History of Butler and Bremer counties, Iowa, Part 26

Author: Union publishing company, Springfield, Ill
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Springfield, Ill., Union publishing company
Number of Pages: 1316

USA > Iowa > Butler County > History of Butler and Bremer counties, Iowa > Part 26
USA > Iowa > Bremer County > History of Butler and Bremer counties, Iowa > Part 26

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Resolved, That the nomination of our present able, earnest and incorruptible Chief Magistrate, Ulysses S. Grant, for re-election to the Presl- dency of the United States, and of Henry Wilson, of Massachusetts, for Vice-President, meets our unqualified and hearty approval.

2. That we are in favor of the most rigid economy in the administration of the affairs of this State and the nation.

3. That we are opposed to any legislation, State or national, that tends to unjustly dis- criminate between individual interest and that of corporations, believing that property, whether held by individuals or corporations, should bear their equal and just portion of the public bur- dens.

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4. That we are opposed to all further grants of land to railroad or other corporations, and the public domain which is the common heritage of the people of this country should be sacredly held by the government for the use and benefit of actual and bona fide settlers.

5. That we hereby endorse the recommenda- tion of General Grant, that emigrants bc pro- tected by national legislation, and that all efforts on the part of the government of the State or nation to encourage emigration from foreign countries meet our approval; and we hereby commend the labors of the officers of the State in their efforts to encourage and secure cmigra- tion to this State.

6. That we cordially endorse the nominations made by this convention, and pledge to the nominees our hearty, active and earnest support.

A " straight " Democratic convention was held at DesMoines, September 8th, which adopted the following platform, and placed in nomination a ticket:

Resolved, That the coalition ef office hunters at Cincinnati and Baltimore, whereby Horace Greelcy, a life long, mischievous and unchanged Republican, was presented as Democratic candi- date for Presidency, merits the condemnation of every honest elector, and we repudiatc the same on behalf of the unpurchasable Democracy of the State of Iowa.

2. That, with Chas. O'Connor and the Louis- ville National Convention, we believe that Horace Greeley, above all other living Ameri- cans, is the recognized champion of the pernic- ious system of government. Intermeddling with those concerns of socicty which, under judicious laws of State enactment, should be left to individual action, and as such, he cannot consistently or safely receive the vote of any Democrat.

3. With the Louisville convention, we also believe that the principles of the dual Republi- can party, one faction of which is led by Grant and the other by Greeley, are inimical to consti. tutional free government, and hostile to the fun- damental basis of our union of co-ordinate self-

governing States, and that the policies of said dual party are iu practice demoralizing to the public service, oppressive upon the labor of the people, and subversive of the highest interests of the country.

· 4. That we will act upon the advice of said convention, and for national regeneration will form political associations, independent of either branch of said dual party, and nominate and sup- port, in the approaching fall elections, State and district candidates who are in harmony with said convention, and who are opposed to all the prin- ciples, policies and practices of said dual party; that we heartily endorse all the proceedings of the Louisville national convention, and pledge to its nominees, Charles O'Connor and John Quincy Adams, our most cordial support.

5. That the supposed availability of Horace Greeley, as a coalition candidate, upon which alone his name -found any support, having already signally failed, it becomes the duty of the Baltimore delegates to formally withdraw from the lists a name which so manifestly fore- dooms the national Democratic party, with all its hopes and aspirations, to meritable and dis- honorable defeat.

6. That the alacrity with which the Demo- cratic press of Iowa, with one honorable excep- tion, has championed the corrupt Greeley con- spiracy, presents the most scandalous defection in all our political history, amidst which the sturdy devotion to sound principle, cxhibited by the Audubon county Sentinel and the Chicago Times, is especially gratifying, and we there- fore urge upon the Democracy of Iowa a deter- mined effort to give the Times and Sentinel an extensive circulation throughout the entire State, and such other reliable Democratic jour- nals as may be hereafter established.

