No. I.–Senate Joint Resolution No. 5, relative to election of United States Senators directly by the people.

[Passed February 3, 1899.]

      Resolved by the Senate, the Assembly concurring, That it is the sense of this Legislature that the Constitution of the United States should be amended so that the United States Senators may be elected by the direct vote of the people of each State; and further,

      Resolved, That copies of this resolution be forwarded to each of our Senators in Congress with instruction, and to our Representative in Congress with the request, that they take action toward so amending the Constitution of the United States.

Constitution of U. S. be amended so that U. S. Senators be elected by direct vote.

Instructions to our Senators and Representative.

No. II.–Assembly Concurrent Resolution, relative to the tariff on certain material.

[Passed February 9, 1899.]

      Whereas, The changed conditions in the process of treatment of gold and silver-bearing ores, and controlling as it does an important industry in the State of Nevada,

      Resolved by the Assembly, the Senate concurring, That in the consideration of the tariff by the congress of the United States, the State of Nevada prays for an exemption of duty upon the commercial product of cyanide of potassium, cyanide, potash and all the chemical properties of what is commercially known as cyanide of potassium.

      Resolved, That the governor be requested to furnish a copy of the foregoing resolution to our Senators and Representative in Congress, also to the Governors of the States of Montana, Colorado, Idaho, Utah, Washington, Oregon and California, and to the Governors of the Territories of New Mexico and Arizona.

Prays for an exemption of duty on certain minerals.

Governor requested to furnish copy.

No. III.–Senate Concurrent Resolution, relative to construction of the Nicaragua Canal.

[Passed February 9, 1899.]

      Whereas, The construction of the Nicaragua Canal would be of great and infinite benefit to the United States of America and of especial help to the people of the Pacific States, as it would afford greater protection to this coast in time of war,

Nicaraguan canal would be of especial help to the Pacific Coast.

U. S. to own and control.

Our Senators and Representative to support the measure.

war, open new lines of trade and commerce and cheapen transportation to foreign and Atlantic seaboard markets, thereby enabling the people of this State to obtain mining and other supplies at greatly reduced rates; assist in building up new enterprises in our State, strengthen and maintain those now in existence; increase our population; thus enhance our wealth and multiply our resources; and

      Whereas, There is now pending in the Congress of the United States a bill providing for the use of the credit of the General Government in the construction of the Nicaragua Canal, and which bill prescribes, among other things, that the United States shall own absolutely ninety-two and one-half per cent of the stock of the Maritime Canal Company of Nicaragua to be reorganized under the pending bill, and that the President of the United States shall appoint not less than nine of the eleven Directors of said company, and that the United States engineers shall direct and control the work of construction of said canal, and after constructed that the United States, by reason of its ownership thereof, shall fix the tolls thereon; therefore be it

      Resolved by the Senate, the Assembly concurring, That our Senators in Congress be instructed, and our Member of the House of Representatives of the United States be requested, to earnestly support the passage of this measure.

      Resolved, That his Excellency the Governor be requested to forward to each of our Senators and our Representative in Congress a copy of these resolutions.

Mining and reducing ores

Steadily increases.

National Department of Mines.

Senators instructed.

Secretary of State to forward copies.

No. IV.–Assembly Joint and Concurrent Resolution No. 6, relating to the establishment of a National Department of Mines.

[Passed February 23, 1899.]

      Whereas, The industries of mining and reducing ores and metals, and of mining coal, salt and other valuable minerals, have assumed vast proportions, and now employ, directly and indirectly, a large part of the whole population of the United States; and

      Whereas, Said industries are largely and steadily increasing in importance, and the progress and development of the national life is intimately associated with and must be much affected by them; now, therefore, be it

      Resolved, That our Senators in Congress be instructed, and our Representative in Congress be requested, to introduce measures for the establishment of a National Department of Mines, and to use all honorable means for the enactment of the same into law. Be it further

      Resolved, That the Secretary of State be instructed to forward engrossed copies of the above resolution, and the preamble thereto, to each of our Senators and to our Representative in Congress.

