks for a 

 law prohibiting officials from accepting rail- 

 road-passes ; and calls for the publication of of- 

 ficial matter in German and Norwegian papers. 

 Finally, it favors the submission of the prohi- 

 bition question as applied to the sale of liquor 

 to a vote of the people. 



On November 2, Mr. Gifford was elected by 

 a large majority. The Legislature contains 

 very few Democrats. 



The total vote for delegate to Congress in 

 1886 was 104,811, which indicated a popula- 

 tion in all of Dakota of 524,055. Of these 

 votes Mr. Gifford, Republican candidate for 

 Congress, received 66,932, and Mr. Day, Demo- 

 cratic candidate for Congress, received 37,879, 



giving to the Republican candidate a majority 

 of 29,053. In the south, Mr. Gifford has a 

 majority of 21,023, and in the north a majority 

 of 8,030. In 1884 Mr. Gifford had a majority 

 of 31,117 in the south and 25,554 in the north, 

 making a total of 56,672 in the entire Territory. 

 South Dakota, at the late election, cast 65,765 

 votes, and North Dakota 39,046. This shows 

 a population of 328,825 in the south half of 

 Dakota, and of 195,230 in the north half of 

 Dakota. The vote in the entire Territory has 

 increased 17,984 in two years. In the south 

 the increase in two years has been 11,196, and 

 in the north, 6,788. In November Governor 

 Pierce resigned, and Judge Louis K. Church 

 was appointed his successor. 



Constitutions! Convention and Statehood. The 

 Constitutional Convention, which has been 

 kept alive to provide for emergencies, met in 

 July and adjourned to Dec. 15, when it met at 

 Huron and remained in session two days. 



The convention at this session annulled this 

 section, so that the State government may 

 be put in operation irrespective of admission 

 into the Union. The following was passed : 



That there shall be held an election, on the Tues- 

 day next after the first Monday in November, A. i>. 

 1887, lor all State, legislative, and judicial officers, to 

 fill those offices, the terms of which shall expire bv 

 limitation in the year 1887 or 1888 ; and that, at such 

 election as the State Executive Committee may desig- 

 nate, the State Executive Committee may submit to 

 vote the question, " Shall the State government go 

 into full operation ? " 



The ordinance then specifies the form of bal- 

 lot, the canvass of the vote, and the declara- 

 tion of the result. It declares that if a major- 

 ity of the votes favor the State government, 

 that government shall go into operation as 

 above specified. It leaves to the State Execu- 

 tive Committee the decision of the question 

 whether there shall be an election. 



DAVIS, DAVID, an American jurist, born in Ce- 

 cil County, Md., March 9, 1815 ; died in Bloom- 

 ington, 111., June 26, 1886. After his graduation, 

 at Kenyon College, Ohio, in 1832, Mr. Davis 

 went to Massachusetts to devote himself to the 

 study of law. After remaining there a short 

 time, he entered the law school at New Haven, 

 Conn., and when his course there was com- 

 pleted, removed to Illinois, and, after admit- 

 tance to the bar in 1835, took up his residence 

 in Bloomington. In 1844 he was elected to the 

 State Legislature, and in 1847 was a member of 

 the convention that formed the State Consti- 

 tution. In 1848 he was elected Judge of the 

 Eighth Judicial Circuit, an office that brought 

 him into personal acquaintance and friendship 

 with Abraham Lincoln, who was on the same 

 circuit. Judge Davis was re-elected in 1855 

 and 1861, but in 1862 he resigned. 



In 1860 Judge Davis was a delegate at large 

 to the Republican National Convention held at 

 Chicago, and after the election he accompanied 

 Mr. Lincoln to Washington. In 1862 the Presi- 

 dent appointed Judge Davis Associate Justice 

 on the Supreme bench of the United States. 



