The Montanian (Choteau, Mont.) 1890-1901, February 10, 1893, Image 2

T H E M O N T A N I A N . Pttfaffstod Every Friday Evening at Choteau Chetoa* Co., Montana. ~ ~ S. M. CORSON, Editor. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1893. N E W C O U N T IE S A N D K E P - R E S E N T A T I O N . Under the above head the Hele na Herald o f last week in a column article takes it stand against the formation of any more new coun­ ties. It says in part: “ The constitutional convention, in deference to-the wishes of the smaller counties, inserted a pro­ vision that each county in the state should be represented in the senate by one member and no more. The inequalities of repre­ sentation which result from this are apparent. Perhaps it serves some just and useful purpose; but it is not obvious what it can be. Some may contend that thero is a precedent for it in the fact that each state in the Union, without respect to population, has two senators; but the cases are at not at all analogous. The colonies were independent and sovereign; and before they would consent to the adoption ol‘ the constitution the •mailer ones insisted upon being ensured against the danger o f be ing overwhelmed and oppressed by the more populous states through their greater power in (he national government. Hence they made it a condition that they should have equal representation in one branch of congress; and that is the single provision of the constitution which is placed be yond tbe power of amendment. Then states are sovereignties, qualified 01 ly by such powers as they delegated to the central au thority; whereas counties are mere ly municipal divisions erected for the convenience of local govern ment.” The above is correct as regards the reason for the states insisting upon an equal representation in the senate of the United States re gardless of population. It was their only assurance against being overwhelmed by the more popu lobs sections of the Union. By that provision and that alone, Montana with her 150,000 people, has as much to say in the sena’e ef the United States as the great ft ate'of New York with her mil­ lions. Montana’s voice in the lower branch of congress, how •flfor, is weak beside that of N e w York, to weak in fact that it m'ght almost at well not be raise 1 in onr behalf. Montana may de •ire the passage of some bill in her interest, but she cannot p;g. it over New York bt cause New York ha« more than thirty times as much to say as Montana, ami ft the bill is obnoxious to her, Montana fails to secure that w h i c h would benefit her and injure N e w York. On the other hand N e w York desires the passage of some act for her own interests but det­ rimental to Montana. Th© New York delegation cm pas* it in the House som® thirty odd to Mon­ tana’s one4, and but for this wise provision in the constitution, would pass it in the senate. But there they have no more to sav « V than Montana, and th© bill does not become a law. It will be seen by this that a bill t.o pass must be of mutual benefit, or at least it must be af such character as to injure neither, before it can pass these two bodies. If th® man­ ner of representation in the sen­ ate was th® same as that used in making up the house, New York would have all the say, and Mon­ tana none. The same condition now exists between the counties of Montana and th® state as between the states and the Union, in th® matter of senatorial representation. By th® present arrangement each county of the state has a representative in th® senate-one each and no more. The representation in th® house is made according to popu lation in this state the same as in the National house at Washing­ ton. The passage of bills is held m check in the Legislative assem­ bly of Montana in the same way as in congress. No one commun­ ity ha-i the advantage over the other in the senate of the 8rate, though in the house it may have ten to one. A bill introduced in the iniere.-ds of any community but to the detriment of another cannot jfpass even though on® community may have ten member to the others one. The bill must, pass the bar of the senate to be­ come a law and as th® county to be benefited has no more to say there than the injured party, it is obvious that no very obnoxious law can be enacted under sacb circumstances. Let tli© constitution stand! Th j Heiaid then goes on to say that this system of representation is such as to affotd a sufficient rea­ son tor the more populous coun ties to oppose the creation ot any more counties, and ‘if any of the pending projects for division fail of success at this session, their friends wiil do well to exert their influence to furtherance of sub­ mitting for ratification an amend­ ment to the constitution providing for die apportionment of members of the senate according to popola tion. This having been secured, any reasonable project of county division may confidently expect favorable action.” (So look out, I) -y>, for the intro duci ion ot a bill providing tor such an amendment of the constitution. Those ot you who have counties to divide will be requested to sell the right of representation every counly now enjoys or see your scheme fall by the way side. The big counties want to eat up the