cers in charge, and the people, through lack of confidence, refused to give their business to the institution.

I am happy to state that the present incumbent, H. F. Wild, by his energy, promptness, and general business character, has established a good reputation for the institution and more than doubled its business. I am confident this establishment will in the near future become one of the most important in the United States, and I would urge the neces sity of an appropriation to repair the main building and erect a good substantial iron fence around the beautiful grounds surrounding the assay building.

TIMBER.

The thanks of the people of Idaho Territory are due to the Department of the Interior for the modification of Rules 2 and 3, concerning the felling of timber, as secured by the circular of August 5, 1886. The modification was well timed and is gratefully received, but there are still some regulations in force in the Department that work great injury to the Territories of the Far West. Idaho is blessed with limitless forests of timber, which are of incalculable value in this western country-a great portion of whose area consists of barren and treeless plains. To enable settlers to cultivate and redeem these desert plains, lumber must be readily accessible, else their efforts to build homes would be unsuccessful. Many of the settlers are poor, having expended their all in securing their land and in improvements. Under the rules and regulations of the Interior Department the purchaser must enter into a certain written agreement with the lumberman, and must further file with the mill-owner a certificate, under oath, that he purchases such lumber exclusively for his own use. This formality must be gone through with every time a settler desires a little lumber. It is a great inconvenience. Then again it is a matter of expense, for the oath must be taken before some magistrate qualified to administer oaths, and fees must be paid therefor. To the poor settler this extra expense is a matter of some consequence. Such magistrates are not often, in this new country, in close proximity to the saw mills. The natural obstacles encountered by settlers on this desert land are severe enough without additional ones being put upon them by the Government. It is a source of great benefit to our country that this land be settled up, and to this end the policy of the Government should be to remove obstacles from the path of the honest settler, not to seek to retard his efforts by impracticable regulations.

There are in this Territory great forests sufficient to supply the home consumption without any apparent effect on their extent. From personal observation it is safe to say that the entire local consumption of timber in this Territory does not equal the growth of the forests. Let the Government afford sufficient protection against forest fires, which through carelessness annually consume immense quantities of timber, and protect our forests from the inroads of scavengers and consumers from other States and Territories, and no fear need be entertained of the preservation of the timber.

PROTECTION TO SILVER.

This seems strange to talk about protection to silver, but when the reference I intend to make to the subject relates wholly to the interest of silver mining in this Territory the connection may seem more plain and practical as to the application of the remarks I now desire to offer

on the subject of protecting silver mining interest in Idaho. Silver be ing one of the standard currencies in the United States should upon its own intrinsic value be able to maintain the highest standard of its commercial rises and the necessities for general circulation amongst the working classes of the country. The mining industry confined principally to the production of silver and lead in Idaho employs nearly or quite one-third of the laboring force of the Territory.

Protection, therefore, to the business production of lead in the melting-ore districts of Idaho is also a protection to silver. The reduction of the tariff on lead carries its depreciating effects to the production of silver where found in combination with lead.

This particular field and branch of industry are so important and extensive on the Pacific slope that its absolute protection against depreciation has become one of the most serious subjects of interest to all classes engaged in the production of silver and lead, as well as a matter of the most vital consideration to those affected by and engaged in commerce and trade in the districts where silver and lead are produced in combination.

The necessity which demands a proper protective tariff for lead is in its effects the best protection and encouragement which can be given to the silver producing interest, and no species of currency is so welcome and acceptable to the people who take the ore in which it is found from the earth by hard, precarious, and honest toil as the coined silver of the United States. It is not, therefore, strange that our whole people, with scarcely an exception, are zealously in favor of the free and unrestricted coinage of silver. There are no gold values and silver values in this Territory distinct from the value placed on those metals at the mint of the United States so far as their use and value in trade are concerned. Why should there be any discriminating values of either metal after it leaves the mint for circulation?

When the industry of silver mining is properly protected the standard of silver and the productive value of lead will be maintained, and the twenty thousand miners now engaged in the business of silver mining in Idaho will be able to command a fair compensation for their labor. We hold it to be an absurd proposition that there can be an overproduction of silver. How can the Government of the United States be in any sense the loser if every dollar in bullion produced from our mines should be purchased by the Government and deposited at the mints and at the assay offices of the United States at its mint value? Allowing the standard in price to be its value in bullion, one-tenth more in value is to be added when the price of gold or silver is coined and drops from the mint.

The business and monopoly of coining the precious metals is held by the Government alone. Would it not be a wise and practical policy in Congressional legislation to hold to the absolute protection to the labor which produces the precious metals by holding the bullions to the full standard of values in the depositories of the United States? It would not embarrass the financial operations of the Government if every dollar in bullion produced in the gold and silver mines of the country was purchased as fast as produced at its assayed and determined value according to the most favorable standard when coined at the mint. Why should the distinction exist between silver certificates and gold notes? Is gold worth any more to withdraw from trade and hoard up than silver in circulation?

