USA > Iowa > Hardin County > History of Hardin county, Iowa, together with sketches of its towns, villages and townships, educational, civil, military and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens > Part 29
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1. The general government alone to issue money; the amount in circulation to be fixed by a constitutional amendment upon a per capita basis; calling in of all United States bonds, and the payment of them in full legal-tender money.
2. That the national banks, as banks of issue, must be abolished by law, and the legal tender greenback money of the government of the United States shall be substituted for their cir- culation.
3. That we demand the unlimited coinage of the silver dollar of the present standard weight and fineness.
4. That the American people owe a debt of gratitude to the Union soldiers that can never be fully paid, and in recognition of their patri- otic services we endorse the arrearages of pen- sions, and favor the passage of a bill providing for the equalization of bounties similar to the one vetoed by ex-President Grant.
5. That we view with grave apprehension the continued oppression of the people by cor- porate powers; and while we execrate the inhu- man treatment of the Union soldiers in prison
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pens of the South during the rebellion, we con- demn the violence of partisan spirit in the legisla- tive halls of Congress, which seeks to revive the dead issue of the past while conspiring against and deliberately refusing to provide measures of relief adequate to the living necessities of the present.
6. That it is the right and duty of all qualified electors of any State in the Union to vote accord- ing to their conscientious convictions, and to have that vote honestly and fairly counted; aud that any attempt to interfere with that right, either by threats of bands of armed men or the use of troops at the polls, or by fraud in con- ducting the election, or bribery in making out the returns, or by threats to dismiss from service, or any other meaus by which that right is abridged, is a crime that should be severely punished.
7. That the office-holders of our country are the servants and not the masters of the people, and that these officers should be removed aud punished to the full extent of the law whenever they betray the public trust confided to them; and we demand that all official fces and salaries, commencing with the President, should be re- duced from twenty-five to fifty per cent .; and we further demand the strictest economy in the administration of our courts of justice, and in all other federal and State officers.
8. That we highly commend the moral re- form of men and the elevation of families by agencies of the temperauce cause, and demand the use of all just and legal means for the sup- pression of the evils of intemperance.
9. That all real estate be assessed to the owner, and the tax thereon be paid by him, pro- vided, that in case there is a mortgage or ven- dor's lien upon the land, and he pays the whole tax, that he may deduct, as payment on said lien, the pro rata share of the tax.
10. That the revenue law of the State shall be amended so that the penalty or iuterest on the sale of delinquent taxes should not exceed the sum of ten per cent. per annum, and that the time of redemption shall be extended to a teim of five years.
11. We favor the repeal of the present rail- road commissioners' law, and the adoption of a suitable legislative action to reduce and equalize freight
12. That the prison convict labor shall never come iu competition with free labor, by the contract system, under any namc.
Resolved, That we approve the bold and inde- pendeut stand taken by our Greenback repre- sentatives in Congress; and we especially endorse the conduet of Messrs. Weaver and Gillette in their conduct with the combined opposition of both old parties.
2. That the nominees of this convention are the candidates of the Greenback party of Iowa, and in no case will we recognize the right of any person or persons to alter or change the ticket here nominated, except to fill vacancies oeca- sioned by death, in which case the central com- mittee shall not place on the ticket the names of any person or persons who are identified with either of the old parties.
The Republicans assembled at Des Moines, June 11, and nominated the fol- lowing ticket: Governor, John H. Gear; Lieutenant-Governor, Frank T. Campbell; Supreme Judge, J. M. Beck; Supt. of Public Instruction, C. W. Von Coelln. A platform was adopted as follows:
1. That the United States of America is a nation, not, a league. This is the doctrine of the constitution, confirmed by the result of the war of the rebellion. The Democratic party denies this, and opposes to it the doctrine of State rights, which includes the power of a State to dissolve its connection with the Union, therefore it is dangerous to the national life to trust it to the Democratic party.
2. Upon the foregoing doctrine of nationality depends the power of the republic to protect its citizens in all other rights, both at home and abroad, and from its denial by the Democratic party have resulted the barbarous outrages per- petrated on citizens in all of the disturbed sec- tions of the Southern States, and redress can be
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had alone through the administration of public affairs in the several departments of the govern- ment by the Republican party.
