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CHAPTER VI
When Hayes became President, George W. McCrary of
Iowa, who was the author of the plan adopted by Congress for the
peaceful settlement of the contested election for President, was
invited into the Cabinet and became Secretary of War. John A.
Kasson of Iowa, was appointed Minister to Austria-Hungary.
The financial conditions of the State of Iowa at the
end of the year 1877 was not satisfactory. The appropriations of
the Sixteenth General Assembly had been so large that there were
outstanding warrants to the amount of $267,776. 31, making a
floating debt of $340,826 or $90,000 in excess of the constitutional
limit. Besides, there was a funded debt of $543,065.15. The total
amount of taxes was $10,699,762.39. The amount of interest
collected and apportioned among the schools for the two years was
$559,981.59.
The Home for Soldiers' Orphans at Cedar Falls was
closed in June, 1876, and the children transferred to the home at
Davenport where there were now one hundred thirty-nine inmates.
The canal which had been in course of construction
by the General Government around the rapids of the Mississippi above
Keokuk was formally opened in August, 1877. It was seven and a half
miles in length, three hundred feet wide and had three locks each
three hundred fifty feet long. It cost $4,281,000 and it was
estimated that $100,000 additional would be required to complete it.
During Governor Kirkwood's third term an important
decision was rendered upon an act of his, by the State Supreme
Court. A convict in the penitentiary by the name of R. D. Arthur
was serving a sentence of ten years for larceny. His mother and
sister living in Fayette County, prevailed upon the Governor to
grant him a conditional pardon after three years of his term had
expired. The conditions upon which the Governor consented to
release him were as follows: first, abstinence from the use of
intoxicating liquors as a beverage; second, the use of all proper
exertions for the support of his mother and sister; third, that he
should not violate any of the criminal laws of the State. By the
terms of the pardon the Governor was to be the judge of the
violation of these conditions. The stipulations which were signed
by Arthur accepted all of the conditions with the agreement that if
he violated any one of them he was liable to be arrested and
re-imprisoned for the full unexpired term of his sentence. The
conditions were violated, the Governor caused a warrant to be issued
for Arthur's arrest and he was recommitted to the penitentiary. The
prisoner sued out a writ of habeas corpus and was brought before the
District Court of Lee County to test the legality of his
re-imprisonment. Two points were raised on demurrer to the writ.
First, that the Governor could not grant a conditional pardon.
Second, that the violation of the conditions could only be
determined by judicial investigation and not by the Governor. The
District Court held that the points were well taken and the prisoner
was discharged. An appeal was taken to the Supreme Court and the
decision of the District Court was reversed. The course taken by
the Governor was sustained and a precedent established which has
been followed by Governors since, conditional pardons being not
uncommon. In many cases the offender becomes thus thoroughly
reformed and continues to remain a law abiding citizen.
Governor Kirkwood resigned the executive office on
the 1st of February, 1877, to take his seat in the United States
Senate and was succeeded by Lieutenant-Governor Joshua G. Newhold
who entered upon the discharge of the duties on the 1st of February.
The Republican State Convention met at Des Moines on
the 28th of June, 1877, and nominated John H. Gear for Governor;
Frank T. Campbell for Lieutenant-Governor; James G. Day for Judge of
the Supreme Court, and C. W. Van Coelln for Superintendent of Public
Instruction. Among the declarations of special interest made in the
platform were the following:
"We declare it to be the solemn obligation of
the legislative and executive departments of the Government to put
into immediate and vigorous exercise all of their constitutional
powers for the removal of any just cause of discontent on part of
any class and for securing to every American citizen complete
liberty and exact equality in the exercise of all civil, political
and public rights. To this end we imperatively demand of Congress
and the Chief Executive a courage and fidelity to these duties which
shall not falter until their results are placed beyond dispute or
recall.
The silver dollar having been the legal unit
of value from the foundation of the Government until 1873, the law
under which its coinage was suspended should be repealed at the
earliest possible day and silver made with gold a legal tender for
the payment of all debts, both public and private. We also believe
that the present volume of the legal tender currency should be
maintained until the wants of trade and commerce demand its further
contraction.
We favor a wisely adjusted tariff for
revenue.
We are in favor of the rigid enforcement of
our present prohibitory liquor law and any amendment thereto that
shall render its provisions more effective in the suppression of
intemperance."
A resolution expressing confidence in the ability
and integrity of President hayes and approving of his southern
policy, was defeated.
