476 



MONTANA. 



lead, coal, iron, stone, and all other metals and min- 

 erals, has assumed such magnitude and importance 

 that it should be placed on a "plane with that of agri- 

 culture; and we urge that Congress shall by law 

 create a bureau of mines and mining, and that its 

 head shall be made a member of the President's 

 Cabinet. 



Political. During May and June the Re- 

 publican, Democratic, and Prohibition parties 

 each held a State convention for choosing dele- 

 gates to their national conventions. The selec- 

 tion of a ticket for State officers was in each case 

 deferred to a later convention. The first State 

 ticket in the field was nominated by the People's 

 party, whose convention was held at Butte on 

 June 15. This convention selected delegates to 

 the national convention of the party, and nomi- 

 nated William Kennedy for Governor ; Harvey 

 H. Cullum for Lieutenant-Governor ; Joseph W. 

 Allen for Secretary of State ; James D. McKay 

 for Auditor ; J. R. Latimer for Treasurer ; Miss 

 Ella L. Knowles for Attorney-General ; Abram 

 Hall for Superintendent of Public Instruction ; 

 William Y. Pemberton for Chief Justice of the 

 Supreme Court; Campton H. Coates for Clerk 

 of the Supreme Court; and Caldwell Edwards 

 for Congressman. Presidential electors were also 

 nominated, and a platform adopted which fa- 

 vored free coinage of silver, an eight-hour law, 

 the election of President and United States Sena- 

 tors by direct vote of the people, and the restric- 

 tion of immigration. Declarations urging that 

 the land grant of the Northern Pacific Railway 

 in Montana be declared forfeited, and that the 

 National Government should maintain reservoirs 

 for the irrigation of arid land, were also a part 

 of the platform. The name of William D. Lear 

 for Treasurer was later substituted for that of 

 J. R. Latimer, and the name of Abram Hall was 

 withdrawn. 



On Sept. 6 the Republicans, in State conven- 

 tion at Great Falls, nominated Lieut.-Gov. Rick- 

 ards for Governor, and renominated Secretary 

 of State Rotwitt, Attorney-General Halkell, and 

 Chief-Justice Blake. For Lieutenant-Governor 

 the convention selected Alexander C. Botkin; 

 for Treasurer, Frederic W. Wright ; for Auditor, 

 Andrew B. Cook; for Superintendent of Public 

 Instruction, Eugene A. Steere ; for Clerk of the 

 Supreme Court, Benjamin Webster, and for 

 Congressman, Charles S. Hartman. Presidential 

 electors were also nominated. The following is 

 a portion of the platform adopted : 



"We demand that the present duty on wool be main- 

 tained, and condemn the action of the Democrats in 

 the House of Representatives by which they sought to 

 deny to the wool growers of the West tho, protection 

 which they conceded to the wool manufacturers of 

 the East. 



We regard with bitter indignation the effort of the 

 Democratic majority in the House to admit lead ores, 

 when found in combination with silver, free of duty 

 a measure which, if it had not been defeated by the 

 Republican Senate or vetoed by a Republican Presi- 

 dent, would have exposed the miners of Montana to 

 competition with the peons of Mexico, and visited 

 disaster and ruin upon the great industry which is so 

 large a factor in affording employment to working- 

 men, in the creation of wealth, and in promoting the 

 prosperity of our State. 



We demand the full recognition of silver as a money 

 metal by the opening of the mints of the United 

 States to its free and unlimited coinage; the use of 



both gold and silver at their present ratio as leg 

 tenders ; that all paper money snail be redeemable in 

 gold or silver, and that thus every dollar, whether 

 gold, silver, or paper, shall be of equal paying and 

 purchasing power. 



We recognize without hesitation or qualification the 

 right of labor to organize for its own benefit and pro- 

 tection, and fully approve of such organizations. We 

 believe that they should be conducted in subordina- 

 tion to the laws of the land and in the spirit of 

 American institutions. 



We denounce the employment of private and irre- 

 sponsible bodies of armed men for any purpose what- 

 soever, and pledge the efforts of the Republican party 

 for the enforcement by appropriate legislation of the 

 provision in our State Constitution to restrain such 

 invasions of the authority of the States and the rights 

 of citizens. We condemn the Democratic House of 

 Representatives for its neglect to pass the anti-Pink- 

 erton bill. 



We recommend the passage by Congress of a law 

 making post offices savings banks of deposit and ex- 

 change. 



The Democratic State ticket was nominated at 

 a convention which met at Great Falls on Sept. 

 13. For Governor, Timothy E. Collins was 

 named ; for Lieutenant-Governor, Henry R. Mel- 

 ton ; for Secretary of State, Benjamin W. S. Folk ; 

 for Treasurer, Jesse Hasten ; for Auditor, Wil- 

 liam C. Whaley; for Attorney-General, Edward 

 C. Day; for Superintendent of Public Instruc- 

 tion, John C. Mahoney ; for Chief Justice of the 

 Supreme Court, William Y. Pemberton ; for 

 Clerk of the Supreme Court, John Sloane ; for 

 Congressman, William W. Dixon. Presidential 

 electors were nominated. The platform de- 

 nounces the McKinley tariff law, recognizes the 

 proposed reinstatement of silver as the great is- 

 sue of the day, instructs the representatives of 

 the State in Congress to work for a free-coinage 

 bill, and demands a change in the boundaries of 

 the National Park. 



There was a Prohibition ticket in the field, 

 headed by J. M. Waters for Governor, J. C. Tem- 

 pleton for Lieutenant-Governor, and Benjamin 

 R. Atkins for Congressman. 



At the November election the total vote cast 

 was 44,315, out of a total registration of 50,909. 

 For presidential electors the Republican ticket re- 

 ceived 18,851 votes, the Democratic ticket 17,581, 

 People's party 7,334, and Prohibitionist 549. 

 The vote for Governor was: Rickards, 18,187; 

 Collins, 17,650; Kennedy, 7,794; Waters, 543. 

 For Congressman Hartman, 17,934; Dixon, 17,- 

 762 ; Edwards, 6,927 ; Atkins, 601. All the Re- 

 publican candidates on the State ticket were 

 elected except Judge Blake, the candidate for 

 Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. His oppo- 

 nent, William Y. Pemberton, was the only candi- 

 date who received a nomination from both the 

 Democrats and the People's party, and their com- 

 bined vote elected him. At this election the peo- 

 ple were required by the Constitution to express 

 their choice for the permanent State capital. 

 The cities and towns desiring the honor, and the 

 vote for each, were as follow: Helena, 14,010; 

 Anaconda, 10,183 ; Butte, 7,752 ; Bozeman. 7,685 ; 

 Great Falls, 5,045 ; Deer Lodge, 983 ; Boulder, 

 295. At the next general election the people will 

 choose between Helena and Anaconda, the two 

 places having the largest number of votes. A 

 portion of the State Senate pf 1893, and all the 

 members of the House, were chosen at this elec- 