7. That it is the sentiment of this convention that we proceed to nominate a full O'Connor and Adams electoral ticket and substitute Demo- cratic names on the State tieket, where Repub- licans have been placed in lieu thereof, and that we suggest that where Republicans have been nominated for Congress by the so called Demo- crats and Liberals in the sevcral Congressional

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districts, that Democrats in favor of the Louis- ville nominations be substituted in their stead by the several Congressional districts.

The following State ticket was nomi- nated by the convention: Secretary of State, L. S. Parvin, who subsequently de- clined and Charles Baker was substituted; Treasurer, D. B. Beers; Auditor, J. P. Cassady; Attorney-General, A. G. Case; Register of Land Office, Dave Sheward. The following is the official vote on Sec- retary of State:

J. T. Young, Rep. . 132,359-57,862 E. A. Guilbert, Lib. and Dem. .74,497

D. B. Beers, straight Dem. 1,322

The Republican State Convention for 1873 met at DesMoines, June 25, and nominated, for Governor, C. C. Carpenter; Lieutenant - Governor, Joseph Dysart; Judge of Supreme Court, J. M. Beck; Supt. of Public Instruction, Alonzo Aber- nethy. The following platform was adopted:

The Republicans of Iowa, in mass convention assembled, make this declaration of principles: We hold the Republican party to be a political organization of those American citizens who are opposed to slavery in all its forms; who believe that all men are entitled to the same political and civil rights; who believe that all laws, State and national, should be made and administered so as to secure to all citizens, wherever born or whatever their color, creed, condition or occu- pation, the same rights before the law; who believe in free schools, free opinion and universal education; who believe that American society and the American people should all be raised to the highest possible plane of liberty, honesty, purity, intelligence and morality, and that all laws should be made aud the government con- stantly administered with this aim in view, and that no party has a right to support of the people which is not inspired with this purpose. Believ- ing that the Republican party is still controlled

by these principles, and that it is now, as it has been from its beginning, an organization of the best and purest political sentiment of the country, we, as Republicans, renew the expres- sion of our devotion to it, and our belief that we can secure through it the political reform and the just and necessary measures of legislation, and of relief from monopolies and other abuses of power which the country so much needs; therefore,

Resolved, That, proud as we are of most of the past record of the Republican party, we yet insist that it shall not rely upon its past achieve- ments; it must be a party of the present and of progress; and as it has preserved the Union, freed the slave and protected him from the oppression of the slave-master, it will now be direlict to its spirit and its duty if it does not protect all our people from all forms of oppres- sion, whether of monopolies, centralized capital, or whatsoever kind the oppressiou may be.

2. That we insist upon the right and dnty of the State to control every franchise of whatever kind it grants; and while we do not wish that any injustice shall be done to the individual or corporation who invest capital in enterprises of this kind, we yet demand that no franchise shall be granted which is prejudicial to the public interests, or in which the rights and interests of the State and the people are not carefully and fully guarded.

3. That the producing, commercial and in- dustrial interests of the country should have the best and cheapest modes of transportation possible; and while actual capital invested in such means of transit, whether by railroad or otherwise, should be permitted the right of reasonable remuneration, an abuse in their man- agement, excessive rates, oppressive discrimina- tions against localities, persous or interests, should be corrected by law, and we demand con- gressional and legislative enactments that will control and regulate the railroads of the coun- try, and give to the people fair rates of trans- portation, and protect them against existing abuses.

4. That we heartily applaud the active meas- ures of the late Congress, in ferreting out and

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exposing corruption. We have seen, with pro- found regret, in the developments made thereby, evidences of political and official corruption, aud the abuse of responsible positions by men of all political parties, to further personal ends, and we demand pure official conduct and the punishment of unfaithful public men, who, having betrayed the confidence freely extended to them, shall not be shielded from the disgrace of their acts by any partisanship of ours. and we denounce all credit mobilier transactions and all official misconduct of whatever form.

5 That we believe that whenever a person holding any position of trust given him by the people, is guilty of fraud or embezzlement, he should be convicted and punished under the criminal laws of our land, in addition to the re- covery from him or his boudsmen of the amount so embezzled.

