Section 4. It shall be the duty of the said Board of Text-book Commissioners to meet at the time and place mentioned in said notice and open said sealed proposals in the presence of a quorum of said Board, and in public, to select and adopt such text-books for use in the public schools as in their opinion will best subserve the educational interests of the State. The series of text-books so selected and adopted by the said Board of Textbook Commissioners shall be certified to by the Chairman and Secretary, and said certificate with a copy of all the books named therein shall be placed on file in the office of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction. Such certificate must contain a complete list of all the books adopted by the said board, giving the wholesale, retail and exchange prices for which each kind and grade will be furnished, as provided in the preceding section, and the name of the publisher agreeing to furnish same. The said books named in said certificate shall for a period of six (6) years from and after the first day of September, eighteen hundred and ninety-seven, be used in all the public schools of the state to the exclusion of all others. Section 5. The said Board of Text-book Commissioners shall have power to make such contracts and agreements with publishers as they shall deem necessary for the best interests of the public schools of the State, and shall require of all publishers contracting and agreeing to furnish books adopted by the said Board of Text-book Commissoners bonds. equal in an amount to one-half of the value of the books to be furnished, and for the faithful performance of the conditions of the said contract; Provided, that the publishers contracting with the said Board of Textbook Commissioners shall agree to give the State of Montana the benefit of any reduction that may hereafter be made in the price of any book adopted by them and during the life of said contract; Provided further, that the said Board of Text-book Commissioners may at their discretion, reject any and all proposals, if it is deemed by them to be to the interests of the State so to do, and they shall advertise for new proposals stating the time when such proposals will be received by them, not later however than thirty days from the rejection of the first proposal: Provided further, that the contract prices of such text books shall not exceed the lowest wholesale price charged for the same book in Chicago, F. O. B. to any State in the United States.

Section 6. The contract with the publishers shall take effect only when the publishers of the books adopted by said Text-book Commission shall have filed with the Secretary of State, their bond, with at least sufficient sureties, to be approved by the Governor in such sum as shall be de

termined by the said Board of Text-book Commissioners; conditioned, that they shall comply with the terms of their proposal to the State and such further conditions as may be agreed upon between the said Board of Text-book Commissioners and the publishers contracting with the State.

Section 7. In case the publishers of the books adopted by said Board of Text-book Commissioners shall not, on or before the first day of July, A. D. eighteen hundred and ninety-seven, have filed with the Secretary of State their bond as hereinbefore provided, or in case they shall not on or before the first day of July, A. D. eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, have performed all the obligations of their bonds, with respect to the exchange and introduction of books, and the preparation and supply of the special map and special descriptive matter for the Geography so adopted, or the special supplement for the civil government, or in case they shall at any time thereafter violate or fail to perform any of the conditions specified in their bond as hereinbefore provided, and shall fail within a reasonable time after due notice shall have been given them by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction to make good their guarantee in any respect in which they may have failed, then this adoption shall become null and void. The said text-books adopted by the said Text-book Commission under this Act, and upon compliance by the publishers of the conditions aforesaid shall continue in use for the period of six (6) years from the first day of September eighteen hundred and ninety-seven, to the exclusion of all others, and until otherwise provided by Statute.

Section 8. Whenever the publishers of the books adopted under the provision of this bill shall have filed their bond, as hereinbefore provided for, it shall be the duty of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction to cause all prices of the text-books as guaranteed by the publishers to be properly printed and distributed through the county superintendents to the trustees of all school districts in the State who shall cause the same to be kept constantly posted in a conspicuous place in each school room in their district, and it shall be the duty of the several county superintendents to keep themselves informed as to whether such prices are actually maintained by the said publishers.

Section 9. Any school officer, teacher or trustee who shall use or provide for the use in any of the public schools of the State, of text-books other than those adopted by the said State Board of Text-book Commissioners shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor.

Section 10. All county Superintendents and school officers are charged with the execution of this law, and the County School Superintendents

shall require the trustees of the several school districts, or the clerks thereof, to report annually whether or not the authorized text-books are used in their schools.