No. V.–Assembly Joint and Concurrent Resolution No. 7, relative to requesting the Legislature of the State of California to support the Lake Tahoe Wagon Road, and urging upon that body the necessity for a suitable appropriation for the proper maintenance of the same.

[Passed February 25, 1899.]

      Resolved by the Assembly, the Senate concurring, That the Legislature of the State of Nevada, at the nineteenth regular session commencing on the sixteenth day of January, Anno Domini, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine, that recognizing the advantages that accrue to both the States of Nevada and California by the maintenance of the Lake Tahoe Wagon Road, which offers a cheap, direct and easy means of communication between said States, affording commercial and other opportunities; and

      Whereas, A bill introduced in the Legislature of California to make a suitable appropriation for the reconstruction of the bridges and to provide for the proper maintenance of said highway, be it further

      Resolved, That we earnestly ask the support of the California State Legislature to the end that said highway may be properly repaired and maintained; and be it further

      Resolved, That the Governor of the State of Nevada be and he hereby is requested to cause a certified copy of these resolutions to be mailed to the Governor, the Senate and the Assembly of the State of California at Sacramento.

Request relative to Lake Tahoe Wagon Road

Reconstruction of bridges.

Support of California Legislature asked.

Copies to be mailed.

No. VI.–Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 3, relative to amending Section 1 of Article X of the Constitution of the State of Nevada.

[Passed March 3, 1899.]

      Resolved by the Assembly, the Senate concurring, That the Constitution of the State of Nevada be amended as follows:

      Amend Section 1 of Article X of the Constitution of the State of Nevada so as to read as follows:

      Section one.  The Legislature shall provide by law for a uniform and equal rate of assessment and taxation, and shall prescribe such regulations as shall secure a just valuation for taxation of all property, real, personal and possessory, except mines and mining claims, the proceeds of which alone shall be taxed, but the acreage of patented mining claims shall also be assessed at a valuation of ten dollars per acre, and also excepting such property as may be exempted by law for municipal, educational, literary, scientific, religious or charitable purposes.

Be amended.

The acreage of patented mining claims shall be assessed at valuation of ten dollars per acre.

Unpaid claims against the United States.

In the construction of the Government Building at Carson City.

No. VII.–Assembly Memorial and Joint Resolution relative to unpaid claims against the United States Court House and Postoffice, located in Carson City, Nevada.

[Passed March 9, 1899.]

To the Congress of the United States:

      Your memorialists, the Legislature of the State of Nevada, respectfully show:

      That the persons and firms herein named furnished, according to our information and belief, material and supplies in the construction of the United States Court House and Postoffice at Carson City, Nevada;

      That the unpaid balances now overdue on said material and supplies are as follows: To A. H. Manning of Reno, Nevada, four thousand five hundred dollars, for plumbing and material; to Bigelow & Little of San Francisco, California, nine thousand dollars, for iron, brick and other material; to Matt Callahan of Carson City, Nevada, four thousand dollars, for brick; to John Barrett of Reno, Nevada one thousand two hundred dollars, for stone and labor; to Muller, Schmitt & Co. of Carson City, Nevada, two hundred dollars for tools and supplies; to D. A. Bender of Carson City, Nevada, seven hundred dollars, for rock furnished for foundation of said building; to Frank G. Folsom of Carson City, Nevada, thirty-nine dollars and seventy-five cents, for cement and lime; to Caleb Thompson of Carson City, Nevada, thirty dollars, for supplies; to Frederick Sargent of Carson City, Nevada, fifty dollars, for drayage; to Trenmor Coffin of Carson City, Nevada, two hundred and fifty dollars; to James Atkins of Carson City, Nevada, three hundred and fifty dollars, for labor; to J. P. Meder, Carson City, Nevada, one hundred and seven and 53-100; aggregating the sum of twenty thousand four hundred and twenty-even dollars and twenty-eight cents;

      That the material and supplies herein named were furnished in good faith, upon the order of one John O’Connor, the Government contractor, and his duly authorized and legal agents;

      That the said material and supplies were used in the construction of said building, and without which it could not have been finished and occupied for Government purposes;

      That the creditors herein named, had no protection under the lien laws of the State of Nevada after the material was used in the building or placed on the ground accepted by the General Government as the site of said building;

      That said creditors know of no adequate redress at law, as the bond given by said John O’Connor, the Government contractor, is made in favor of the General Government, and does not protect those furnishing material, supplies and labor; therefore be it

      Resolved by the Assembly, the Senate concurring, That our Senators in Congress be instructed, and our Representative be requested to use all efforts and diligence before the departments and Congress to bring about a speedy settlement and payment of these claims.

