USA > Louisiana > The province and the states, a history of the province of Louisiana under France and Spain, and of the territories and states of the United States formed therefrom, Vol. IV > Part 32
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A Union Labor ticket with P. P. Elder as the candidate for governor, was also presented to the voters. For president the Republicans carried every county in the state, Harrison's plurality being 79,631. For governor, Humphrey received 181,318 votes; Martin, 107,822; Elder, 36,320; Botkin, 6,452. Two amend- ments to the constitution, one allowing negroes to join the mili- tia and the other regulating alien land ownership, were adopted.
In May, 1888, a farmers' "trust" convention met at Topeka. Kansas, Nebraska, Illinois, Indiana and Missouri were repre- sented. After some discussion an adjournment to meet at the same place on the fourteenth of November was taken. When the convention reassembled, representatives from every part of the Union were present. The National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry met at Topeka at the same time. Resolutions in favor of the free coinage of silver, the expansion of the circu- lating medium, and the improvement of rivers and harbors were adopted.
New industries sprang up in Kansas in 1888 from the discov- ery of rich deposits of salt in Reno and Rice counties and a fine bed of clay near Topeka, suitable for the manufacture of vitrified brick. The year was one of general prosperity.
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KANSAS, FROM HUMPHREY TO 1902.
CHAPTER VI
From Humphrey to 1902
L YMAN UNDERWOOD HUMPHREY, tenth governor of Kansas, was born in Stark county, O., July 25, 1844. When seventeen years of age, he enlisted as a private in the Seventy-sixth Ohio infantry, and before he was twenty-one was acting adjutant of his regiment. He participated in all the battles of the Vicksburg campaign, was wounded at Pittsburg Landing, and marched with Sherman to the sea. After the war he attended Mount Union College and the law department of Michigan University. He was admitted in 1868 and located at Independence, Kan., where for some time he was connected with the Kansas Tribune. In 1876 he was elected a member of the lower branch of the legislature, and the next year was elected lieutenant-governor to fill a vacancy. In 1878 he was re-elected, and in 1884 was chosen to represent his district in the state senate. He served two terms as governor, being re-elected in 1800, though by a reduced majority, owing to the Farmers' Alliance movement.
With the opening of the sixth biennial legislature, January 8, 1889, Governor Humphrey was inaugurated, Lieutenant Governor Felt was called to preside over the senate, and Mr. Booth was elected speaker of the house. On the second day of the term, a Republican caucus nominated Preston B. Plumb for re-election to the United States senate, and on the 23d he was elected senator for the third time. In response to a general demand, an anti- trust law was passed. This law declared unlawful and void "all arrangements, contracts, agreements, trusts or combinations between persous or corporations made with a view to prevent full and free competition in importation, transportation, and sale of articles imported into the state, or in the production, manu-
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facture or sale of articles of domestic growth, . . or. for the loan or use of money, or to fix attorney's or doctors' fees, insurance rates," etc. Heavy fines for violation of the law were provided. The name of Davis county was changed to that of Geary. An appropriation of fourteen thousand three hundred and sixty-seven dollars to reimburse the state officers for money advanced in 1888 to pay interest on the Quantrell raid scrip was made. An act to establish a state soldiers' home at Fort Dodge, provided congress would donate the land and buildings of the old fort, which was no longer needed for a military post, was also passed. This was subsequently done, and a home on the cottage plan was established; a school house was built, and a place where the old and infirm veterans can pass their declining years in peace and comfort, the honored guests of a grateful common- wealth, was provided. At the spring elections of 1889, the towns of Argonia, Cottonwood Falls, Roosville, Baldwin and Oskaloosa, each, elected a woman for mayor.
The census of 1890 showed an increase of 431,000 in the popu- lation of Kansas during the decade. Crops of the state were valued at one hundred and four million five hundred and seventy- two thousand five hundred dollars, and the school property of the state was valued at ten million dollars.
The corn crop of 1889 was unusually large, and at the opening of 1890 low prices for that Kansas staple prevailed. Many farm- ers refused to sell. February 8, Governor Humphrey held a con- ference with officials of the various railroads and obtained a reduction of ten per cent in rates. This had the effect of moving large quantities of corn to market, but it also started an agitation in favor of lower freights. In April 20,000 members of the Farmers' Alliance petitioned the railroad commissioners to reduce the rates from all Kansas points to the Missouri river. The commissioners published a new schedule, to take effect Sep- tember 1, in which the rates on grain were reduced about thirty- two per cent.