Could either of the metals be dropped from circulation? The paper money of the United States should represent the metallic value of gold

and silver, without expressing the discrimination on its face. Such a policy will not antagonize only commercial trade or labor interest in the United States, but the class who occupy and follow the business of the speculating on the increased or depressed values of gold and silver, effected by capitalization combination created and maintained upon a palpable fiction, on which the banks that exist by the bounty of the Government are able to say that the silver dollar of standard value today will be less than the value of the silver dollar of to-morrow. We say with a hearty accord, let us have the fullest protection to silver mining; gold mining is able to take care of itself. Instead of coining two millions a month, let us have the coinage of four millions per month. With no hope of throwing any new light upon the subject of silver, or of changing any fixed policy the Government or Administration may have on the silver question, I will only say that the people of Idaho, irrespective of political bias or difference, trade or occupation, are with one voice in favor of the highest standard for silver, and protection to the industry which produces it.

ACTS OF CONGRESS.

I would most respectfully urge the necessity and justice of amending section 1858 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, to give the governors of the several Territories the right to remove dishonest or incompetent officials during the recess of the legislative council, by granting commissions which shall expire at the end of the next session. The executive is held responsible for the administration of good, hon. est, and respectable government in his Territory. It is unjust to hold him thus responsible and then deprive him of the power to remove dishonest, corrupt, or incompetent Territorial officers, who hold by appointment of the governor, confirmed by the legislative council.

MILITARY POSTS.

The maintaining of military posts and the wise distribution of troops as at present maintained in the Territory reflect great credit on the Government and the War Department at Washington. Idaho is certainly classed as an Indian country. The presence of numerous Indian tribes, and the many Indian reservations within our own borders and those just over our lines, may well admonish the Government of the necessity of continuing the present military posts and troops. Their presence and existence afford the very best guarantee to our people. There is no place in America where the troops enjoy better health than here, and but few places where they can be so cheaply maintained. The post is beautifuly situated, and I would most respectfully indorse the reccommendation of several of the United States officers that this post be increased to a four-company cavalry post.

OUR LIVE-STOCK INTERESTS.

The live-stock interests of Idaho are steadily increasing, and are to be ranked among our great resources. During the last year the losses from exposure and diseases combined have been comparatively nothing, although the herds thrive summer and winter upon the same ranges. The dry and healthful atmosphere prevents prevailing diseases among our domestic animals; our only fear is that contagious diseases may be introduced among our now healthy herds.

It is estimated by those associated with the stock-growing interests that fully 500,000 head of horses and cattle annually graze and fatten upon the hills and table-lands of the Territory. The number of sheep will probably exceed 250,000 head.

The exports of horses and cattle by the Oregon Short-Line Railroad in Idaho for the present year will probably exceed 30,000 head.

CONCLUSION.

In conclusion I have the honor to say that I am quite sensible of the defects and omissions of this report. I am confident that I have not overestimated the greatness and prosperity of the Territory.

If I had been able to hold this report until the 15th instant, as asked for in my telegram of the 27th, I would have had time and opportunity to examine the reports of the county auditors, which are due at the controller's office at this date.

I take pleasure in acknowledging favors in the compilation of this report to Hon. S. W. Mood, H. F. Wild, Joseph Straughn, and E. J. Curtis.

Respectfully submitted.

Hon. L. Q. C. LAMAR,

EDWARD A. STEVENSON,

Governor.

Secretary of the Interior, Washington, D. C.

REPORT

OF THE

GOVERNOR OF WASHINGTON TERRITORY.

EXECUTIVE OFFICE, Olympia, Wash., October 1, 1886.

SIR: Acknowledging your communication of August 5, 1886, I have the honor to submit the following summary of affairs relating to the progress and development of the Territory for the year ended June 30, 1886:

The anti-Chinese disturbances in the Territory during the past year and the necessary vigilance on my part connected therewith, together with various investigations thereof and reports thereon, have so consumed my time as to seriously interfere with gathering all the data for so detailed a report upon our commerce and productions as I have had the honor to make to you for each of the two preceding years.

The anti-Chinese agitation referred to forms so important a chapter in the history of the Territory, and relates so much to its moral progress and development as connected with the administration of the laws of our country and with the treaty rights of the Chinese residents therein, and the official action taken by me has been of such an exceptionally important character, that I deem it proper, and in accordance with the spirit of your letter, to lay before your Department a complete record of all my official acts and correspondence in relation to this subject during the past year. I do so in the hope that this record will be brought to the attention of Congress, to the end that suitable legislation may be enacted for the avoidance of similar troubles in the future. The fact is not to be disguised that the people of the Pacific coast, with very few exceptions, possess a spirit of hostility towards the Chinese residents; and, although a large proportion of our citizens entertain feelings of loyalty and patriotism toward the Government, yet in several large towns they are inclined to be lenient to those who engage in acts hostile to the Chinese; and this fact makes it extremely difficult to secure convictions of this class of offenders against the law. This feeling has been greatly aggravated by the fact that notwithtanding the terms of the so-called "restriction act," large numbers of Chinese have continued to cross the border from British Columbia in defiance of the law, and, though appeals have been made to the Government to employ sufficient force in the customs department to prevent such unlawful incursions by Chinese, it has been found that, with the limited customs force at its disposal, the Government is practically unable to enforce the exclusion of Chinese under the terms of the law. The letter of the