      Resolved, That his Excellency, the Governor, be requested to immediately transmit a copy of this memorial and joint resolution to the Secretary of the United States Treasury, to the Supervising Architect of Government Buildings at Washington, D. C., and to each of our Senators and Representative in Congress.

Our Senators and Representative instructed.

Copies to be forwarded.

No. VIII.–Resolution relative to the First Troop of Nevada Cavalry, now stationed at Philippine Islands.

[Passed March 7, 1899.]

      Whereas, It appears that the First Troop of Nevada Cavalry, now stationed at Manila, Philippine Islands, is desirous of being discharged at their present post of duty when the Government shall have no further use for their services, with travel allowances, and

      Whereas, Nearly all of the members of the Troop are miners and prospectors, and are desirous of prosecuting a search for precious metals in our new possessions; therefore be it

      Resolved, That the Honorable Secretary of War is respectfully requested to comply with the request of our fellow-citizens now in the service of the Nation, when such services are no longer required.

      Resolved, That the Governor is hereby requested to transmit a copy of the foregoing preamble and resolutions to the Honorable Secretary of War.

Relating to Nevada Cavalry at Manila.

Nearly all members of the troop are miners and prospectors.

Desirous of being discharged.

No. IX.–Senate Joint and Concurrent Resolution.

[Passed March 4, 1899.]

      Whereas, As a consequence of the ratification of the treaty of Paris by the Senate of the United States and its expected ratification by the Spanish Government, the United States will come into possession of the Philippine Islands on the farther shores of the Pacific. The Hawaiian Islands and Guam being United States territory and forming convenient stopping places on the way across the sea, the necessity for speedy cable communication between the United States and the Philippine Islands has become imperative. Such communication should be established in such a way as to be wholly under the control of the United States in time of peace or war. At present the Philippines can be reached only by cables which pass through many foreign countries;

Relative to the building of an ocean cable between the U. S. and Philippine Islands.

By way of the Hawaiian Islands and Guam.

Senators and Representative requested.

Secretary of State to furnish copy.

the Hawaiian Islands and Guam can only be communicated with by steamer, involving delays in each instance of at least a week. The present conditions should not continue longer than is absolutely necessary. The time has now arrived when a cable in the Pacific should extend as far as Manila, touching at the Hawaiian Islands and Guam on the way. That cable should be constructed and maintained by the United States. Therefore be it

      Resolved by the Senate, the Assembly concurring, That our Senators and Representative in Congress be and are hereby requested to support such measures as will give our western islands cable communication with the main land under Government ownership and control.

      Resolved, That the Secretary of State be requested to furnish a copy of the foregoing resolution to our Senators and Representative in Congress.

To provide for the organization and incorporation of a lottery.

No. X.–Senate Concurrent Resolution relative to amending the Constitution of the State of Nevada.

[Passed March 6, 1899.]

      Resolved by the Senate, the Assembly concurring, That the Constitution of the State of Nevada be amended as follows:

      Amend section twenty-four of Article IV of the Constitution of the State of Nevada so as to read as follows:

      Section twenty-four.  The Legislature is authorized to provide for the organization and incorporation of a lottery in the State of Nevada, and to designate the amount of revenue that shall be annually paid into the State Treasury by said corporation.

The money of the Constitution.

16 to 1.

Comparative use of gold and silver.

Amount of gold and silver.

No. XI.–Senate Joint Resolution concerning the free and unlimited coinage of silver at the legal ratio of sixteen to one, regardless of the action of any foreign nation.

