The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-04-07
IDAHO AND STATEHOOD.

Governor Stevenson's proclamation call
ing constitutional convention for Idaho,
names the first Monday of June as the time
for electing the delegates, the convention
to convene in Boise City at noon on July
4th. The convention is to be composed of
seventy-two members. appointed as fol
lows: Ada county, 9; Alturas, 6; Bear
Lake, /; Bingham, 9; Boise, 3; Cassia, ,:
Custer, /: Lemhi, 3; Idaho, 3; Latah, 6;
Kootenai, 81 Nez Perces, 3: Oneida, ,;
Owyhee, 5; Shoshone, s; Washington, 3;
Logan, 3; Gilmore, 3. The qualifications of
delegates are to be such as are now re
quired by the laws of the tie ritOry for
members of the legislative assembly and the
election IS to be conducted, the returns made,
the results ascertained, certificates issued
and the qualifications of voters shall be the
same as now provided by law for general
elections. The date on which the constitu-
tion e 70 be submitted to the people for
their action thereon is to be fixed by the
convention.
The herald has not much faith IN the
success of the movement, though we wish it
well. There are difficulties in the way Of
statehood for our northern neighbor which
cannot at once be removed. In the first
place, there is doubt as to the requisite
population. The most that has been
claimed is about a hundred thousand,
whereas the number emitting a
state or district to representation
in Congress is, in round numbers,
5000 1t is also recognized by Congress
men, and the fact has been mentioned in
high places, that considerable percentage
of the Idaho population is what is called
Floating" They are followers of mining
excitements, and are liable next month or
next summer to be in Montana, or Utah or
Nevada, where the biggest ''bOOm' in the
mining industry may exist. The objection
that has been raised to the admission of
Idaho is the fear that a second Nevada
peterborough may find its way into the
union. This cannot apply with convincing
force to the "Gem of the Mountains for
while there are large districts the people in
which are wholly dependent on the richness
and permanence of mineral veins, there are
also large districts in which agriculture is
the chief industry. There are some rich
agricultural valleys in the territory, and
these are being rapidly occupied by steady
going people who are creating permanent
homes. In our opinion the population ques-
ton will be satisfactorily settled, both as to
the staying character of the people and
numerically.
1.-THE ugliest objection to statehood that
has been raised by some of those who will
have to decide the statehood question, and
the one which it will be most difficult to
overcome, is the unrepublican character of
the ruling class in the territory. This has
asserted itself in some of the most out
rageous statutes which ever found, their
way into the law books of any country
The late legislature was made up largely of
scrubs and rowdies, of men without ability
or character, and who were utterly
reckless and defiant as to the decencies
and proprieties of law-making. Their con-
duct was scandalous, and some of their en-
actments were less in harmony with the
spirit and genius of the American constitu-
ton and republican institutions than are
the DEGREES of the Gar. All the enemies to
statehood would have to do to defeat the
movement would be to have read in Con-
gress some of the laws which disgrace the
Idaho books, and have attention called to
the fact that the members of the
late legislature are most active in
the scheme for state government. In all
probability the men who were influential
and foremost in the legislature will control
in the coming convention, and their I'M
wisdom and radicalism are likely to assert
themselves in the constitution as in the laws,
in which event the statehood project will
end in miserable fizzle. The territorial sys-
TEN is so abominable in conception and so
outrageous in application that THE
HERALD is pleased Whenever it sees
a prospect for the emancipation
of one of the miserable dependencies. 1t is
the earnest hatred of the territorial govern
ment which inspires the hope that Idaho
will receive statehood, ill-prepared for the
duties and responsibilities of a stlte gov