The noticeable action of this convention was strong
opposition to the President's conciliatory policy in dealing with
the late Confederate States, especially Louisiana. The election for
Governor in that State at the time of the Presidential election had
resulted in the choice of the Hayes electors by a majority of 2,931,
Stephen B. Packard the Republican candidate for Governor received a
majority of 3,426 at the same election. The Democrats claimed that
the State had given a majority of 7,876 for the Tilden electors and
a majority of 8,010 for Nichols, the Democratic candidate for
Governor. There were two Legislatures also claiming to be elected.
The Republican Legislature had met and declared Packard elected
Governor and the Democratic Legislature had met and recognized
Nichols as the legally elected Governor. A consional committee,
which had been sent to Louisiana to investigate, had reported on a
strictly partisan basis; the Republican members reporting that
Packard had been legally elected and the Democrats reporting in
favor of Nichols. After Hayes was inaugurated he also sent a
commission to investigate the situation. It appeared that during
the conflict over the decision of Congress, as to who was the legal
President, two influential friends of Hayes and also two friends of
Tilden had come to a secret agreement, apparently by authority of
Hayes, that if the Democratic House of Representatives would make no
determined opposition to the seating of Hayes as President, his
administration would in return acknowledge the legality of the
election of Nichols the Democratic claimant for Governor and his
Legislature, which would elect a Democrat to the United Stares
Senate from Louisiana. In compliance with this understanding
President Hayes sent a commission to Louisiana which so manipulated
the affair that a sufficient number of the members of the Packard
Legislature were persuaded to go over to the Nichols Legislature to
give it a quorum. The commission then reported in favor of the
Nichols government, President Hayes recognized it and ordered the
withdrawal of the United States troops leaving everything in the
control of the Nichols party. Great indignation was felt by a vast
majority of Republicans throughout the country at this surrender by
the Hayes Administration of the rights of his own party in Louisiana
through whom he was made President. A member of Grant's cabinet
expressed the prevailing opinion of the mass of the Republican party
when it was first rumored that such a compromise was contemplated by
Hayes, saying: "President Hayes would impeach his own title were he
to refuse Governor Packard recognition." The Iowa Republicans were
indignant over this surrender and the compromise which brought it
about and so expressed themselves in this first State Convention
held after its accomplishment.
The declaration of the State Convention in favor of
the prohibitory law and its rigid enforcement was a radical
departure from the position of neutrality which the Republican party
had up to this time maintained. Its emphatic declaration in favor
of the restoration of the coinage of silver as legal tender for
payment of all debts was undoubtedly in accord with the prevailing
sentiment of a large majority of the Republicans of Iowa at this
time, as was its endorsement of a tariff for revenue.
On the 12the of July the Stare Convention of the
Greenback party was held at Des Moines, nominating the following
ticket: for Governor, D. P. Stubbs; Lieutenant-Governor, A. Macredy;
Supreme Judge, John Porter; Superintendent of Public Instruction, S.
T. Ballard. Its platform reaffirmed previous positions on all of
the issues before the country and in favor of the prohibitory liquor
law.
The Democratic party held its State Convention at
Marshalltown on the 20th of August, and place in nomination the
following candidates: for Governor, John P. Irish;
Lieutenant-Governor, W. C. James; Superintendent of Public
Instruction, G. D. Cullison; Supreme Judge, H. E. J. Boardman.
The new declarations were in favor of greenbacks in
place of National Bank bills, endorsement of the policy of the
President in the Southern States, the equal taxation of every
species of property according to its value and equal protection of
labor and capital.
The State Temperance Convention met at Oskaloosa on
the 30th of August and nominated Elias Jessup for Governor, making
no other nominations. It passed a large number of resolutions in
favor of promoting temperance by State and National legislation and
indorsed woman suffrage.
The election resulted in the choice of the entire
Republican ticket, by a plurality of about 42,000.
Almost the entire vote for Jessup seems to have come
from Republicans who supported the remainder of the Republican
candidates.
The Annual Convention of the Woman's Suffrage
Society was held in Des Moines on the 24th of October, Among the
resolutions adopted were the following:
"Whereas the ballot is necessary to uproot
many evils which affect society and, Whereas, Women are deprived of
this potent, silent power, therefore Resolved, That it is not the
duty of women to contribute to the support of the clergy who oppose
their enfranchisement.