Sundry influences were at work in the campaign of 1890, to cloud the political horizon with uncertainties. During the year 1889, the growth of the Farmers' Alliance in Kansas and other Western states had been phenomenal. Although a social organi- zation, eschewing politics, many of the members insisted upon independent political action, and formed a new party. Besides the Alliance, there were other industrial organizations in the state, such as the Patrons of Husbandry. Knights of Labor, Farmers' Mutual Benefit Association, Single-Tax Clubs, etc. June 12,
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representatives of all these organizations met in convention at Topeka and organized the People's or Populist party. A call for a second convention at Topeka on the 13th of August, to nomi- nate a state ticket, was issued. That convention was largely attended, all parts of the state being represented. John F. Will- its was named for governor; A. C. Shinn, lieutenant-governor ; R. S. Osborn, secretary; E. F. Foster, auditor; W. H. Biddle, treasurer ; John N. Ives, attorney-general; Miss Fannie McCor- mick, superintendent, and W. F. Rightmire, supreme judge. The platform demanded the abolition of national banks; the free and unlimited coinage of silver ; the governmental ownership of trans- portation facilities; the enactment of laws to prevent dealing in options and futures ; and the prohibition of alien land ownership.
All through the year 1889 a portion of the Republican party kept up the agitation in favor of re-submitting the prohibitory amendment. The movement received quite an impetus by the "original package" decision of the United States supreme ocurt in April, 1890, in which it was held that the state had no right to restrict the importation of liqnors in the original packages. Scores of "Original package" shops were opened, and the prohibitory laws of the state were set at defiance .* The law had been declared a failure by a convention of resubmissionists at Wichita in January, when the Republican Resubmission League was organized. Upon the announcement of the decision, this league urged Governor Humphrey to call a special session of the legislature to provide for resubmitting the amendment. The governor refused the request and the league joined with the Democrats in the nomina- tion of a state ticket at Wichita, September 9. as follows: Gov- ernor, Charles Robinson ; lieutenant-governor, D. A. Banta ; secre- tary, S. G. Isett ; auditor, James Dillon ; treasurer, Thomas, Kirby ; superintendent, M. HI. Wood; supreme judge, M. B. Nicholson. For attorney-general, J. N. Ives, the Populist candidate, was endorsed. The platform advocated the resubmission of the pro- hibitory amendment ; demanded high license and local option; favored regulation of railroads by the state, and opposed all sumptuary laws.
September 3, the Republican state convention met at Topeka. The governor, lientenant-governor, secretary, attorney-general, superintendent and supreme judge ( Horton) were all renomi- nated ; and the ticket was completed by the selection of Charles M.
*Tho Imasap. of the Wilson Bill by congross, in August, 1590, deffred the right of the atale in the ez ner o of police power, and under its provision the original packago shops wore closed.
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Hovey for auditor, and S. G. Stover for treasurer. On the ques- tion of resubmission the platform was silent. The convention declared in favor of electing railroad commissioners by a vote of the people; of a uniform system of text-books in the public schools ; of a state board of arbitration; of reform in the assess- ment of property ; of weekly payment of wages, and of the pro- hibition of child labor.
A prohibition ticket with A. M. Richardson as the candidate for governor was nominated at McPherson on the fourth of July. The campaign was hotly contested. All the Republican candi- dates for state offices, except attorney-general, were elected, but by greatly reduced majorities. For governor Humphrey received 115,025 votes; Willits, 106,972; Robinson, 71,357, and Richard- son, 1,230. Of the seven congressmen two were Republicans ; one was a Populist, and four were Fusionists. The Populists elected 90 members of the legislature, the Republicans, 27, and the Dem- ocrats, 7. Two amendments, one increasing the number of supreme judges from three to seven, and the other changing the time of holding legislative sessions, were defeated.
The seventh biennial legislature met January 13, 1891. By virtue of his office, lieutenant-Governor Felt became the presi- dent of the senate, and P. P. Elder, a Populist, was elected speaker of the house. This legislature passed acts creating irrigating districts west of the goth meridian; authorizing the irrigation commissioners to issue bonds and levy taxes for their payment; prohibiting aliens from owning land in Kansas, except under certain conditions; establishing eight hours as a legal work day, and appropriating sixty thousand dollars to buy seed grain for those who lost their crops in 1800. January 28, the two houses met in joint session to elect a United States senator. W. A. Peffer, the Populist candidate, received 101 votes, John J. Ingalls, 58, Charles W. Blair, 3, scattering, 3.
