396 



IDAHO. 



ILLINOIS. 



by hook and line ; and none of any kind shall be 

 taken in any way, except for home consumption 

 or brooding purposes, between Nov. 1 and April 

 1 of the succeeding year. 



Mormons. It is estimated that the Mormons 

 of voting age number in Bingham County 3,000 ; 

 Bear Lake, 700 ; Cassia, 350 ; Oneida, 850. To 

 most of these the right of franchise has been ex- 

 tended this year. 



Almost since the organization of the Territory 

 the Mormon Church within its borders had ad- 

 vocated bigamy and polygamy. To put a period 

 to the advancement of its doctrines, the Terri- 

 torial Legislature passed the ' test-oath act," 

 which prescribed an oath to be taken by all per- 

 sons as a condition precedent to registration and 

 the exercise of the elective franchise. This act 

 excluded all members of the Mormon Church 

 from the elective franchise. Some of the mem- 

 bers of that organization at once set about devis- 

 ing schemes by which the law might be evaded 

 or set at naught. In October, 1888, just prior to 

 the election, a large number of the members 

 made a pretended withdrawal from the organi- 

 zation and thereafter registered as voters, taking 

 the required oath. Several persons were indicted 

 in a district court, and, a test case having been 

 made, the question of the validity of the ''test- 

 oath law " was passed upon by the Supreme Court 

 of the United States in the case of Davis vs. Beson, 

 and the validity of the statute was affirmed by 

 that tribunal. 



When Idaho became a State the substance of 

 the test-oath statute enacted by the Territorial 

 Legislature was embodied in its Constitution. 

 The first Legislature that convened under the 

 State organization determined to prescribe addi- 

 tional limitations and conditions for the right of 

 suffrage. Accordingly, on Feb. 25, 1891. it passed 

 an election bill that provided, among other things, 

 that the registrar before he registers any appli- 

 cant must require him to swear that he has not 

 since Jan. 1, 1888, belonged to an organization 

 which has at any time taught the doctrine or en- 

 couraged the practice of polygamy. This law 

 has remained in force until February of this 

 year. In October, 1892, the Supreme Court of 

 the State unanimously decided that the law was 

 constitutional and must be upheld. 



In October, 1890, a manifesto was issued by 

 authority of the so-called Mormon Church, and 

 afterward confirmed by church conference, in 

 which it was declared to be the policy of the 

 Church to abandon further practice of polyga- 

 mous, relations. Since that time it has been con- 

 stantly claimed by members of this Church that 

 the manifesto was issued in good faith, while 

 those high in authority outside the Church have 

 represented that the members and adherents of 

 this Church have generally abstained from plural 

 marriages and polygamous relations. In con- 

 sideration of evidence placed before him to this 

 effect, the President of the United States issued 

 a proclamation granting full amnesty and par- 

 don to all persons liable to the penalties of the 

 act of Congress by reason of unlawful cohabita- 

 tion under cover of polygamous or plural mar- 

 riages who have abstained from such unlawful 

 cohabitation since November, 1890. 



The disabilities under which Mormons are 

 made to suffer under the Constitution of the 



State of Idaho are these : Bigamists and polyga- 

 mists are not permitted to exercise the franchise, 

 neither is any person who belongs to any church 

 organization or incorporation that teaches biga- 

 my and polygamy. Relying on the claims of 

 members of the Mormon Church that it has ab- 

 solutely abandoned both the practice and the 

 teaching of polygamy and no longer permits 

 what is known as plural, patriarchal, or celestial 

 marriages, the Legislature meeting this year 

 passed a new election law eliminating what have 

 been called the retroactive features of the ti-st. 

 oath and permitting any man to register and 

 vote who does not now practice or teach polyga- 

 my or who belongs to a church that does not 

 now practice or teach polygamy, or who is not a 

 bigamist. The constitutional disabilities alone 

 remain in force. 



Woman Suffrage. The chairman of the 

 House Judiciary Committee propounded to the 

 Attorney-General the following question : 



Will it require an amendment to the Constitution 

 to enable females to exercise the right of suffrage in 

 this State at any and all elections, and hold ottk-e in 

 the State, or will an act of the Legislature be sufficient 

 to accomplish the purpose ? 



and it was answered in substance as follows : 

 The State possesses the power to prescribe the 

 qualifications of electors, and to designate the 

 particular classes of persons who may vote, sub- 

 ject to the restrictions of the Federal Constitu- 

 tion. It is settled that a State may in its con- 

 stitution restrict the right of suffrage to males. 

 One of the express conditions of section 2 of Arti- 

 cle VI of the State Constitution confines the right 

 of suffrage to male citizens of the United States, 

 except at school elections. It also states that the 

 Legislature shall never annul any of the provi- 

 sions in this article contained. Women have the 

 right to vote at school elections if they have the 

 qualifications of electors, but while the Legisla- 

 ture may prescribe additional qualifications, limi- 

 tations, and conditions, it can not extend the right 

 of suffrage to females. This would require an 

 amendment to the Constitution. A joint resolu- 

 tion was offered to amend the Constitution by 

 extending the right of suffrage to women, but it 

 was killed on its third reading. 

 World's Fair. The Legislature of 1891 voted 

 $20,000 for World's Fair purposes, and to this 

 amount $30,000 was added by the Legislature of 

 1893. The result of the expenditure of these 

 amounts was a most satisfactory agricultural ex- 

 hibit, comprising wheat, corn, oats, clover, flax, 

 hemp, cotton, tobacco, figs, almonds, walnuts, 

 apples, quinces, peaches, pears, plums, cherries, 

 apricots, nectarines, prunes, berries, and grapes. 

 The wonderful mineral exhibit was made in the 

 Mining Building, in a white-and-gold pavilion, 

 fashioned in the style of a classic temple. 



ILLINOIS, a Western State, admitted to the 

 Union Dec. 3, 1818; area, 56,650 square miles. 

 The population, according to each decennial 

 census, was 55,162 in 1820; 157.445 in 1830; 

 476.183 in 1840; 851,470 in 1850; 1,711.951 in 

 1860: 2,539,891 in 1870; 3,077.871 in 1880; and 

 3,826,351 in 1890. Capital, Springfield. 



Government. The following were the State 

 officers during the year: Governor, John P. Alt- 

 geld. Democrat ; Lieutenant-Governor. Joseph 

 B. Gill ; Secretary of State, William H. Hinrich- 



