| Show SCANDAL NO9 Tho New York World celebrates the death of the late Congress by publishing a detailed account of some of the scandals which havo resulted from the two sessions Fifteen of these scandals are mentioned in one issue of tho paper named and everybody every-body in this region is interested in No9 which comes under tho heading Making States of Mining Camps to Perpetuate Power Of course we all understand that this refers to the admission of Wyoming Wy-oming and Idaho both of which were erected into states not because they were better entitled to statehood than other territories ter-ritories but because they could be made Republican in politics could furnish to the party four Senators and two Representatives Representa-tives and increase the Republican voto in the electoral college six The story has been told many times but is always interesting inter-esting and is especially so as tho World relates it Read it hero and then wonder how any man can claim to bo honest and a Republican at tho same timeS time-S VVfacn the Fiftyfirst Congress assembled four territories knocked for admission to the union They were Arizona New Mexico Idaho and Wyoming Tho two former wens Democratic Demo-cratic and the two latter Republican Their respective populations may be judged from the following table Potter 1SSO 1890 Arizona 40440 59091 New Mexico 119505 144803 Idaho 32010 8J229 Wyoming unuu 20769 60589 The untrustworthycharacter of Mr PORTERS census renders accurate reasoning impossible but passing over the remarkable comparative gains which he claims to have discovered the Kepifblican territories and accepting the figures as approximately correct It will bo seen that the population Idaho and Wyoming combined 1830003 less than that of New Mexico alone Tho injustice of admitting Idaho and Wyoming and excluding the Other two was apparent of course and strengthened during the debate by statistics showing greater material growth In She Democratic territories But an important part of the conspiracy to perpetuate Republican 4 t s control Involved an Increased majority In the Senate Consequently Arizona and New Mexico were left out in the cold and Idaho and Wyoming Wyo-ming placed on a footing so far Senatorial representation is concerned with New York and Pennsylvania Note the disparity population according even to the figures of Mr PORTER who has not yet been accused of discriminating against Republican states although it has been proved conclusively that ho failed to enumerate 00000 more persons inNewYork city alone than he claims to have found in both the new states Following are PORTERS figures r Idaho u 81223 Wyoming u 00589 Pennsylvania 5248374 New York 5931934 Any number of interesting deductions can bo made from these figures but the most natural one is that one voto for a member of the Idaho legislature who will vote for a United States Senator offsets exactly ICO votes for a like candidate Idate in New York For President New York has 35 votes in the electoral college Idaho will have 3 In round numbers then to secure equal representation the total popular vote of New York should be twelve times as large as that of Idaho It is really cightyono times as large according to the elections of 1BS8 when New York polled 1315378 votes and Idaho only 6103 There is yet another phase of this outrage which should not be overlooked The conspirators conspira-tors fearing just such a revolution of the pee pIe as has just taken place saw the necessity of adopting some measures to make the new states surely Republican for a long time They accom pUshed their purpose by incorporating into the constitution ot each a peculiar provision That of Idaho disfranchises members of the Mormon Mor-mon church and all who In any way contribute to the support of the church whatever their Individual ividual beliefs and practice3 may be whether they are monogamist or polygamists The constitution of Wyoming confers the elective franchise upon women and this too met with ome opposition which however dd not extend tend to the admission of the territory These two provisions throw some light on singular proceedings The Republicans engaged en-gaged in fierce rivalry with the Democrats in denouncing polygamy and when tho admission of Idaho was under discussion nothing too severe se-vere could be said against ij and no measure of disfranchisement was too radical to be applied to it but when Wyoming knocked at the door the door was thrown open and no questions were asked Both Idaho and Wyoming are infested with Mormons but in Idaho the mules who alone are ever allowed to vote voted the Democratic ticket while m Wyoming where both sexes vote the males vote the Republican ticket and take their myriads of wives to the polls and by a delightful conjugal influence make them do the same Result Idaho and Wyoming are both Republican states and are admitted to the union whereas if they had constitutions Ilk c other states they would be Democratic and this Congress would not have admitted them The Idaho was crowned fitly by an utter disregard dis-regard of legal provisions The constitutiofla convention of Idaho assembled pursuant to a proclamation of the governor issued withou authority of law and the constitution was adopted at an election held likewise withou legal authorization at which any person who could get his vote in the box whether a residen of Idaho or a denizen of the Polar regions could vote without Incurring a penalty for casting an illegal ballot The Democrats insisted that the wholo subject should be remitted to the people of Idaho for legal and proper action and they offered an amendment to the Idaho bill providing provid-ing for such proceedings They were voted down of course Both Idaho and Wyoming will have two RepUblican Re-publican Senators in the Fiftysecond Congress But for those four votes the Senate in accordance accord-ance with the wish of the peoplo expressed with some emphasisat the polls would be Democratic Demo-cratic It is intereslng at this time to recall the pertinent perti-nent words of BENJAMIN HARRISON in his letter accepting the Republican nomination for President Presi-dent They were No question of the political preference of the people of a territory shall 1 close against them the hospitable door which has opened to two thirds of the existing staes To exclude them is to deny the just rights of their people and may well excite their indignant protest This was the comforting assurance which the citizens of New Mexico and Arizona hugged to their breasts Their indignant protests were filed when in the last election they elected a Democratic Representative |