William A. Peffer was born in Pennsylvania in 1831. Largely self-educated, he has achieved distinction as a lawyer, journalist and author, and was the first Kansas Populist to serve in the senate of the United States.
Encouraged by the showing made in their first political endeavor, the Populists were the first to hold a convention in 1802. They met at Wichita on the 16th of Jime, and nominated 1,. D. Lewelling for governor; Percy Daniels, lieutenant-gover- nor; R. S. Osborn, secretary ; Van Buren Prather, anditor ; W. H. Biddle, treasurer; J. T. Little, attorney-general; H. N. Gaines,
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superintendent of public instruction ; S. H. Allen, supreme judge ; and W. A. Harris, congressman at large .**
The Republican ticket was nominated at Topeka on the last day of June, and was as follows: Governor, A. W. Smith; lien- tenant-governor, R. F. Moore; secretary, W. C. Edwards ; auditor, B. K. Bruce, Jr .; treasurer, John B. Lynch; attorney-general, T. F. Garver ; superintendent, J. C. Davis ; supreme judge, D. M. Valentine.
On July 6, the Democrats met at Topeka, and, after a heated debate, voted to endorse the ticket named by the Populists in June. On the 13th of July the Prohibitionists held a convention and nominated a ticket headed by I. O. Pickering. About five hundred Democratic delegates met in convention at the capital on the 7th of October, and protested against the surrender to the Populists. The convention made no nominations, but issued an address to the people, advising them to defeat the Populist ticket. In this address the action of the Democratic convention of July 6. was referred to as "a crime without a parallel in the political history of the country."
The Populists elected their entire state ticket, the congressman- at-large, and five of the district congressmen. The electoral vote of the state was given to Gen. J. B. Weaver, the Populist candi- date for president. For governor Lewelling received 163,507 votes; Smith, 158,075; Pickering, 4,178. The proposition to hold a constitutional convention, which question had been submitted by the legislature of 1801, was defeated by 466 votes.
The death of Senator PIumh in December, 1801, left a vacancy which was filled on New Year's day, 1802, by the appointment of Bishop W. Perkins by Governor Humphrey. On the last day of March, 1892, a tornado almost completely destroyed the little town of Towanda in Butler county. Several persons were killed. Another tornado swept through Sumner and Harper counties on the 27th of May. Ten persons were killed, many more were injured, and a great deal of property was destroyed. The towns of Harper and Wellington, which were in the path of the storm, suffered the heaviest losses.
Lorenzo D. Lewelling, eleventh governor of Kansas, was born at Salem, Ia., December 21, 1846. Left an orphan in his boy- hood, he was compelled to work at any thing he could find to tlo,
*In 1891 Kan a- was given an additional representative in congress. No now district was orlabli hod, however, the eighth member being elected from the stato at. largo.
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attending school during the winter months as opportunity offered. In the early sixties he was a laborer on the Burlington and Mis- souri river railroad. Then he drove cattle for the quartermaster's department in the Army of the Tennessee, and worked with the bridge building corps about Chattanooga. In 1865 he taught a negro school, under guard, at Mexico, Missouri, being employed by the Freedmen's Aid society. He next attended a business college at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., and Whittier college at Salem, Ia., and became a teacher in the Iowa state reform school. From 1872 to 1887 he and his wife had charge of the girls depart- ment. In 1887 he removed to Wichita, Kan., and became con- nected with the Wichita Commercial. He was nominated for re-election in 1894, but, failing to secure the endorsement of the Democratic party, was defeated.