Whereas, Congress had enfranchised the negro,
alien and ex-reble, and Whereas, Women are as intelligent as the
aforesaid classes, therefore, Resolved, That the citizens of the
State unite in a petition to Congress for a sixteenth amendment to
the Constitution of the United Stares, giving women also the ballot
upon equal terms with men."
The annual session of the State Grange, was held at
Des Moines, beginning on the 11th of October, and continuing four
days. Among the resolutions passed were the following:
Resolved. That the State Grange favors the
repeal of the resumption act and the remonetization of silver and
the repeal of the National Bank act, and asks the General Assembly
to memorialize Congress to shape the financial policy of the country
in accordance with this resolution. We are in favor of the
following changes in our laws; to abolish the grand jury, to compel
litigants to give security for cost, to tax the whole cost of jury
to the losing party, to fix by law the fee of attorneys appointed by
the court to defend criminals, to regulate the compensation of
shorthand reporters, to abolish the office of county superintendent,
to compel sheriffs to report their fees as other county officers.
On the 28th of August, 1877, the country in the
vicinity of Des Moines was visited by one of the heaviest rainfalls
ever experienced in any portion of the State. It began about three
o'clock in the morning. The darkness was intense and the rain came
down in blinding torrents. Nine miles east of Des Moines the Rock
Island Railroad crosses Little Four Mile Creek, ordinarily a small
stream. At the railroad bridge the banks are some thirty feet above
the bed of the creek. In this vicinity there seemed to have been a
fall of rain similar to a cloud burst. The entire surface of the
prairie was covered by the flood. Every ravine was filled with a
torrent. The continuous roar of thunder, blinding flashes of
lightning, the intense darkness and the rush of water combined to
make a fearful night. The mail and passenger train from Chicago
which was due at Des Moines at half past three in the morning was
coming at a speed of thirty miles an hour. It consisted of a
baggage car, a mail car, one of Barnum's advertising cars, a smoker,
two passenger coaches and a sleeper. The engineer, John Rakestraw,
was veteran in the service familiar with the route, but evidently
had no thought of danger on this part of the line. Suddenly the
headlight flashed upon a wild roaring torrent carrying trees and
flood wood on its angry current. There was not a moment for thought
as the train was on the very brink of the flood and instantly took a
leap into the chasm. The engineer was crushed beneath the
locomotive as it struck the opposite shore and turned over sinking
deep into the mud and water. Abram Trucks, the fireman was thrown
into the flood on the west shore. When he recovered consciousness
he saw the train crushed and piled in an awful wreck, telescoped and
shivered, while the angry torrent was rushing wildly through the
ruins. Bruised, dazed and helpless the fireman stood for a moment,
then realizing that he was alone on the west shore and could not
cross to help the wounded and drowning, or to give the alarm to any
inhabitants in the vicinity, he started in the darkness and through
the flooded country for Des Moines, to procure help. In the
meantime the passengers in the sleeper had been rudely thrown from
their berths by the shock of the wreck, and happily found their car
standing safely on the track, on the very brink of the chasm. Some
ran back to Altoona, about two miles distant, while others made
desperate and heroic efforts to drag the crushed and drowning
passengers from the wreck. For hours men worked with the energy of
despair to extricate groaning and shrieking women, children and men
from where they were held in the vice-like grip of broken, twisted
iron and timbers of the piled up and telescoped wrecks of the cars.
But it was not until a wrecking train arrived two hours after the
ruin was wrought, that all of the victims were extricated from the
piles of ruins. Seventeen were placed lifeless on the banks of the
creek. Thirty-eight other passengers of the ill fated train were
crushed, mangled or bruised in various degrees, three of whom died.
Many were maimed or crippled for life. The bridge had gone down in
the flood before the train reached the creek and two other railroad
bridges between that and Des Moines were swept away by the same
flood, so that the train was doomed to destruction in any event.
The amount of public land granted and certified to
the State, for various purposes, up to 1878, was more than 8,000,000
acres, or nearly one-fourth of the entire area of the State. Of
this amount 4,400,000 acres were granted to aid in building
railroads and in improving the navigation of the Des Moines River;
1,555,000 acres had been granted for the support of the public
schools; 204,000 acres for the State Agricultural College; 1,570,000
acres of swamp land.
