228 THE GROUtfDSWELL. 



convention. An organization was effected by the election of 

 officers, as follows : President, Hon. J. H. Bryant, of Bureau 

 County. Vice-Presidents, Messrs. William Smith, of Mc 

 Lean ; S. H. McCrea, of Cook ; E. S. Topping, of White- 

 side ; Lewis Ellsworth, of Du Page ; John Davis, of Macon ; 

 W. W. Miller, of St. Glair; E. S. Hull, of Madison; A. M. 

 Brown, of Pulaski; G. W. Hered, of Marion; W. Selden- 

 gale, of Knox ; M. L. Dunlap, of Champaign ; and K. K. 

 Jones, of Adams. 



GOVERNOR PALMERS LETTER. 



The Governer of Illinois, Gen. John M. Palmer, in a letter to 

 the Convention, expressed the hope that tfie first work at 

 tempted would be to. convince the people of the State that they 

 had the power to rid themselves of the burdens of which they 

 so j ustly complained. Upon the practice of corrupting legisla 

 tors with money, he said : &quot; Whether public men now in office 

 are corrupt or not, it will be the fault of the people them 

 selves if those hereafter selected are so. The people, reject 

 ing all the sophistry by which the real questions that concern 

 them are concealed or mystified, must hereafter investigate 

 for themselves, and take care of their own interests.&quot; He 

 hoped the Convention would assert, and prepare to maintain, 

 that there is no interest in this country that is or can be be 

 yond the control of the law. 



The state of the question between the producing interest 

 of the State and the transporting interest, he held to be, 

 &quot;that the whole subject of freights, and all subjects that are 

 dependent on, or collateral thereto, are absolutely under the 

 control of the owners and managers of railway lines, and 

 that practically they may and do grasp, and appropriate to 

 their own use, such proportion of the value of the products 