[Approved March 9, 1899.]

      Resolved by the Senate and Assembly conjointly, That gold and silver coins are the money of the Constitution of the United States of America, and that both metals should be equally entitled to coinage at the legal ratio of sixteen to one.

      Resolved, That gold is the money of less than twenty per cent of the population of the earth, while silver is the money of more than eighty per cent of the people of the world.

      Resolved, That according to the most reliable statistics the world’s stock of gold coin amounts to about four thousand million ($4,000,000,000) dollars and the world’s stock of silver coin amounts to about the same sum, viz: four thousand million ($4,000,000,000) dollars, making a total of gold and silver coin of about eight thousand million ($8,000,000,000) dollars. That the demonetization of silver means the destruction of one-half of the metallic money of the world, which would not only bring about universal bankruptcy, but “would ultimately entail more misery upon the human race than all the wars, pestilences and famines that ever occurred in the history of the world.”

destruction of one-half of the metallic money of the world, which would not only bring about universal bankruptcy, but “would ultimately entail more misery upon the human race than all the wars, pestilences and famines that ever occurred in the history of the world.”

      Resolved, That to strike down silver is an atrocious crime, a crime against honesty, liberty, civilization and humanity. It is the legalized robbery of the people by dishonest money-changers-the robbery of more than one-half of the property of the country, and of more than one-half of the wages of labor.

      Resolved, That it is the gold and silver of the Battle-Born State of Nevada that saved the Republic during the last Civil War by sustaining its credit; for even the danger was far less from rebel arms than from the sordid machinations of the remorseless money-changers, those human vultures who fatten on the misery of the country, no whit better than their prototypes whom the Savior scourged from the temple.

      Resolved, That the causes that led to the late Civil War were light and trivial in comparison with the dire results that must inevitably follow the suspension of silver coinage. The negro slaves laboring in the Territories of the United States could only degrade free labor to the level of slave labor in proportion to the number of slaves brought into our Territories; even if all the slaves had been brought into the free States it would have meant competition with not more than four millions of white free laborers, for that was the total number of slaves in the United States; but the American and foreign money-changers now attempt to drag down seventy millions of free Americans to the level of the “effete” East Indians, by contracting the circulating “media” to a single standard, thereby putting our seventy millions of free people in competition with four hundred million of servile East Indian rice-eaters who for many ages have been accustomed to subsist on a few cents per day. To strike down silver means cheap wheat, cheap cotton and cheap labor.

      Resolved, That it is the duty of the Government to supply a volume of money sufficient to do the business of the country. That according to statistics more than ninety-eight per cent of the business of the country is done with checks, and that of all gold, silver and currency less than two percent is used in the country’s business.

      Resolved, That to contract the volume of money circulation is a crime against honesty, justice, liberty, civilization and humanity. It is a practical confiscation of property because it lessens and almost destroys its value.

      Resolved, That we need a new Declaration of Independence which will free America from the financial thraldom of European nations and their Wall Street and National Bank allies.

Demonetization means destruction of one-half of the metallic money of the world.

An atrocious crime.

The gold and silver of Nevada.

To strike down silver means cheap wheat, cheap cotton and cheap labor.

Duty of the Government.

A crime against honesty and justice.

American should be free from financial thraldom

Strong enough to have a financial policy of its own.

Only relief lies in the free coinage of silver.

Request.

Copies to be forwarded to our Senators and Representative.

      Resolved, That this Republic is strong enough to have a financial policy of its own, which would insure to the American People all the rights, privileges and blessings which are the natural heritage of every citizen of a republic.

      Resolved, That our only relief lies in the passage and enforcement of an Act for the free and unlimited coinage of silver at the present legal ratio of sixteen to one, regardless of the action of any foreign nation.

      Resolved, That we most earnestly and respectfully request an American Congress to grant this measure of justice and relief to the distressed and plundered people of this Republic.

      Resolved, That the Governor be requested to transmit without delay an engrossed copy of this resolution, under the Great Seal of the State, to our United States Senators and to our Representative in Congress.