The Montana post. [volume] (Virginia City, Montana Territory [i.e. Mont.]) 1864-1869, 1867-10-19
THE LEGISLATURE.

The proclamation issued by Governor
Green Clay Smith, declaring certain per
sons duly elected as members of the
Council and House of Representatives
for the Territory, although coming with
the great seal of the Territory and the
signatures of the Governor and Secretary
appended, is in itself harmless addi-
ton to the current literature of Mon
tana, and nothing more. There is no
law on the statute books expressly for
bidding the Governor from issuing pro-
Carnations whenever and upon whatever
subject he may desire, but there is at
the same time no law or precedent for
the issuance of a proclamation declaring
who are, or who are not, elected mem
bers of the Legislature. The preroga-
ton rests with the County Clerks of the
respective counties in which the mem
bers are elected, to issue certificates of
election, and the certificates so issued by
them is the warrant for the member de-
manding a seat in the body. Each
House is guaranteed the right to be the
judge of the qualifications of its own
members. The only instance citable as
a precedent for this proclamation is that
in which Governor Edgerton proclaimed
the members elected at the first general
election, at which time the very distinct
difference existed in the fact that there
were no County Clerks to issue certif-
Gates. The whole intent of this procla-
nation is to give notice that the Gov
ernor sustains the third apportionment,
as made by him at Helena, June 25th,
1867, after Secretary Meagher had issued
a modification of his first apportionment.
1t will be remembered that General
Meagher had previously made an appor-
tionment by authority of An Act of Con-
gress approved March 2d, 1867; that he
was at the time Secretary and Acting
Governor of Montana; and his authority
to make the apportionment is acknowl-
edged by the terms of the Governors
proclamation of June 25th that the
right to apportion the Territory was a
specific and temporary power vested in
the Executive, which, when once exc
Cuted, was exhausted and could not be
revived except by the authority origi-
nally granting it. If Acting Governor
Meagher's first apportionment was a le-
gal act, then all the subsequent appor-
tionments are illegal. The legality of
the first apportionment is unq destioned.
Without raising any question as to how
the modified apportionment was oh
tanned, the object aimed at in securing
it, or why Governor Smith so readily is
sued third proclamation, not sustain
ing Secretary Meagher's apportionment,
but ''by virtue of the authority vested
in him, rC-distrietiHg and re-dpportioRing'
the Territory, it is still an indisputable
fact that the first was the most equitable
of the three. We think it is also the
only one that will stand the test of law.
The Council Districts are the same in
each. The ratio would be ], $40 constitu-
ents 10 each Councilman, and the vote
does not iuctuate over 80 either above
or below it in any of the Districts. The ra-
ito of constituents TO each Assemblyman
is 500 By the first apportionment the
greatest fuctuation from that, as shown
by the vote, is ia, Under the second
or third apportionment. which the late
proclamation is intended to bolster up,
we will see rather remarkable state of
affairs. The number of constituents to
each member varies from 260 in Cho-
teau and of 720 in Edgerton, to 1923 in
Madison and 1913 in Deer Lodge. Deer
Lodge polls 3,097 votes and has two
Representatives Edgerton polls 1881
votes and has four Representatives. If
this is an apportionment based upon the
number of qualified electors in the sew
eral districts as required by law, we can
not see il. We claim that the first ap-