526 



MINNESOTA. 



of the will of the people expressed by their votes at 

 an election. 



Resolved, That we recognize in the custom recom- 

 mended and established by Washington and by our 

 fathers, that no person should occupy the Presidential 

 chair for more than two terms, thus far scrupulously 

 adhered to both in theory and practice by the people 

 of the United States, the enunciation of a principle 

 salutary and necessary to the preservation of our lib- 

 erties, and that a departure therefrom must be deemed 

 a dangerous infraction of what has become the unwrit- 

 ten law of this country ; that the proposed election of 

 ex- President Grant for a third term is such a violation 

 of this high safeguard of American liberty as to excite 

 serious alarm, and to call upon all good citizens to 

 prevent by all lawful means the consummation of the 

 intended wrong. 



The " Greenbackers " held a State Conven- 

 vention at Minneapolis on the 27th of May, 

 made nominations for electors, chose delegates 

 to the national nominating assembly of the 

 party, and adopted a platform whose declara- 

 tions have been summarized as follows : 



Adopting the Weaver resolutions introduced in the 

 House of Kepresentatives ; 



Demanding that all taxation be made equal, and that 

 incomes be made to pay their share of the public debt ; 



Eeserving the puolic lands for the occupancy of 

 settlers ; 



Protesting against Government subsidies of all kinds; 



For the protection of labor by repealing all class 

 legislation, and for constituting eight hours as a day's 

 work; 



Favoring a soldiers' and sailors' homestead law, giv- 

 ing them lands without cost, except district and office 

 fees; 



Making up to soldiers the depreciation of money in 

 which they were paid for their services, and praying 

 for the passage of the " Weaver soldier bill "; 



In favor of taxing mortgages ; 



The passage of punitive Taws by Congress forbidding 

 any combination or arrangemenc by which railroads 

 and other common carriers may discriminate on rates 

 of transportation ; 



Holding railroad and other public corporations 

 amenable to law, and so regulated and restrained as to 

 subserve the ends for which they were created, by 

 promoting and not thwarting the public good ; 



Against any limitation or curtailment of the right of 

 franchise and in favor of a secret ballot ; 



For a direct vote for President and Vice-President of 

 the United States, and limitation to one term of office ; 



Against the labor of convicts ; the employment of 

 children under fourteen years of age ; against dealing in 

 options in stocks, and making all such contracts void ; 



Against the payment of the old State railroad bonds 

 by taxation, grants, improvement lands, or in any 

 other manner whatever ; 



Calling on all citizens to aid in restoring honesty, 

 fidelity, economy, and justice in the administration of 

 government, and obliterating sectional animosities. 



There was to be no election for State offi- 

 cers, and no other general conventions were 

 held. An incident of some interest was a divi- 

 sion of the Republicans in the First Congres- 

 sional District. The Hon. Mark H. Dunnell, 

 the Representative of the district, was a promi- 

 nent candidate for renomination, but there was 

 a strong opposition to him, and the Convention 

 split ^ into two organizations, one of which 

 unanimously nominated Dunnell, while the 

 other set up W. G. Ward as the candidate. 

 Both claimed to be the regular nominees, the 

 dispute turning on certain contested delega- 

 tions in the district convention. An effort 



was made, which was favored by Mr. Ward, to 

 secure the withdrawal of both candidates and 

 the holding of a new convention ; but this, as 

 well as all other attempts at compromise, failed, 

 and both candidates remained in the field. 



The total vote for Presidential electors was 

 150,771, of which 93,903 were cast for the 

 Republican and 53,315 for the Democratic 

 ticket. There were also 3,267 " Greenback " 

 and 286 Prohibitory votes. The Republican 

 majority was 37,035. 



Republicans were chosen to Congress from 

 all the three districts. The vote in the first 

 district was 22,392 for Dunnell, 7,656 for 

 Ward, and 13,768 for Wells, the Democratic 

 candidate. The Legislature, elected at the same 

 time, is composed of 29 Republicans, 11 Demo- 

 crats, and 1 " Greenbacker" in the Senate, 

 and 87 Republicans, 15 Democrats, and 4 

 "_ Greenbackers " in the House of Representa- 

 tives; making the Republican majority 17 in 

 the Senate, 68 in the House, and 85 on a joint 

 ballot. A vote on continuing in force for five 

 years more the act relating to school text-books 

 resulted in 44,739 in favor of the proposition, 

 and 45,465 against it, defeating it by a majority 

 of 726. The law in question was passed in 

 1877, and provided for a uniform series of text- 

 books for all the schools of the State, to be 

 furnished by a contractor at fixed prices. It 

 provided that the question of continuing it in 

 force should be submitted to a vote of the peo- 

 ple in 1880. 



The following statement of the population 

 of Minnesota by counties is furnished by the 

 United States Census Bureau : 



Aitkin 366 McLeod 



Anoka 7,108 Meeker... 



Becker 4,407 Mille Lacs 



Beltram 10 Morrison 



Benton 3,012 Mower 



Big Stone 3,689 Murray 



Blue Earth 22.889 Nicollet... 



Brown 12,018 Nobles 



Carlton 1,280 Olmsted 



Carver 14,140 Pine 



Cass 486 Pipestone 



Chippewa 5,408 Polk 



Chisago 7,982 Pope 



Clay 5,886 Eamsey 



Cooke 65 i Eedwood 



Cottonwood 5,588 Eenville 



Crow Wing 2,318 Eice 



Dakota 17,391 ! Eock 



Dodge 11,344 St. Louis 



Douglas 9,130 I Scott 



Faribault 18,015 i Sherburne 



Fillmore 28,162 ! Sibley. 



Freeborn 16,069 i Stearns 



Goodhuo 29,651 ) Steele 



Grant 3,004 Stevens 



Hennepin 67,018 Swift 



Houston 16,832 ; Todd 



Isanti 5,063 Traverse 



Itasca 124 ! Wabashaw 



Jackson. . 



Kanabec 506 



Kandiyohi 10,155 



Kittson 909 



Lac qui parle 4,905 



4,804 Wadena.. 



Lake"..." 107 Winona. 



LeSueur 16,106 



Lincoln 2.944 



Lyon 6,255 



Marshall 997 



Martin 5,242 



Total . . . 



Waseca 

 Washington 

 Watonwan 

 Wilkin 



Wright .............. 



Yellow Medicine ..... 



White Earth (Indian 

 reservation) ....... 



12,349 

 11,789 

 1.501 

 5,875 

 16,799 

 8,604 

 12.338 

 4,435 

 21.543 

 1,865 

 2,902 

 11.241 

 5,874 

 45,915 

 5,275 

 10,791 

 22,480 

 3,669 

 4,504 

 18,576 

 8,755 

 10.637 

 21,956 

 12.460 

 3,911 

 7,473 

 6,133 

 1.503 

 18,206 

 2,OSO 

 12,385 

 19,562 

 5,164 

 1,996 

 27.197 

 18.104 

 5,884 



996 



780,807 