6. That the act of the majority of the mem- bers of the last Congress, in passing what is known as the back-pay steal, by which they voted into their pockets thousands of dollars which did not belong to them, as well as the act of those who voted against the same and yet re- ceived the money, is most flagrantly improper and infamous, aud should secure the political condemuation of all who were party to it; and we demand that the provisions of the said act by which the salaries were increased, shall be promptly and unconditionally repealed.

7. That we sympathize with every movement to secure for agriculture and labor their due in- fluence, interests and rights, and the Republican party will be their ally in every just effort to at- tain that end.

8. That we are desirous of political reform, and for honesty, economy an-' purity in all offi cial administratiou; that to secure this is the duty of every citizen; that to this end every good man should feel bound to participate in politics, and to make an end to bad men forcing their election by securing a party nomination, we declare it the duty of every Republican to oppose the election of a bad and incompetent candidate, whether he be a candidate upon our own or upon any other ticket.

The question of monopolies began to agitate the people to a great extent at this time and the opposition to Republicans united under the name of anti-monopolists. An Anti-Molopolist convention was held at Des Moines, August 12th, and the follow- ing ticket nominated. Governor, Jacob G. Vale; Lieutenant-Governor, Fred. O'Donnell; Supreme Judge, B. J. Hall; Supt. of Public Instruction, D. M. Prindle. The following platform was adopted at this convention:

WHEREAS, Political parties are formed to meet public emergencies; and when they have discharged the duty which called them into being, they may become the meaus of abuse as gross as those they were organized to reform; and,

WHEREAS, Both of the old political parties have discharged the obligations assumed at their organization, and being no longer potent as instruments for the reform of abuses which have grown up in them, therefore we deem it iucon- sistent to attempt to accomplish a political reform by acting with and iu such organization; there- fore,

Resolved, That we, in free convention, do declare, as the basis of our future political action,-

2. That all corporations are subject to legisla- tive control; that those created by Congress should be restricted and controlled by Congress, and that those under State laws should be sub- ject to the control respectively of the State creating them; that such legislative control should be in expressed abrogation of the theory of the inalienable nature of chartered rights, and that it should be at all times so used as to prevent the moneyed corporations from becour- ing engines of oppression; that the property of all corporations should be assessed by the same officers, and taxed at the same rate as the pro- perty of individuals; that the Legislature of Iowa should, by law, fix maximum rates of freight to be charged by the railroads of the State, leaving them'free to compete below the rates.

HISTORY OF IOWA.

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3. That ive favor such modification of our banking system as will extend its benefits to the whole people, and thus destroying all monopoly now enjoyed by a favored few.

4. That we demand a general revision of the present tariff laws that shall give us free salt, iron, lumber, and cotton and woolen fabrics, and reduce the whole system to a revenue basis only.

5. That we will not knowingly nominate any bad man to office, nor give place to persistent seekers therefor, but will freely seek for our- selves competent officers-as heretofore, politi- cal leaders have sought office for themselves- and that we will nominate only those known to be faithful and in sympathy with these declara- tions, and will, at the polls, repudiate any candi- date known to be unfit or incompetent.

6. That we demand the repeal of the back salary law, and the return to the United States treasury of all money received thereunder by members of the last Congress and of members of the present Congress. We demand a repeal of the law increasing salaries, and the fixing of a lower and more reasonable compensation for public officers, believing that until the public debt is paid and the public burden lightened, the salaries of our public servants should be more in proportion to the awards of labor in private life.

7. That we are opposed to all future grants of land to railroads or other corporations, ard 1 elicve that the public domain should be held sacred to actual settlers; and are in favor of a law by which each honorably discharged soldier or his heirs may use such discharge in any government land-office in full payment for a quarter-section of unappropriated public lands.

8. That public officers who betray their pledges or trust are unworthy of renewed con- fidence, and those who criminally trifle with the public funds must be punished as criminals, regardless of their previous influence or the political importance of their bondsmen.

9 .. That we are in favor of a strict construc- tion of our constitution by our Supreme and other courts, and are opposed to the exercise of the doubtful powers by judicial or other officers.