Governor Lewelling was inaugurated January 9, 1893, and on the next day the legislature met in regular session. The senate with Perey Daniels president was organized promptly, but the house failed to organize. In the senate there were 15 Republi- cans and 25 Populists ; in the house, 63 Republicans, 58 Populists and 2 Democrats. Several seats were sharply contested; and threats had been made before the beginning of the term, that neither party would be permitted to organize the house. The secretary of state refused to deliver the roll of members, certified by the state board of canvassers, until the house was organized. George I. Douglas was elected speaker by the Republicans, and J. M. Dunsmore, by the Populists. Two houses were thus organ- ized in the same hall; one consisting of 63 Republicans, and the other of 58 Populists, the two Democrats remaining neutral. Governor Lewelling and the Populist majority in the senate, not- withstanding the protests of the Republican senators, recognized the Dunsmore house as legal. January 25, the two branches met in joint session to elect a United States senator for the unexpired term of Senator Plumb. Lieutenant-Governor Daniels presided and refused to recognize the members of the Douglas house. The latter then refused to answer to the roll-call. Only ninety-one members of the two bodies responded; they were not sufficient to elect. The next move on the part of the Dunsmore house was to declare a number of Republican seats vacant and to seat eleven of the Populist contestants, which step gave them an apparent quorum. John Martin, Democrat, received 86 votes and was declares elected United States senator. The Republicans then held a joint session and cast 77 votes for Joseph W. Ady.
On the 11th of February B. C. Rich, the clerk of the Duns-
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KANSAS, FROM IIUMPIIREY TO 1902.
more house, charged with contempt, was arrested by a Republican sergeant-at-arms. It was expected that the Populists would institute habeas corpus proceedings, and thus get the question before the courts. Instead of that they rescued the prisoner and took him to the governor's office, two Republicans being knocked down in the fracas. The Populists then decided, as a measure of retaliation, to lock the Republicans out of the hall, and the gov- ernor called on Sheriff Wilkinson of Topeka to assist. Wilkin- son, who was a Republican, refused to obey the order. When the Republican members went to the capitol the next morning, they found the entrance guarded by their opponents. Rushing past the guards, they made a bolt for the hall, only to find the doors locked against them. Sledges were brought into requisi- tion, the doors were battered down, and the Populists were ejected, after which the Republicans barricaded themselves in the hall. Several companies of infantry and an artillery squad from Wichita belonging to the state militia, were ordered out by the governor. Col. J. W. Hughes was ordered to take command and clear out the state house. 1Ie refused, declaring he would resign before he would eject his friends. The heat was turned off, and the order was issued that no food should be permitted to enter the hall of the house. The Republicans were in a state of siege. Governor Lewelling appeared at the doors and asked them to abandon the hall and avoid a conflict. The answer was a decided negative. Late in the evening of the fifteenth the order regard- ing food was evaded-ropes were lowered from the windows, well-filled baskets were drawn up, and a banquet followed.
Finding he could not rely upon the militia at hand, the governor telegraphed for companies at various points in the state. Other telegrams brought hundreds of Republicans, and for a time civil war hovered over the capital. A compromise by which the Republicans were given full possession of the hall, the Populists agreeing to meet elsewhere, was reachd on the seventeenth. The governor agreed to disband the militia, Sheriff Wilkinson, to dis- miss the posse he had summoned to aid the Republicans, and no arrests were to be made by either party. Before the compromise was made, a man named L. C. Gunn, charged with refusing to obey an order of the Douglas house, had been arrested by a Republican sergeant-at-arms. This brought the case before the supreme court, which rendered a decision on the twenty-fifth that the Donglas house was the legally constituted house of represent- atives. Justice Allen, the Populist member of the court, dis- sented. The next day the members of the Dunsmore house,
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after a formal protest, took their seats in the hall, and the house was organized.
Seven weeks of the session had elapsed during this squabble, and the time for needed legislation was short. There were passed an Australian ballot law ; a law to compel employers, except rail- road companies and certain other corporations, to pay wages weekly ; a law to subinit to the people a constitutional amendment giving the right of suffrage to women, and a law appropriating sixty-five thousand dollars for an exhibit at the World's Columbian Exposition.
The legislature of 1891 adjourned without making and appro- priation for the representation of Kansas at the World's Fair. Public spirited citizens took up the matter, and the state board of agriculture issued a call for a convention to meet at Topeka, April 23, "to devise means for a Kansas exhibit." About three hundred delegates were present. A resolution to raise one hun- dred thousand dollars by voluntary contributions was adopted; a . committee of twenty-one to solicit and receive funds was appointed; and the organization of county association was recom- mended. September 16, the committee reported forty-six thou- sand five hundred and sixty dollars subscribed, part of which was paid in. A state board of managers was then elected; a site for a state building on the Exposition grounds was chosen, and Sey- mour Davis, an architect of Topeka, was employed to make plans. The building was completed and formally dedicated October 22, 1802. When the legislature of 1893 made the appropriation of sixty-five thousand dollars, a provision was also made for the appointment of a state board of managers, consisting of one mem- ber from each congressional district, and the work was turned over to this board. The state commissioners, appointed by the president, were C. K. Holliday, Jr .; R. E. Price, M. D. Henry and Frank W. Lanyon. The Kansas members of the board of lady managers were Mrs. J. S. Mitchell and Mrs. H. A. Hanback, with Mrs. Sara B. Lynch and Mrs. Jane H. Haynes as alternates. The week of September 11, 1893, was "Kansas Week." During the six days thousands of people from the "Sunflower state" visited the fair, and returned home well pleased with the showing made by Kansas. Altogether more than two hundred premiums were awarded on the exhibit.