3. We denounce the attempt of the Demo- cratic party in Congress to render the federal elections insecure by the repeal of the election laws of the United States as dangerous to a free and pure expression of the voice of the people through the ballot-box, and as tending to subject said elections to the dominations of the bull- dozing elements of the Southern States, and of repeaters and promoters of fraud in the city of New York and elsewhere, and the resistence made to the accomplishment of this result by the Republican Senators and Representotives in Congress, and by President Hayes in his veto messages, is accorded our profound commenda- tion.
4. That we approve of the financial policy of the Republican party, and refer with pride to its results. The Southern Democratic rebellion for the perpetuation of slavery and the enforcement of State rights forced an enormous interest- bearing debt upon the people, which, in August, 1865, reached its highest point, and then amounted to $2,381,530,294.96, requiring an an- nual interest payment of $150,977,697.87. On the 1st of August next, when the Republican refunding operations will be completed, this Democratic debt will be reduced to $1,797,643, - 700.00, with an annual interest charge of but $83,778,777.50, showing a reduction in the prin- eipal of $583,886,594.96, and of the annual interest charge of $57,203,619.37; and we declare this debt shall be honestly paid in honest money, and to this end are in favor of keeping our.coin circulation at its largest practicable volume, and of maintaining our paper currency where the Republican party has placed it-at par with eoin; and to the further end that the dollar earned by labor shall be worth as much as the dollar earned by capital.
5. Concerning further financial legislation, we say, let us have peace, undisturbed by Con- gressional tinkering, that our business interests may revive, investments of more idle capital be .encouraged, commercial interests fostered, and the general welfare promoted.
6. The profit arising from the coinage of gold and silver should inure to the benefits of the government, and not to the advantage of private owners of bullion, as this tends to diminish the burdens of the tax-payers, and no part of the tax-paying currency should be converted into the new tax-paying list.
7. We favor a wisely-adjusted tariff for rev- enue.
8. We demand a strict economy in the impo- sition of public taxes and expenditures of pub- lic money, and such just reduction and equali- zation of the salaries and fees of public officers as shall place them on an equality with like po- sitions in private employment.
9. That we renew our expression of profound gratitude to the soldiers and sailors of the Union, and denounce the removal of employees of this class by the Democrats in Congress, and the ap- pointment, in their stead, of members of the Confederate army.
10. That we re-affirm the position of the Re- publican party heretofore expressed upon the subject of temperance and prohibition.
The vote on Governor was as follows :
John H. Gear, Rep. 157,571
H. H. Trimble, Dem. 85,056
F. T. Campbell, Gr. 45,438
D. R. Dungan, Temp 3,258
Gear, over all. . 23,828
The campaign of 1880 was an exciting one. James A. Garfield was the Repub- lican candidate for the Presidency; Win- field S. Hancock, the Democratic; James B. Weaver, the Greenback; Neal Dow, the Prohibition. The Republicans of Iowa were first in the field this year, meeting in convention at DesMoines April 7th, and nominating for Secretary of State, J. A. T. Hull; Treasurer, E. H. Conger; Auditor, W. V. Lucas; Attorney-General, Smith McPherson; Register of State Land Office, J. K. Powers. They also resolved-
1. That we insist on the nomination of well- known Republicans of national reputation for
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ability, purity and experience in public affairs, and adhesion to Republican princip les, for Pres- ident and Vice-President of the United States, by the National Republican Convention.
2. That, as Republicans of Iowa, recognizing in the Hon. James G. Blaine a man of tried in- tegrity, of uncompromising loyalty and patriot- ism, of commanding ability both as a leader and statesman, and a fearless advocate of the prin- ciples which have preserved the Union and given undying luster to the party of which he is the admired representative, we take pleasure in re- cording the fact that he is the preference of the Republicans of Iowa for the office of President of the United States. And while we pledge our- selves to support the nominee of the Chicago convention, we nevertheless declare it is our conviction that no other candidate will develop the enthusiasm or call out the number of votes that would be polled by the American people for James G. Blaine, as the standard-bearer of the Republican party in the national contest of 1880.