little ones and before anymore are created they want a law passed to that effect. But t h e y can’t do it if the repiescut tiws of ilu- tiruL counties are true to the interest« ot their constituents. B I B EOT L E G I S L A T I O N . A petition is being circulated in some sections of Montana praying that the constitution be so amend­ ed as to submit all laws passed by the legislature to a vote of the people and that the people in ad dition to their representatives be allowed to introduce measure® in the legislative assembly. This is a great scheme, we mn#t say. If is probably another one ef the people’» attempts to sim* plify and improve upoa the gov­ ernment of the people by the peo pie, but like nearly everything else advocated in the interests of the people by the people it falls far short of producing any bene ficial results. On the other hand it would result in vexatious de­ lays and would b® the most ex­ pensive method o f legislation ever invented. Occasions arrive where immediate legislation is required, some times to enact a law or to repeal a bad one. These would be inoperative until passed upon by the people or a special election would have to be called to adopt them. This delay and the expense connected with it are sufficient reasons for rejecting the proposi tion. The exp< n>e of submitting I he laws of the state to a vote of the people would be enormous, as each law, in justice to the people, would have to be published, and flght here is where we think the incentive for th® whole thing lays. Some one in the printing business wants a job and as he eannot get into the legislature to make one for himself, he is petitioning the legislature to make hi» chances of getting one much better than what they are at present. No amendment of that kind in oars. _______________ T he number of sheep in the United States in 1803 wa» 1,508, 000 greater than in 1891, while the clip of wool increased in one year 26 600,000 pounds. There were consumed in American mills in 1892, 59,000,000 more pounds of wool than in 1891, and 26,600,000 pounds of this increase were of domestic wool. With such facts in plain view let free traders in wool go in, and see what they will see in 1896. By that time if the democrats have their way, the American ram will be hunted for menagerie purposes. L et every member of the legis lature from the less populous counties of the state guard ¡he in» terests of their constituents by re­ fusing to entertain the motion to amend the constitution of the state in the mat ter of senatorial repre sentation as desired by the more populous counties.The present way is the safest and best for the whole people, as it acts as a check upon nnpopular legislation and pre­ vents the enact ment of laws for the tew to the detriment of fhe qj a ay. Look, sharp! W e return thanks for a copy of tbe Standard Almanac, published by the Anaconda Standard. This is the mo«t valuable publication given to the people ot Montana. Every one should secure one by subscribing for the Standari. While the Standard is a ge »d newspaper the Almanac is a com­ pilation of such facts as are re­ quired to be known to read the paper understanding^. Iv tbs nsxt «enafcor from Montana i* not a democrat tbe blams wilt lis at fcbs door of the democratic bosses of that state.—Now York World. Yes, nins of them,—Hslsna. Indépen­ dant,. For God’s sake! How many democratic bosses are ther®, any­ way? _______________ A kotiir democrat gone wrong: Representative Tierney, of Mea- gher county, voted for Sander» in­ stead of Clark. Sanders is gettiug there. _ ^ ^ No wosro e r people g r o w l about the Columbian stamps being hard to lick. Colombia herself, wa« never even spanked. Cot. W m . F. WHBBtan has oar thanks for the Catalogue of the Library of the Historical Society of the' state of Montana. A lgernon S xrtoris , the husband of Nellie Grant, died on Tuesday of pneumonia at the Hotel Sehweinerhof, Capi. Th© W««rld Grows. Nouli W o U u r would net know his old dictionary in the p©rfoe tion it has attained in the hands of modf-n scholars. The world grnw*. however, and dictionaries w th it, so that a cheap reprint of the 44 year old “ original” Web Moris» worth about as much *» an old almanac. Webster’s Interna­ tional Dictionary, the recent sne ecssor of the latest and »till eo; y- righted “ Unabridged,” is the best work of its kind ever published, and, well used in a family, wiil be of more value to the member* thereof than many times its cost laid up in money. Tne Montana Lodge Record has been received and is an excellent number, i has been increased to twenty four pages, beside the cover. The I. O. O. F. department, which is edited by Dr. 8. I. Stone, and the M some by Cornelius Hedges, are fiiS' class, fhej£ ofP . and other departments are in ex­ cellent t-hape. All in all, the Montana Lodge Record is a paper the fraternal orders of the state e can be proud of; it is the official organ of the 8. of V. and the Inde­ pendent Order of Good Templars. T H E M O N T A N I A N . TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION. BT M A U/--PO*TAOB Uas copy, ont> j e*r (la Ad^ancs)..............ft 8 (IS. Six ,, “ “ x m . Tnres Mo-uns... “ “ ................. Single Copies... “ •* JO,