In February, 1894, the Farmers Alliance held a convention at Topeka and passed resolutions demanding a national currency, safe, sound and flexible ; the sub treasury plan of the government loaning money direct to the people at two per cent; the free and
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KANSAS, FROM HUMPHREY TO 1902.
unlimited coinage of silver at a ratio of sixteen to one ; an increase in the volume of money to fifty dollars per capita ; a graduated income tax ; postal savings banks, and the government ownership of the means of transportation and communication. These reso- lutions became the basis of the Populist platform, adopted at the state convention of that party on the 12th of june. At that con- vention Governor Lewelling, Treasurer Biddle, Auditor Prather, Attorney-General Little, Superintendent Gaines and Congress- man-at-large Harris were renominated. D. I. Farbeck was named for lieutenant-governor; J. W. Amis, secretary, and George W. Clark, supreme judge.
The Republican convention was held at Topeka on the 6th of June. Edmund N. Morrill was the nominee for governor ; James A. Troutman, lieutenant-governor ; W. C. Edwards, secre- tary ; George E. Cole, auditor ; Otis L. Atherton, treasurer ; F. B. Dawes, attorney-general; Edwin Stanley, superintendent of pub- lic instruction ; W. A. Johnston, associate justice, and Richard W. Blue, congressman-at-large. 'The platform favored the Repub-" lican doctrine of protection ; the use of both gold and silver as standard money, and legislation for the promotion of irrigation.
In this campaign the Democrats declined to form a fusion with the Populists. On the 3rd of July Democratic delegates met at Topeka and nominated the following ticket: Governor, David Overmyer ; lieutenant-governor, Sidney G. Cooke; secretary, E. J. Horning ; auditor, W. F. Banks ; treasurer, Barney Lantry ; attor- ney-general, James Mckinstry ; superintendent, M. H. Wyckoff ; associate justice, J. D. MeCleverty; congressman-at-large, Joseph G. Lowe. The convention demanded the free coinage of silver at a ratio of sixteen to one; state legislation to secure good roads; and the repeal of all laws authorizing bonds except for public buildings and bridges on highways.
A Prohibition convention at Olathe, June 12, nominated a full ticket, with I. O. Pickering as the candidate for governor. In November the Republicans elected their entire state ticket, the congressman-at-large, six of the district congressmen, and a majority of the legislature. The vote for governor was as fol- lows: Morrill, 148,697; Lewelling, 118,329 ; Overmyer, 26,709; Pickering. 5,496. The constitutional amendment, giving women the right to vote, was defeated by a vote of 130,139 to 95,300.
The hard times of 1893 affected Kansas in common with other states. Several prominent banks failed, and numerous business concerns were forced to suspend. Many workingmen were thrown out of employment, and the "Coxey Army" was organized
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in 1894 to march to Washington and demand a redress of griev- ances. A detachment of this industrial army, under "General Sanders," was brought to Topeka by officers of the law. The men were charged with the capture of a railroad train and cited to appear for trial before the United States court at Leavenworth. The American Railway Union, an organization of railroad employes, declared a strike in the summer of 1894, in sympathy with the car-builders in the Pullman works at Chicago, and refused to handle Pullman coaches. The strike soon spread all over the West, and many railroad employes in Kansas lost their situations. Added to these troubles the year 1894 was one of drouth. Throughout the greater part of the state, the corn crop was a failure. Rains along the Arkansas river and its tributaries, in June, materially helped the crops in the southern portion. But all that occurred during the year was not disaster. The discovery of oil and gas in Wilson and adjoining counties, proved a great source of wealth, the field about Neodesha being pronounced equal to some of the oil fields of the East. The fine fire-proof library building at the state university was dedicated about this time. It was erected with the $90,000 bequest of William B. Spooner, of Boston, and is called the Spooner library.
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