MISSOURI. 



41).-) 



Election Riot. Bitter feeling was excited 

 before the Kansas City election. April 3. by the 

 activity of the American Protective Association, 

 which resulted in several collisions at the polls, 

 in one of which more than 100 shots were ex- 

 changed between the American Protective Asso- 

 ciation arid the Catholic party; 1 man was 

 killed, and 5 others were seriously injured. 



Strikes. The miners of Missouri joined the 

 general strike in April and May. Demand was 

 made for higher wages in some instances. The 

 general strike on the railroads in June and July 

 caused tie-ups in the State and some violence. 

 New men were attacked and beaten at Moberly, 

 and trains were stoned. Federal deputy mar- 

 shals were sent to Slater and other points in the 

 State. The Governor protested against the 

 presence of the marshals as unnecessary and im- 

 pertinent interference on the part of Govern- 

 ment officials, since there was no disorder that 

 could not be put down by the local authorities. 



Decision of a Mormon Suit. Temple lot, in 

 Independence, for which the Reorganized Church 

 of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the In- 

 dependence faction of the Mormon Church have 

 been fighting in the courts for four years, was 

 decided by Judge Philips, of the United States 

 circuit court, to be the property of the Reorgan- 

 ized Church. The Independence faction of the 

 Mormons is, by the opinion, enjoined from assert- 

 ing title to the property, the cloud is removed, 

 and full possession allowed to the plaintiff. 



Besides settling the title to the much-prized 

 temple lot, which is known among the Mormons 

 as the Garden of Eden, the opinion incidentally 

 finds from the evidence that the Reorganized 

 Church of Latter-day Saints at Lament, Iowa, is 

 the real Church that was founded in 1830 by 

 Prophet Joseph Smith, and that the factions of 

 the Mormon Church in Utah and in Independ- 

 ence are offshoots of the mother Church and 

 have departed from the teachings of the prophet. 



Temple lot originally 'consisted of 60 acres, 

 but its area has been gradually reduced until 

 now it comprises a block 300 feet square, on one 

 of the highest eminences in Independence. It is 

 surrounded by a barbed-wire fence, and in the 

 northeast corner is a small frame church that 

 is used by the Hedrickites. In 1842, it is claimed, 

 an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph Smith, 

 the prophet, in a vision and told him that Jack- 

 son County was the site of the original Garden 

 of Eden, and that temple lot was the very spot 

 where the fig tree grew from which our first par- 

 ents obtained their wardrobe. Here it was said 

 that on the last day, when the earth is to crum- 

 ble into glowing ashes and be swept away by 

 the winds of the universe, the faithful Mor- 

 mons would congregate and ascend to heaven 

 from the magnificent temple ordained to be 

 erected. Judge Philips reviewed the various 

 phases of the case from the time the 63 acres 

 were purchased by an agent of the Mormon 

 Church, for the purpose of erecting a temple de- 

 signed to be the New Jerusalem of this religious 

 order. He savs: "In case of disorganization 

 and factional divisions of an ecclesiastical body 

 the settled rule of the civil courts is that the 

 title to church property is in that part of it 

 which is acting in harmony with its own law, 

 and the ecclesiastical laws and usages, customs 



and principles which were accepted among them 

 before the dispute began are the standards for 

 determining which party is the right. The 

 courts will adjudge the property to the mem- 

 bers, however few they be, who adhere to the 

 form of church government, or acknowledge the 

 church connection, for which the property was 

 acquired." 



The Transmississippi Congress. This met 

 in St. Louis in November. Resolutions were 

 passed urging the admission of the Territories 

 into the Union, calling for allotment of the 

 lands of the 5 tribes and their absorption by 

 the new State of Oklahoma, and asking for an 

 amendment of the arid-land law. A resolution, 

 presented in the name of Gov. Francis, asking 

 the Congress to urge the Southern States to en- 

 courage the raising of a plant known as ramie 

 was carried. Another resolution called for a 

 deep water way from the Great Lakes to the 

 Atlantic by way of the Hudson. 



Free-silver "Conference. A conference of 

 the leading advocates of free silver was held at 

 St. Louis in November. The association, called 

 the Bimetallic League, recommended the estab- 

 lishment of a new party on this issue, and urged 

 the formation of silver leagues throughout the 

 country. Besides the action taken regarding 

 silver, the resolutions denounced " the proposed 

 policy of delegating to banking institutions, or- 

 ganized for private gain, the right to issue and 

 regulate the paper currency of the country, a 

 sovereign power which the General Government 

 alone should exercise." 



Political. The election in November was to 

 fill the offices of Justice of the Supreme Court in 

 place of Francis M. Black, Railway and Ware- 

 house Commissioner, Superintendent of Public 

 Instruction, and members of Congress and of the 

 Legislature. 



The Democratic State Convention was held at 

 Kansas City, May 15. The question of the posi- 

 tion to be taken on the subject of silver coinage 

 excited most discussion. Adjournment was 

 taken the first day without agreement having 

 been arrived at. The following session the ma- 

 jority report was adopted by a vote of 423 to 109. 

 Following is the resolution : 



Whereas, The Constitution of the United States 

 provides that Congress shall have power to coin 

 money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign 

 coins, and also provides that no State shall coin 

 money or make anything but gold and silver coin a 

 tender in payment of debts, hence we declare it to be 

 a duty enjoined upon Congress by the Constitution 

 to coin both gold and silver money for the use of the 

 people of the States; that Congress has no rightful 

 power to refuse the coinage of either metal. 



We therefore demand the free bimetallic coinage of 

 both gold and silver, and the restoration of the bi- 

 metallic standard as it existed under our laws for over 

 eighty years prior to the demonetization of the stand- 

 ard silver dollar in 1873, and should it become neces- 

 sary in order to maintain the two metals in circulation 

 to readjust the ratio, it should be determined whether 

 gold has risen or silver has fallen, and whether there 

 should be a change of the gold dollar or the silver 

 dollar, or of both", to the end that whatever ratio is 

 adopted the rights of both creditor and debtor shall 

 be preserved alike, having in view the demands ot 

 the people for an adequate circulating medium, we 

 declare that we are not in favor of gold monometal- 

 lism or silver monometallism, but that both should 