Section 11. Upon petition of ten (10) legal voters of any school district other than in incorporated cities, and upon petition of one hundred (100) legal voters in incorporated cities, towns and villages filed with the Board of Trustees or Board of Education, as the case may be, fifteen days preceding a regular annual election of trustees or members of the Board of Education, it shall be the duty of the Board of Education or the School Trustees, as the case may be, to notify the voters of such school district that an election "for" or "against" free text-books will be held at next ensuing election for members of the Board of Education or School Trustees, and the ballots to such effect shall be received and canvassed at such election; and if a majority of all the votes cast in the district shall be found. by such vote to be in favor of free text-books, it shall be the duty of the trustees or Board of Education, as the case may be, to purchase at the expense of such school district all the text-books required for the use of the pupils attending school in such school district; and such text-books shall be loaned to the pupils of said public school, free of charge, subject to such rules and regulations as to care and custody as the Board of Educa tion or School Trustees may prescribe; Provided that, pupils may purchase at cost any of the text-books so furnished, when desired by them.

Section 12. That for the purpose of raising money to pay for school books which may be furnished to pupils free by any district adopting free text-books a special levy on the taxable property of said district shall be made by the County Commissioners of the County on estimates furnished by the school trustees of the district, if the money received from the district from the general fund be insufficient, and said levy shall be made within thirty days from, and after the adoption of said free text-books in any district that has by majority vote adopted the same and when so made the tax so levied shall be collected in the same manner as other taxes are collected.

Section 13. The said Board of Text-book Commissioners provided for by this act, except the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Attorney General, President of Agricultural College, President of University of Montana, shall receive the sum of six dollars per diem for each day necessarily engaged in transacting business, and while in session, and ten cents per mile each way for each mile necessarily traveled, and there

is hereby appropriated the sum of one thousand dollars ($1,000), or so much thereof as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act. Section 14. All acts and parts of acts in conflict with the provisions of this Act, be and the same are hereby repealed.

Section 15. This Act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage and approval.

"An Act to further protect underground miners."

Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the State of Montana:

Section 1. It is the duty of any person, company or corporation, who shall have sunk on any mine a vertical or incline to a greater depth than one hundred feet, and who shall have the top of such shaft or hoisting opening covered or enclosed by a shaft or building which is not fire-proof, and who shall have drifted on or along the vein or veins thereof, a distance of two hundred feet or more, after cross cutting to the same, and shall have commenced to stope, to provide and maintain to the hoisting shaft or the opening through which men are let into or out of the mine and the ore is extracted, a separate escapement shaft, raise, or opening, or an underground opening or communication between every such mine and some other contiguous mine, provided, that in case such contiguous mine belongs to a different person, company, or corporation, the right to use the outlet through such contiguous mine, in all cases when necessary, or in cases of accident must be secured and kept in force. Where such an escapement shaft or opening shall not be in existence at the time that stoping is commenced, work upon such an escapement shaft or opening must be commenced as soon as stoping begins and be diligently prosecuted until the same is completed, and said escapement shaft, raise or opening shall be continued to and connected with the lowest workings in the mine. The exit, escapement shaft, raise, or opening provided for in the foregoing paragraphs must be of sufficient size as to afford an easy passage way, and if it be a raise, or shaft, must be provided with good and substantial ladders from the deepest workings to the surface. Whenever the exit or outlet herein provided for is not in a direct or continuous course, sign

boards plainly marked showing the direction to be taken must be placed at each departure from the continuous course.

Section 2. This Act shall apply only to quartz mines in which nine or more men are employed underground, and shall not apply to mines not actually extracting ores, by stoping, nor to mines in which the shaft or hoisting opening, or hauling way is not covered by a shaft house, and has no building structure within thirty (30) feet of the shaft or opening, nor to mines in which the hoisting shaft or opening shall be covered by or enclosed in a fire-proof shaft or building.

Section 3. The penalty for violating any of the provisions of the preceding Section is the same as provided in Section 705 of the Penal Code.

Section 4. All Acts and parts of Acts in conflict with this Act are hereby repealed.

Section 5. This Act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.

Approved March 1st, 1897.

HOUSE BILL NO. 22.

An Act Regulating the hours of labor of Hoisting Engineers and fixing the penalties for violation thereof.

Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the State of Montana:

Section 1. It shall hereafter be unlawful for any engineer or other person to run or operate for more than Eight hours in twenty-four hours, any first motion or direct acting hoisting engine, in use in any mine, or to run or to operate for more than said length of time any geared or indirect hoisting engine at any mine in which fifteen or more men are employed underground.

This Act shall only apply to such plant or plants as are in operation sixteen or more hours in twenty-four hours.

Section 2. It shall hereafter be unlawful for any mine owner, iessee, company or corporation, operating or conducting any mine, to hire or employ any engineer or other person to run or operate for more than eight hours in twenty-four hours, any first motion or direct acting hoisting engine in use at any mine. Or to hire or employ any engineer or other person to run or operate any geared or indirect acting hoisting en