3. That the delegation of this convention to Chicago be instructed to cast the vote of Iowa as a unit; and that the delegation be further in- structed to use all honorable means to secure the nomination for President of the Hon. James G. Blaine.
The Greenback party assembled in con- vention May 19th, at Des Moines and nominated Secretary of State, G. M. Wal- ker; Treasurer of State, Matthew Farring- ton; Auditor of State, G. V. Swearengen; Attorney-General, W. A. Spurrier; Register of State Land-Office, Thos. Hooker. The following is the platform adopted :
We, the National Greenback Labor Party of Iowa, decide, as our first broad principle of faith, that that which is created is subservient to the power that created it.
Resolved, That all currency, whether metallic or paper, necessary for use aud convenience of the people, should be issued and coutrolled by the government, and not by or through the bauk corporations of the country; and when so issued
shall be a full legal tender for the payments of all debts, public and private.
2. That so much of the interest bearing debt of the United States as shall become redeemable in the year 1881, or prior thereto, being in amonnt $782,000,000, shall not be refunded beyond the power of the government to call in said obligations and pay them at any time, but shall be paid as rapidly as possible, and accord- ing to contract. To enable the government to meet these obligations, the mints of the United States should be operated to their full capacity in the coinage of standard silver dollars, and such other coinage as the business of the country may require.
3. That as the produeing classes are now enslaved by interest-bearing debt, therefore we are unalterably opposed to all bonded indebted- ness.
4. That the payment of the boud in coin, originally payable in lawful money, was a gift to the bond-holder, and the payment of the soldiers in paper, when by coutraet payable in coin, was and is an unjust discrimination in favor of the bondholder; therefore, wc demand, in justice to the soldier, that he be paid accord- ing to contract.
5. That we are opposed to the importation of Chinese semi-barbarous labor, regarding it as a paralyzing and degrading system, that will, unless checked, undermine American free labor.
6. That we demand the immediate passage by Congress of a law for the equalization of soldiers' bounties similar to the one vetoed by President Grant.
7. That the right of suffrage, free press and speech, are the inalienable rights of every citi- zen of the United States.
8. That we denounce the discrimination between government clerks and government laborers, the clerks working six hours and the laborers ten hours.
9. That we are opposed to a large standing army, either national or State, in times of pro- found peace, eating out the substance of the people.
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10. That we will continue to agitate the sub- ject of reform in this State, until official salaries shall bear a just proportion to the incomes of the people who pay them.
11. That the last legislature of our State, in failing to pass the innocent purchaser bill, the bill to reduce court expenses, the bill to protect the destruction of sheep from the ravages of dogs, the bill to cut down our tax penalties, the bill to reduce the rate of interest, have neglected the best interests of the State, and ought to be turned ought of power.
12. That the State should not sell contract labor to compete with free labor.
13. That as citizens of Iowa we feel proud of, and extend our heartfelt gratitude to Messrs. Weaver and Gillette, for their noble and untir- ing efforts in the halls of Congress to secure the rights of the worthy toiling millions.
14. That we, as the National Greenback Labor Party, know no North, no South, no East, no West.
15. That all banks of issue and all monopolies must go.
The Democrats met at Des Moines, Sep- tember 2d, and nominated a ticket as fol- lows: For Secretary of State, A. B. Keith; Treasurer, Martin Blim; Auditor, Chas. I. Barker; Attorney-General, C. A. Clark; Register of State Land-Office, C. A. Dougherty. They also resolved:
1. We, the Democracy of Iowa, in delegate convention assembled, endorse the platform of the party adopted at Cincinnati, and pledge our earnest efforts in its behalf.
2. The Democracy of Iowa are heartily in favor of the national nominees, Hancock and English, as they give a decided assurance of pure and more thoroughly careful admistration of national affairs.