The report of the Auditor of State for the year
ending November 1, 1877, shows some interesting facts:
The number of cattle assessed was 1,452,546 valued
at $14,898,841; number of swine over six months, 1,654,798, value
$3,899, 301. The number of horses as 659,385, valued at
$20,100,263; mules, 42,887, value $1,670,154. The loss of farmers
of swine from cholera this year was reported at $3,500,000 or nearly
as much as the total value of those remaining. The number of sheep
in the State in 1877, was bur 318,439, showing a decrease in the ten
years from 1867 of 1,197,787, which was claimed to arise largely
from the sever losses by dogs, rendering sheep raising so hazardous
as to be unprofitable.
The Seventeenth General Assembly met at Des Moines
on the 14th of January, 1878. John Y. Stone of Mills County was
chosen Speaker and on the 15th Governor Newbold sent in his message.
On the 17th John H. Gear and Frank T. Campbell were inaugurated
Governor and Lieutenant-Governor and the new Governor delivered his
inaugural address. On the 18th Lieutenant-Governor Campbell was
installed as President of the Senate.
On the 29th of January William B. Alliason was
elected United States Senator for a second full term of six years
over Daniel F. Miller, Democrat.
The most important act of the General Assembly was
the repeal of the so-called Granfe Laws, fixing maximum rates to be
charged by railroads for transporting freight and passengers, which
had been enacted by the Fifteenth General Assembly. The courts had
sustained these enactments and the only course left open to the
railroad companies to relieve themselves from the restrictions was
to use their utmost power and influence to secure their repeal.
From the time the law went into effect the railroad managers had
systematically endeavored by discrimination against Iowa towns and
shippers to render the law obnoxious. A powerful array of railroad
officials came before the General Assembly in 1876, urging the
repeal of the act of the former Legislature. Hon. James F. Wilson,
one of the most influential of the public men of the State, Colonel
Milo Smith and other well-known men appeared before the joint
railroad committees of the General Assembly and made plausible
arguments against the "destructive legislation" of 1874, but the
representatives of the people stood firm for the law. In 1878 new
tactics were determined upon for the pending campaign.
Representatives of the principal railroad companies controlling
lines in Iowa had been holding conferences for the purpose of
devising some plausible method of circumventing the "unfriendly
legislation" contained in the Granger Law, as it was generally
designated. With such able and resourceful counselors as Thomas F.
Withrow, John F. Duncombe, Henry W. Strong, N. M. Hubbard, John S.
Runnels, Thomas Potter and Major E. S. Bailey, it is not strange
that a plan was devised by which the "Graners" were circumvented.
It was determined to unite the citizens of the sections of the
State where railroads were wanted, and had not yet been extended,
with late shippers who were favored with special rates, in a well
organized movement for the repeal of the Granger Law. The next step
was for the various construction companies which had been building
railroads in Iowa to declare that no more roads would be built, or
Iowa lines extended, under the ruinous restrictions enacted.
Newspapers were influenced to denounce the Grange legislation,
public meetings were held and resolutions passed demanding repeal.
To the public, who knew nothing of the secret concert of action, it
appeared that there was a change in public opinion and a demand for
repeal of the Granger Law.
Never before in the history of Iowa legislation has
such a powerful and at the same time such a well chosen lobby
gathered at the Capitol as that which appeared before the
Seventeenth General Assembly in the winter of 1878. The corporation
managers had been active during the summer and fall in securing the
nomination and election of their friends to seats in the Legislature
and when the House was organized they secured the presiding officer
of that body, easily controlling the popular branch of the General
Assembly. Senator Campbell had been elected Lieutenant-Governor and
was President of the Senate. Here the battle was fought out. The
railroad committee of the Senate was made up with a majority opposed
to repeal. As the fight grew warm two members of that committee
were influenced to change their minds and vote for repeal and the
Railway Commission bill. This bill had been prepared and drawn by
the attorneys of two of the main truck lines of Iowa railroads. It
permitted the Governor to appoint the three commissioners who were
clothed with the power to give advice and receive their
salaries from the railroads; but with no authority to enforce the
advice. Excellent and well-known men were appointed and for many
years a truce was established between the people and the railroad
managers on terms that had been devised by the corporations. All
that had been gained by years of agitation, years of untiring effort
on the part of the people to establish their sovereignty over
corporations through legislation and the courts, was now surrendered
by act of the Seventeenth General Assembly. It took ten years to
recover the lost ground and cost the people of the State millions of
dollars.
