Birmingham state herald., 1896-01-05
UTAH IS NOW A STATE The President Signs the Procla-
 nation Without Ceremony.
 RESERVE FUND REDUCED
Several Thousand Dollars to Supply New
 York's Domestic Purposes.
BA1TltsHlP TEXAS Ar NORFOLK
Where She Will Be Examined by Board of Survey to Ascertain Her Condi- tion-Contracts for the Battleships
 Kearsarge and Kentucky.

JdI. f.--OldH was du- mitted to the sisterhood of states at 10:90 o'clock this morning, when President Cleveland signed the proclamation to that effect. There was no ceremony about the matter. MT. Cleveland and Private Secretary Thurber were alone in the presidents office at the time the signing was done, with a steel stub pen point affixed to wooden penholder. The pen and penholder were presented to Governor West of Utah, who came to the White House about the time the proclamation was signed. The proclama- tion is as follows:
 By the president of the United States of America. A proclamation:
 Whereas, The congress of the United States passed an act which was ap- proved on the 18th of July, 1894, entitled An act to enable the people of Utah to form constitution and state govern ment and to be admitted into the union on an equal footing with the original states" which act provided for the cleo tion of delegates to a constitutional con vention to meet at the seat of govern ment of the territory of Utah on the first Monday in March, 1895, for the purpose of declaring the adoption of the consti- tion of the United States by the people of the proposed state, and forming a consti- tuition and state government for such state; and,
 Whereas, Delegates were accordingly elected, who met organized and de- clared on behalf of the people of said proposed state their adoption of the con stitution of the United States, all as pro- vided in said act; and,
 Whereas, Said convention so organized did by ordinance irrevocable without the consent, of the United States and the people of said state, as required by said act, provide that the perfect toleration of religious sentiment shall be secured and that no inhab bitant of said state shall ever be molested in person or prop erty on account of his or her mode of religious worship, but that polygamous or plural marriages are forever prohib- ited; and did also by said ordinance make the other various stipulations re- cited in section of said act; and,
 Whereas, Said convention thereupon formed a constitution and state govern ment for said proposed state, which con stitution, including said ordinance, was duly submitted to the, people thereof, at an election held on the Tuesday next after the first Monday of November, 1895, as directed by said act; and,
 Whereas, The return of said election has been made and canvassed and the result thereof certified to me, together with a statement of the votes cast and a copy of said constitution and ordi-
 
 ing that majority of the votes law fully cast at such elections, was for the ratification and adoption of said con stitution and ordinance; and,
 Whereas The constitution and gov ernment of said proposed state are re- publican in form, said constitution is not repugnant to the constitution of the United States and the declaration of in- dependence and all the provisions of said act have been complied with in the formation of said constitution and gov ernment.
 Now, therefore, I, Grover Cleveland, president of the United States of Amer lea, in accordance with the act of con- gress aforesaid, and by authority there of, announce the result of said election to be as so certified, and do hereby de- clare and proclaim that the terms and of the United States to entitle the state of Utah to admission into the union have been duly complied with, and that the creation of said state and its admis- sion into the union on an equal footing within the original states is now accom- plished.
 In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
 Done at the city. of Washington, this, the fourth day of January, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-six and of the independence of the United States of America the one hundred and twentieth.
 GROVER CLEVELAND.
 By the President.
 RICHARD OLNEY, Secretary of State.
 The Gold Reserve.
 The treasury gold reserve at the close of business today, with all withdrawals out, stood at $61, ,311 1928. The withdraw als at New York today for domestic purposes" were $113,000.
 The contracts for the new battleships Kearsarge and Kentucky were today delivered to the secretary of the navy duly executed and work on the ships has already commenced by the Newport News company.
 Hon. Matt w. Ransom, United States minister to Mexico, is in Washington on leave. He called at the state depart ment today.
 The battleship Texas has arrived at Norfolk, where she will be examined by the board of survey to ascertain her con- dition and to report on the extent and cost of the necessary repairs to put her in good condition for service. The Texas will then be placed out of commission, her officers and crew assigned to other vessels and the repairs begun. It will be necessary to place the Texas in dry dock to make the necessary alterations, and this operation will be exceedingly deli cate, not only on account of the misfor- tunes which followed the docking expe- rience at the Brooklyn navy yard. but because the navy department once de- clined to dock the vessel at the Norfolk yard, the reason given being that her great width would make it exceedingly t-l ..I~ I-< t~z&& IL.