3. We are in favor of a judicious license law, and condemn all efforts to legislate against those natural rights which do not trespass upon those belonging to the whole community, and we applaud the action of our representatives at
DesMoines in the Eighteenth General Assembly for their manly and able opposition to the at- tempt at sumptuary legislation made by a Re- publican legislature.
The vote on Secretary of State stood as follows:
J. A. T. Hull, Rep. 184,166
A B. Keith, Dem. 105,760
G. M. Walker, Gr. 32,780
Scattering 422
Hull over all. ----- 45,204
In the campaign of 1881, the first con- vention held was by the Democrats, at DesMoines, June 16. They nominated for Governor, L. G. Kinne; Lieutenant- Governor, J. M. Walker; Judge of Su- preme Court, H. B. Hendershott; Supt. of Public Instruction, W. H. Butler. The convention adopted the following plat- form:
The Democratic party of Iowa, in convention assembled, re-affirm the national platforms of 1876 and 1880, demand strict economy in all public expenditures, a strict accountability of all public servants, and declares-
1. For tariff reform, ultimating in simpler revenue system, with commercial freedom as its issue.
2. That we oppose all sumptuary laws, and the proposed prohibitory amendment to the constitution in all it steps and stages as the most offensive form of sumptuary regulation.
3. That the great agricultural and producing interests of the country should be emancipated from the burdens of monopoly put upon them by Republican rule, and as a feature of such relief, for the cheapening of transportation by government appropriations for improvement of the Mississippi river, its navigable tributaries and other water-ways.
4. That we execrate the constant official cor- ruption grown into Republican practice, and that the demand of our national platform for civil service reform is freshly emphasized by the immoral spectacle of Republican factions dis-
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turbing the public peace, not by the agitation of great measures of statesmanship, but by a vulgar quarrel over the partition of public spoils, and a squabble for the opportunities of official theft.
The Greenback convention was held at Marshalltown, June 2, and the following ticket nominated: Governor, D. M. Clark; Lieutenant-Governor, James M. Holland; Supt. of Public Instruction, Mrs. A. M. Swain; Supreme Judge, W. W. William- son. The following platform was adopted by the convention :
1. The right to makc and issue money is a sovereign constitutional power to be maintained by the people for the common benefit. We de- mand the abolition of all banks of issue, and the substitution of full legal tender greenbacks in lieu of their notes.
2. We oppose the refunding of the national debt or the issue of interest-bearing non-payable bonds upon any pretext, and demand the pay- ment and destruction of those outstanding at the earliest possible moment.
3. Wc demand a gradual income tax, where- by capital shal! bear a just share of the public burden.
4. Wc regard the act substituting a railroad commission for laws governing freight rates in the State as a fraud secured by the railroad companies through a Republican legislature, and demand its repeal. While we favor liberal na- tional appropriations for the creation and im- provement of water ways, we demand laws protecting the people of Iowa from discrimina- tion, pooling, watering of stock, drawbacks or rebates, and all unjust charges on the part of railroads, until such time as the people, who built most of these roads with land grants, taxes and subsidics, shall own and operate or fully control them.
5. We demand a revision of our patent right laws, placing a fair limit upon the royalties of inveutors, and protecting the people from injus- tice.
6. We demand that all land grants forfeited by reason of the non-fulfillment of conditions by
railroad companies shall be at once reclaimed by the government, and henceforth that the public domain be reserved exclusively for homesteaders or actual settlers.
7 .. We demand absolutely Democratic rules for the government of Congress and State legis- latures, placing all representatives of the people upon an equal footing, and taking from all com- mittees a veto power upon proposed legislation
8. We deuounce as most dangerous the re- strictions of the right of suffrage in many States, and its abolition in the District of Col- umbia, and demand equal political rights for all men and women.
9. Believing that all questions affecting the public interest should be decided by the people, we favor the submission of the proposed consti- tutional amendment to the popular vote.
10. We demand that all ballots in this State shall be of uniform size, color and material, and that each party having a State organization shall have oue member on the election board of each towuship preciuct.
11. We favor the abolition of the electoral college, and the election of President, Vice- President and Senators of the United States by a direct vote of the people.
