The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-07-03

variety from the beginning or the terrl- torial government At the very beginnlng there was a great fight over the capital, the legislature having voted to remove it from Lewiston to Boise. An injunction was procured to prevent the transfer or the seal and archives, and writ sued out to prevent the governor, Caleb Lyon of Lyonsdale from leaving the state. At that season of the year 1t was tmpractic- able to go from Lewiston to Boise ex- cept by a long detour through Washing ton and Oregon. The governor accepted the service of the writ, but he insisted that he had a right to go duck hunting He got in a sSiff with his secretary and the current was so rapid that they coulu not control the boat. It took them down the Snake river to a place where, by strange chance, they found buggy which took them to Walla Walla, from whence they journey by stage to Boise. This is how the capital was moved.
 The prevailing religion of the state of Idaho Is Mormonism. At the time the state was admitted to the union this was not the case and anti-Mormon sentiment ran strong. The Mormons were dlsfran- chised by the constitution and severe test oath was administered by which a voter was compelled to deny belief in or practice of the doctrine of plural mar riage as taught by the Mormons. Fred T. DuBols, the territorial delegate whose elo- quence won statehood for Idaho. then a republican, declared that he would prefer that Idaho should forever be kept out of the union If the Mormons were not to be controlled Last winter, just hls term as democratic senator from Idaho was expiring, MT. DuBois let the anti Mor2lan fight against the seating of Apostle Reed Shoot as senator from Utah. In the meantime, however, the theories of Du-
 
 were given the ballot, and they soon as- stunned a controlling place in state poli- tics.
 Senator DuBois was the leader of the republican party in the state, and when the gold and silver controversy of 1896 came on he led his followers out of the St. Louis convention which nominated Me Kinley. The majority of the republicans of the state clung to him, a silver re- publican party was organized and the state went democratic. After six years of stormy politics the power went again into the hands of the republicans, where 1t Is now lodged.
 Boise Is the metropolis of the state. The territory it commands is so vast that if 1t was situated at Buffalo, New York, it would command the country from Chicago to Portland. Maine. Time was when Boise, being way out west, was easy-going and altogether lacking in class distinction. The wife of the mayor and the head waitress of the hotel met on terms of equality in the same quadrille at the weekly ball. In those good old free and easy times the young men wore their hats and smoked as the dance progressed, and if a girl winced when cigar ashes fell on her bare shoulder 1t was sure sign that she was a tenderfoot. But all that Is past. The girls now go away to boarding school and bring back with them all the mannerisms of the effete east It was a hard thing to establish class lines and separate the sheep fro mthe goats, but half the town now dances on Tuesday night and the other half on Thursday.
 The board walk and the blue wool shirt are matters of ancient history in Boise. Now 1t has automobiles and Panama hats happened to be there during a celebration, and as the parade went by a big woman who was from the sage brush country, but who looked mighty well fed for a | child of the desert. leaned up against a barber pole and between the swishes of her giant palm leaf fan ventured to re- mark: Boise is sure a good place to come to-" The cowboy who was reclining against the opposite side of the pole re- piled: 'Yes, lady, but I've been here all day and I ain't seen a single gun play A great change had indeed come over Boise when it could celebrate without somebody shooting up the town.''