10. That in the corrupt Tammany steal, the credit mobilier fraud, the congressional salary swindle and official embezzelements, and the hundreds of other combinations, steals, frauds, and swindles, by which Democratic and Repub- lican legislators, congressmen, and office-holders have enriched themselves, and defrauded the country and impoverished the people, we find the necessity of independent action and the importance of united effort, and cordially invite men, of whatever calling, business, trade, or vocation, regardless of past political views, to join us in removing the evils that so seriously affect us all.

The vote was light, and on Governor was as follows:

C. C. Carpenter, Rep . . 105, 132-24, 112

J. G. Vale, Anti-M. .81,020

An Anti-Monopoly convention was held at DesMoines, June 23, 1874, which nom- inated the following ticket and adopted the following platform: Secretary, David Morgan; Auditor, J. M. King; Treasurer, J. W. Basner; Attorney-General, J. H. Keatley; Clerk of Supreme Court, Geo. W. Ball; Reporter of Supreme Court, J. M. Weart. The following is the platform:

Resolved, That we, the delegated representa- tives of the people of Iowa, favorable to the organization of an independent political party, laying aside past differences of opinion, and earnestly uniting in a common purpose to secure needful reformus in the administration of public affairs, cordially unite in submitting these decla- rations:

1. That all political power is inherent in the people; that no government is worthy of pre- servation or should be upheld which does not derive its power from the consent of the gov- erned, by equal and just laws; that the inesti- mable right of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness should be secured to all men, without distinction of race, color or nativity; that the maintenance of these principles is essential to the prosperity of our republican institutions,

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and that to this end the federal constitution, with all its amendments, the rights of the States, and the union of the States must and shall be preserved.

2. That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the States, and especially of the right of each State to order and control its own domestic institutions according to its judg- ment exclusively, is essential to that bal- ance of power on which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric depends; and that we denounce as a criminal excess of constitutional power the policy of President Grant's administration in fostering the enormi- ties perpetrated in certain States of the Union in arbitrarily interfering with their local affairs, in sustaining therein the usurpations of aliens and irresponsible adventurers, whereby certain men have been illegally invested with official authority, and others deprived of their constitu- tional rights, oppressive laws enacted, burden- some taxation imposed, and immense and ficti- tious indebtedness created, resulting in the degradation of those States, and the general impoverishment of their people.

3. That the conduct of the present adminis- tration, in its bold defiance of public sentiment and disregard of the common good, in its prodi- gality and wasteful extravagance, in the innum- erable frauds perpetrated under its authority, in its disgraceful partiality for and rewards of un- worthy favorites, in its reckless and unstable financial policy, and in its total incapacity to meet the vital questions of the day, and provide for the general welfare, stands without a par:il- lel in our national history, and the highest con- siderations of duty require the American people, in the exercise of their inherent sover- eignty, to correct these accumulating evils, and bring the government back to its ancient land- marks, patiotism and economy.

4. That the faith and credit of the nation must be maintained inviolate; that the public debt, of whatever kind, should be paid in strict accordance with the law under which it was contracted; that an over issue of paper money being at variance with the principles of a sound financial policy, the circulating medium should

be based upon its redemption in specie at the earliest practicable day, and its convertibility into a specie equivalent at the will of the holder, and that, subject to these restrictions, it is the duty of Congress to so provide, by appropriate legislation, that the volume of our government currency shall at all times be adequate to the general business and commerce of the country, and equitably distributed among the several States.

5. That tariffs and all other modes of taxa- tion should be imposed upon the basis of rev- enue alone, and be so adjusted as to yield the minimum amount required for the legitimate expenditure of the government, faithfully and economically administered, and that taxation to an extent necessary to the accumulation of a surplus revenue in the treasury, subjects the pcople to needless burdens and affords a temp- tation to extravagance and official corruption.

6. That railroads and all other corporations for pecuniary profit should be rendered subser- vient to the public good; that we demand such constitutional and necessary legislation upon this subject, both State and national, as will effectually secure the industrial and producing interests of the country against all forms of corporate monopoly and extortion, and that the existing railroad legislation of this State should faithfully be enforced, until experience may have demonstrated the propriety and justice of its modification.