12. In the furtherauce of these ends, we ask the co-operation of all men and women, without regard to previous party affiliatiou or prejudice.
The Republicans met at DesMoines, June 7, and nominated the following ticket: Governor, Buren R. Sherman; Lieutenant-Governor, Orlando H. Man- ning; Supt. of Public Instruction, John W. Akers; Judge of Supreme Court, Austin Adams. The convention also adopted the following platform:
We, the representatives of the Republican party of Iowa, demand anew of the people of the State their fullest confidence and support, because of the faithfulness of the party, in the State and in the natiou, to party pledges; bc- cause of the marvelous devotion it has shown in support of the Uuion; because of its abhorrence
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of slavery and polygamy, and of its successful efforts to crush the one, and of its persistent struggle to get rid of the other, sure to go on to its final extirpation; because of its active inter- est in the relief of struggling and oppressed humanity everywhere; because of its determin- ation to abolish all inequalities of citizenship, to give all men of all races and nationalities in this laud equality of civil and political rights; be- cause of its efforts to establish temperance, to educate the people and build up all moral forces; because it has beeu earnest in its efforts toward honest and economical government, and has been swift to correct abuses when it has discov- ered them; because it has steadily maintained the financial honor of the nation, is rapidly dis- charging its great war debt, and has made the recent financial history of the government the marvel of nations; because it has protected the labor of the country, and built up its agricultu- ral and manufacturing interests, and promoted the means of internal commerce by judicial leg- islation; because it is positive and progressive, and will, in the future, as in the past, prove its capacity to grapple promptly and successfully with every cmergency of the nation, and with every question affecting the people's interests; and, finally, because it will secure a complete and lasting unification of the country, entire peace and concord, upou the statute basis of free schools, free speech, a free press and a free ballot.
In the spirit of the purpose that has redeemed former pledges and produced these results, the Republican party of Iowa resolves-
1. We re-affirm the Republican national plat- form of 1880, and insist upon its enforcement in its relation to the several affairs of the nation, the States and the Territories, in order that sound policies shall prevail in the nation, and ample protection be afforded to its citizens in all of their rights of citizenship in the several States; and that the territories be made as abso- lutely free from the debasing presence and per- nicious influences of polygamy as the States now are of slavery.
2. We congratulate this country upon the election of James A. Garfield, and the national
adminstration upon the vigorous manner in which it has undertaken to ferret out fraud and suppress extravagance in public expenditures, to secure the personal and commercial rights of our people abroad, to deal justly with the Indiau wards of the government, and upon the con- spicuous success of its financial policy.
3. That we are in hearty sympathy with the spirit of recent conventions for supplementing and improving the great water routes of the nation, and cordially endorse all measures which look toward a practical and judicious improve- ment of the magnificent water-ways which nature has afforded us for cheaply transporting the immense commerce of the States, and therefore developing the immense resources of the interior of our national domain.
4. That we recognize railways as one of the most potent agencies in our national progress, but one which by reason of its relation to the people, must be keptsubordinate to the interests of the people, aud within the legislative control of Congress and the State. That in the spirit of its usefulness, it must be dealt with in fairuess and without injustice. But we are in accord with the popular demand, that the unquestion- able legislative power shall be used to protect the people from any abuse and unjust exactions.
5. That the plenary power of Congress over the subject of patent, should be so exercised as to protect the people against the wrongs and abuses which have been developed and are practiced under the present system of laws relating to patent rights, and we ask our senators and repre- sentatives in Congress, to lend their best efforts to the accomplishment of this end.
6. That the position attained in our com- merce by American meats and live animals, demand the enactment of effective legislation by both the nation and the States, for the sup- pression of such diseases as are calculated to interfere with this important feature of our foreign trade.
7. That in pursuance of the uniform justice of the Republican party to observe the pledges and perform the promises made and given in its platform, we declare that the provisions in the
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platform of 1879, for the submission of the so-called prohibitory amendment of the con- stitution of Iowa, to a vote of the people at a speeial and non-partisan election should be enforced, in order that the good faith of the party may be maintained, and that the people
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