Ex-Governor William Larrabee, who has made a special
study of railroad business and legislation and is regarded as high
authority, in his excellent work on "Railroads" says of the first
act for the control of these corporations:
"The Graner Laws have been and still are
severely criticized by those opposed to the principle of State
control and by the ignorant. It is nevertheless true that those
laws were moderate, just and reasonably well adapted to remedy the
evils of which the public complained. The obloquy heaped upon them
was the work of designing men who desired to continue their
impositions upon the people. The Iowa law was imperfect in detail
and yet its enactment proved one of the greatest legislative
achievements in the history of the State. It demonstrated to the
people their ability to correct by earnestness and perseverance the
most far-reaching public abuses and led to an emphatic judicial
declaration of the common law principle that railroads are highways
and, as such, are subject to any legislative control which may be
deemed necessary for the public welfare."
Another important act of this Legislature was that
which amended the prohibitory liquor law so as to prohibit the sale
of malt or vinous liquors at retail within two miles of any
municipal corporation, or within two miles of the place where and
when an election is held. Another act restored capital punishment,
which had been recently abolished. A commission was created to
investigate an alleged defalcation of the Warden of the Fort Madison
penitentiary. A joint resolution was passed to amend the
Constitution of the State to render colored men eligible to seats in
the General Assembly.
The Greenback party held its State Convention at Des
Moines on the 10th of April, 1878, and nominated candidates for
State officers. The resolutions adopted reaffirmed the principles
heretofore declared.
The Democrats held their State Convention at Cedar
Rapids on the 7th of June, nominated a full ticket for State
officers and passed resolutions similar to those of their last
convention. later in the season a conference was held between the
leaders of the Greenback and Democratic parties in which the
following combination ticket was agreed upon which received the
support of both parries at the election: Secretary of State, E. M.
Farnsworth; Auditor, Joseph Eiboeck; Treasurer, M. L. Devin;
Register Land Office, M. Farnington; Supreme Judge, J. C. Knapp;
Attorney-General, John Gibbon; Clerk of Supreme Court, Alexander
Runyon; Reporter of Supreme Court, J. H. Elliott.
The Republican State Convention was held at Des
Moines on the 19th of June and passed a long series of resolutions,
which embraced no new declaration of principles. The following
candidates were placed in nomination: Secretary of State, J. A. T.
Hull; Auditor, Buren R. Sherman; Treasurer, George W. Bemis; Judge
of the Supreme Court, James H. Rothrock; Register Land Office, J. K.
Powers; Clerk of Supreme Court, E. J. Holmes; Reporter of Supreme
Court, J. S. Runnells; Attorney-General, J. F. McJunkin.
The election resulted in the success of the entire
Republican ticket by an average majority of about 8,500.
The election for Representatives in Congress
resulted in the choice of seven Republicans, and two opposition. In
the Sixth District, General James B. Weaver, fusion candidate of the
Democratic and Greenback parties, was elected; and in the Seventh
District, E. H. Gillette, fusion candidate, was elected.
The first political State Convention for the year
1879 was held by the Democrats at Council Bluffs on the 21st of May.
The only new declaration among the resolutions was the following:
"We favor the free and unlimited coinage of
the silver dollar at 412 1/2 grains and the providing of
certificates for silver bullion which may be deposited in the United
States Treasury, the same to be legal tender for all purposes."
The following candidates were nominated for State
officers: for Governor, H. H. Trimble; Lieutenant-Governor, J. A.
O. Yeomans; Supreme Judge, Reuben Noble; Superintendent of Public
Instruction, Erwin Baker.
The State Convention of the Greenback party was held
at Des Moines on the 28th of May and adopted a lengthy series of
resolutions, making the following new declarations:
"We
demand the unlimited coinage of the silver dollar of the present
standard of weight and fineness.
We
demand the reduction of the official fees and salaries of all
officers from twenty-five to fifty per cent.
We
favor the suppression of the evils of intemperance by all just and
legal means.
We
desire that mortgages be required to pay an equitable share of the
taxes on mortgaged land.
We
desire the reduction of the penalty on delinquent taxes to ten per
cent, per annum.
We
favor the repeal of the railroad commissioners law and legislation
to reduce and equalize freights.
We
desire that prison contract labor should never come in competition
with free labor."
The following candidates were nominated by this
convention: for Governor, Daniel Campbell; Lieutenant-Governor, M.
M. Moore; Supreme Judge, M. H. Jones; Superintendent of Public
Instruction, J. A. Nash.