7. That while demanding that railroads bc subject to legislative control, we shall discoun- tenance any action on this subject calculated to retard the progress of railroad enterprise, or work injustice to those invaluable auxiliaries to commerce and civilization.

8. That the limitation of the Presidency to one term, and the election of President, Vice- President and United States Senators by a direct popular vote, and a thorough reform of our civil service to the end that capacity and fidelity be made the essential qualifications for election and appointment to office, are proposed reforms which meet our hearty endorsement.

9. That we demand such a modification of the patent laws of the United States as shall

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destroy the monopoly now enjoyed by the man- ufacture of agricultural and other implements of industry.

10. That the personal liberty and social rights of the citizens should not be abridged or con- trolled by legislative enactment, except in so far as may be necessary to promote the peace and welfare of society.

11. That holding in grateful remembrance the soldiers and sailors who fought our battles, and by whose heroism the nation was preserved, we insist that Congress shall equalize the boun- ties and grant to each one of them, or to his widow and children, a homestead of one hun- dred and sixty acres of land from the unappro- priated domain of the country.

12. That we desire hereafter to be known as the Independent party of Iowa, and recognizing the individual conscience of the voter as para- mount to the claims of the party, ask the co- operation of those only to whom this declaration of principles and the candidates nominated by this convention may commend themselves worthy.

The Republican convention, which con- vened July Ist, at DesMoines, put in nom- ination for Secretary of State, Josiah T. Young; Treasurer of State, Wm. Christy; Auditor of State, Buren R. Sherman; Reg- ister of State Land Office, David Secor; Attorney-General, M. C. Cutts; Judge of Supreme Court, E. J. Holmes; Reporter of Supreme Court, John S. Runnells. The following is the Republican platform:

We, the representatives of the Republican party of the State of Iowa, in convention assem- bled, do adopt the following platform of princi- ples:

Resolved, That as the policy of the Republi- can party in relation to finance, has afforded tte people not only a safe, sound and popular cur- rency, of equal and uniform worth in every portion of our common country, but has like- wise greatly improved the credit of the country at home and abroad, we point with pride to its record and accomplishments in this regard. And

while re-affirming the policy announced by the party in the national conventions of 1868 and 1872, and triumphantly endorsed by the people at the polls-a policy which, while contributing to the public credit has also enhanced the indi- vidual and collective prosperity of the American people-we favor such legislation as shall make national banking free to all, under just and equal laws, based upon the policy of specie re- sumption at such time as is consistent with the material and industrial interests of the country, to the end that the volume of currency may be regulated by the national laws of trade.

2. That we re-affirm the declaration of the Republican national platform of 1872, in favor of the payment by the government of the United States of all its obligations in accordance with both the letter and the spirit of the laws under which such obligations were issued, and we de. clare that in the absence of any express provis- ion to the contrary, the obligations of the gov- ernment when issued and placed upon the mar- keis of the world, are payable in the world's currency, to· wit, specie.

3. That under the constitution of the United States, Congress has power to regulate all "com- merce among the several States, " whether carried on by railr. ads or other means, and in the exer- cise of that power Congress may, and should, so legislate as to prohibit, under suitable ; enalties, extortion, unjust discrimination, and other wrong and unjust conduct on the part of per- sons or corporations engaged in such commerce; and, by virtue of the same constitutional power, Congress may and should provide for the im- provement of our great natural water-ways.

4. That the State has the power, and it is its duty, to provide by law for the regulation and control of railway transportation within its own limits, and we demand that the law of this State passed for this purpose at the last session of the General Assembly shall be upheld and enforced until it shall be superseded by other legislation, or held unconstitutional by the proper judicial tribunal.

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History of Butler and Bremer counties, Iowa, Part 26

Author: Union publishing company, Springfield, Ill Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Springfield, Ill., Union publishing company Number of Pages: 1316

Author: Union publishing company, Springfield, Ill
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Springfield, Ill., Union publishing company
Number of Pages: 1316