The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1882-05-27

wnu d the House nat adopt it nor the
President sign it: Can this Territory
plssibly be gerryn,snd nd M ~ H. give
the Republicans m'.j"rity in either
branch the next Legislature? or can
IL he districted % rs to prevent the
Democrats from having . clear two
thirds working majority We think
not; Ia fact We now It c,smns,t, II we
take the returns Of the last general cleo
ton ~ Crumbs f"r nm opinion. There
b not county In the Territory that eau
i'r relied upon to give y Republican ma
j"rity for . Legislative ticket. THIN
how could the Governor, II he were
alone authorized to make Legislative
apportionment, or baard composed ex-
clusively Of Republicans, district the
Territory 20 ~ Ogive the Republicans
larger representation in the Legislative
Assembly thai, they have enjoyed dur
ing the past fifteen years: We ray it
cannot he done, and We challenge our
Republican contemporaries to show where
in 1t can h. dome.
We presume there arc but few ii any
Democrats who would not prefer To see
u fair representation If Republicans in
each branch Lfour Legislative Asse:,.-
b les, hut it must not be 81 pissed they
are going to yield voluntarily the nd.
vant,.ges ri their nuln-ricssl =, renxtll To
bring it aln,u". Democrats are. in their
political battles. clIivalrOus t. fault,
but Of late years they have learned few
lessons iron, the Republicans which
they lave taken to heart. These latter
nave never t,een known to c,,n,etle u
point to tI,ei' political atlvers.ries since
the dale Of the organization Of their par
ty. They have undeviatinsly followed
The keep I'll you have amd get all you
can" rule, and wherever they have OH
tanned the mastery they have arbitrarily
used the full measure Of their p'wer to
advance their own political interests.
In this Territory they have submitted
to Democratic supremacy with IN awk-
ward grnce and whenever they have
obtained slight advantage they have
not been slow to make the most Of it.
1t ts safe t. say that If the apportion-
nent board contemplated Ly Mr.. Ma
ginnis' bli were Republican no fault
would be found with it. In rtUf 0i
this We have the opinion Of our Re,ub-
'ican exchanges that u bmr.i cO,l,lx,se<l
of The Governor, United States Marshal
and aIOtl,& Federal official Surveyor
General, we believe would be
about the pro, er thing. 80 it
seems thu opposition to the APP
parliament bill is bs,sed solely
upon the fact that the Speaker of the
House and President Of. the Council,
who under the provisions of the bill
would lsecOme members of the appOr-
tionment trnsrl. are Dem.crats. For
this reason then We are assured ~ Re-
publican House will never adopt it, II
advised Of the Object, mr. will Repub-
lican President sign it," This IL y silly
assertion, and the fault-finding We hear
about the bill II ~ unreasonable Us It is
uncalled for.
Now the fact OF the matter Is there are
only two ways Ivy wht'h the Legislative
app0rti0nn,ent far the Territory N be
made; on. by law Of Congress smpow-
ering certain person> 10 make 1t; the
other by IN act Ut IN extra session Of the
Legislature. BY the lnssage Ut Mr..
Aaginnis' bill the whole matter IL sim
pliiisd and the apportionment can b.
made with hut trifling cost.
But IL the bill be defeated, as
some Of our Republican cote,nporaries
seem 10 desire, then the Governor must
gain per,nissi''r to call an extra se.,sio
Of the Legislature and Congress must
pass an appropriation bill tn provide
means to cover the expenses Of the ses-
sion. This would amount to no incon-
siderable sum and when taken in es,n-
ncctiOn with the fact that members Of
the Legislative As~embly-expecially
those from the country-w"uld have to
leave their summer or tai. work at great
personal sacrifice Of their farm interests.
It presents n strong argument in av0r Of
the aplortiOnment bill. But We will
suppose the bill will lie defeated and the
Governo, bs tmpow red tn call Nm ex-
tn session Of the Legislature; how much |
better off would our Republican friends
be, ~ fur ~ securing lar ger repr~ senta-
tioI In the Legislature il concerned than
they would be under Mr.. Maginnis' |
bill? The Democrats have clear two
thirds majority in each branch Of the |
Legislature, and they would undoui,t-
idly district and aplortion the Territory
" to them w"nld seem most proper
without regard to the interests Of the
party. What ".ore or less
,ould an apl0rtiOnment bnmr,i composed
Il the Governor, Prudent Of the Coun.
IL or Speaker Of the House do? In