The Republican State Convention was held at Des
Moines on the 11th of June and nominated the following candidates:
for Governor, J. H. Gear; Lieutenant-Governor, F. T. Campbell;
Supreme Judge, J. M. Beck; Superintendent of Public Instruction, C.
W. Van Coelln. The resolutions reaffirmed the position of the party
heretofore expressed on temperance and prohibition, a tariff for
revenue and the money issue. The convention further declared that
the profit arising from the coinage of gold and silver should
insure to the Government and not to the owner of public officers to
place them upon an equality with like positions in private
employment.
The State Temperance Convention was held at Cedar
Rapids on the 16th of June, which passed resolutions favoring the
maintenance and strict enforcement of the laws prohibiting the sale
and manufacture of intoxicating liquors; also declaring in favor of
woman suffrage. A faction of the convention nominated the following
candidates: for Governor, D. R. Dungan; Lieutenant-Governor, F. T.
Campbell; Supreme Judge, J. M. Beck; Superintendent of Public
Instruction, J. A. Nash.
The election resulted in the choice of the
Republican candidates by pluralities ranging from 72,000 to over
75,000. For Lieutenant-Governor Frank T. Campbell, having received
the nomination of the Temperance Convention as well as of the
Republicans, received a larger vote than Governor Gear.
Hon. George W. McCrary of Iowa has resigned his
position as Secretary of War, and had been appointed United States
Judge for the Eighth Circuit, consisting of the States of Arkansas,
Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska and Colorado.
The Eighteenth General Assembly convened at Des
Moines on the 12th of January, 1880, Lore Alford was chosen Speaker
of the House. On the 15th Governor Gear and Lieutenant-Governor
Campbell, who had been reelected, were sworn in for a second term.
The most important acts of this session were the following:
To
increase the salaries of the Judges of the Supreme Court to $4,000 a
year.
To
increase the compensation of members of the General Assembly to five
hundred and fifty dollars for each regular session and not to exceed
six dollars per day for an extra session.
To
provide a new military code for the organization, government, and
support of the militia of the State.
To
establish a State Board of Health to collect vital statistics and
assign certain duties to local boards of health.
To
protect depositors of bands and to punish fraudulent banking.
To
establish a reform school for girl at Mitchellville and provide for
its government.
To
authorize a special tax to pay the War and defense bonds issued for
war purposes by act of the extra session of May, 1861.
To
consolidate the State Land Office with the office of the Secretary
of State.
A joint resolution was passed to submit to a vote of
the people an amendment to the Constitution of the State to prohibit
the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors. A joint
resolution was also passed confirming a proposed amendment to render
negroes eligible to seats in the General Assembly and to submit the
same to the people at the next election.
At the National Republican Convention held at
Chicago, James A. Garfield was nominated for President and Chester A
Arthur for Vice-President.
The Democratic National Convention nominated General
W. S. Hancock for President and W. H. English for Vice-President.
The National Greenback Convention nominated General
James B. Weaver of Iowa for President and B. J. Chambers for
Vice-President.
The Greenback State Convention met at Des Moines on
the 19th of May, 1880, and nominated the following candidates for
State officers: Secretary of State, G. M. Walker; Treasurer, M.
Farrington; Auditor, G. V. Swearingen; Attorney-General, W. A.
Spurrier; Register Land Office, Thomas Hooker. The former
declaration of principles and policy were reaffirmed.
The Republican State Convention was held at Des
Moines on the 25th of August, and placed in nomination the following
ticket: Secretary of State J. A. T. Hull; Treasurer, E. H. Conger;
Auditor, W. V. Lucas; Attorney-General, Smith Mcpherson; Register
Land Office, J. K. Powers. The Convention reaffirmed the policy
heretofore declared by the party and heartily ratified the
nomination of Garfield and Arthur.
The Democratic State Convention met at Des Moines on
the 2d of September and placed the following candidates in
nomination: Secretary of State, A. B. Keith; Treasurer, Martin Blim;
Auditor, C. I. Baker; Attorney-General, C. A. Clark; Register Land
Office, C. A. Daugherty. The convention indorsed the platform of
the late National Convention and pledged its hearty support to
Hancock and English.
The election resulted in the choice of all the
Republican candidates by an average majority of 45,000. The vote
for President stood as follows in Iowa: Garfield, 183,927; Hancock,
105,745; Weaver, 32,701.
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