398 



IOWA. 



Auditor, "W.V. Lucas; Attorney-General, Smith 

 McPherson ; and Register of the Land Office, 

 J. K. Powers. A platform was adopted which 

 in addition to congratulations and reaffirma- 

 tions contained these declarations : 



5. As the ballot is the basis of citizenship and the 

 hope of freedom, we declare that it is the sacred duty of 

 the Kepublican party to not only defend and maintain 

 the national election laws, but to provide through 

 appropriate Congressional legislation whatever addi- 

 tional safeguards and protection experience may have 

 proved to be necessary, to the end that the ballot 

 in every State may be as sacred and safe as lii'e and 

 liberty. 



6. The general interests of the country require that 

 Congress shall so regulate inter-State commerce as to 

 prevent unjust discrimination in the transportation of 

 freight and passengers. 



The Democratic nominating convention was 

 held at Des Moines in the early part of Sep- 

 tember. The candidates selected were A. B. 

 Keith for Secretary of State ; Martin Blim for 

 Treasurer ; Charles I. Barker for Auditor ; C. 

 A. Clark for Attorney -General ; and D. Dough- 

 erty for Register of the Land Office. Brief 

 resolutions were adopted approving the plat- 

 form and candidates of the National Conven- 

 tion, together with the following: 



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 Des Moines in the Eighteenth 

 General Assembly for their manly and able opposition 

 to the attempts at sumptuary legislation made by a 

 Hepublican legislature. 



The choice of State officers was made on the 

 same day with the Presidential election in 

 November, although ordinarily the State elec- 

 tion occurs in October. 



The total vote for Presidential electors was 

 322,473, of which 183,927 were for the ticket 

 of Republican candidates, 105,845 for that of 

 the Democrats, and 32,701 for the Greenback 

 candidate. 



The vote for Secretary of State amounted to 

 323,128, of which Hull, the Republican candi- 

 date, received 184,166; Keith, Democrat, 105,- 

 760 ; Walker, Greenbacker, 32,780 ; Hall, Anti- 

 Secret Society, 282; and 140 were "scatter- 

 ing." The Republican plurality over the De- 

 mocratic vote was 79,406, while its majority 

 over all was 45,204. The vote on the amend- 

 ment of the Constitution, striking the words 

 "free white" from the clause defining the 

 qualifications for membership of the Legisla- 

 ture, was 90,237 in its favor, and 51,945 against 

 it, so that it was ratified by a majority of 

 38,294. The proposition in regard to holding 

 a convention to revise the Constitution was 

 rejected by a majority of 14,022, the vote being 

 69,762 for and 85,784 against it. Republicans 

 were elected to Congress from all the nine 

 districts, the changes being in the sixth and 

 seventh, where Greenbackers were chosen in 

 1878. 



The population of Iowa by counties, as shown 

 by the Federal census of 1880, in a return sent 



by Superintendent Walker to the Secretary of 

 State, is as follows: 



Des Moines, the capital, has risen to the 

 rank of first in population of the cities of the 

 State, the number of its inhabitants being 22,- 

 408. The population of Dubuque is 22,254; 

 Davenport, 21,834; Burlington, 19,450; Coun- 

 cil Bluffs, 18,059; Keokuk, 12,117; and Cedar 

 Rapids, 10,104. 



The total value of property in the State as 

 assessed for taxation is $392,557,304. The total 

 tax for the year amounted to $10,238,017, the 

 average rate being twenty-six mills on the 

 dollar. The number of miles of railroad in the 

 State on the 15th of September was 4,977, re- 

 presented by $106,719,429 of stock, and $82,- 

 164,510 of debt. The increase in length of 

 track for the year preceding was 581 miles. 

 Of the entire length 1,591 miles are laid with 

 steel rails. The total earnings for the year 

 ending September 15th were $24,857,545.35, 

 of which $6,209,386.34 was derived from pas- 

 senger traffic, and $18,628,159.01 from freight. 

 Operating expenses for the year amounted to 

 $13,982,653.77. The increase of earnings over 

 the previous year was $3,496,835.91, while that 

 of operating expenses was but $1,078,232.85. 

 The railroads paid $591,843.08 in taxes, which 

 was nine per cent, of the net income. Six com- 



