552 



NEBRASKA. 



demanded. The pupils have been instructed in 

 different branches of industry, and the trades 

 which have been introduced have each proved 

 self-sustaining. The buildings of the Institute 

 for the Blind are large enough for present re- 

 quirements. On November 30th the number 

 of inmates was 27. The proportion of blind 

 persons to the total population is very low in 

 Nebraska. The building of the Reform School 

 which has been established at Kearney has 

 been completed. 



The necessity of calling upon the United 

 States authorities for aid to preserve the peace 

 during the Olive trial in April, 1879, suggested 

 to the Governor and the Adjutant-General the 

 advisability of making the State militia more 

 efficient. There was no militia law in exist- 

 ence, and no appropriations had been made for 

 the purpose. Nevertheless, a force of 598 offi- 

 cers and men was organized and uniformed, 

 without aid from the State, upon the call of the 

 Governor. 



The Fish Commissioners placed 190,000 Cali- 

 fornia salmon-fry in the streams of the State 

 in 1879, and 300,000 in 1880; they also dis- 

 tributed a number of German carp. There are 

 6,485 miles of streams and rivers in Nebraska, 

 and 11,160 acres of lakes. 



The Republican Convention for the nomi- 

 nation of a State ticket assembled at Lincoln, 

 September 2d. The incumbents of all the 

 offices, with the exception of the defaulting 

 State Auditor, the Superintendent of Public 

 Instruction, S. R. Thompson, who declined a 

 renomination, and the Land Commissioner, 

 were renominated by acclamation, as was also 

 Congressman E. K. Valentine. The ticket was 

 composed as follows : For Governor, Albinus 

 Nance; Lieutenant-Governor, E. C. Cams; 

 Secretary of State, S. J. Alexander; Auditor 

 of Public Accounts, John Wallichs ; Treasurer, 

 G. M. Bartlett ; Attorney-General, 0. J. Dil- 

 worth ; Commissioner of Public Lands, A. G. 

 Kendall ; Superintendent of Public Instruc- 

 tion, W. W. W. Jones. The following platform 

 was adopted : 



1. The Republicans of Nebraska most heartily en- 

 dorse the profession of principles formulated by the Na- 

 tional Republican Convention at Chicago, and pledge 

 their unwavering support to the candidates there nom- 

 inated. 



2. We affirm that the doctrine of national sovereign- 

 ty is the fundamental principle upon which the perpe- 

 tuity of the nation rests, and that the principle of home 

 rule as enunciated by the Democratic party is but the 

 cautious expression of the Calhoun doctrine of State 

 rights, is revolutionary in its character, and destruc- 

 tive to the unity of the nation. 



3. We regard the recent seizure of the polls and 

 wholesale robbery of the franchises of the Republican 

 citizens^f Alabama, by the Democratic party officials, 

 surpassing in the magnitude and effrontery of the 



crime any former effort of that party under the Tweed 

 Mississippi plan in the 

 south, as a fair specimen of Democratic methods, and 



olan in New York and the 



a foretaste of Democratic dominance in national affairs, 

 that should incite every honest man and tax-payer in 

 the country to the most earnest endeavor to defeat the 

 party of brigandage and fraud at the polls in November. 

 4. We have considered what "Lee and Jackson 



would have done if they were alive," and have deter- 

 mined to employ our best energies in preventing th 

 seizure of the national Government by their li'vin 

 comrades through the fraud of a " solid South." 



5. We congratulate the people of the State upon its 

 rapid increase of population and wealth, and upon the 

 good measure of prosperity that has rewarded their 

 labor, and upon the rapid rebuilding of our material 

 interests since the success of resumption and the re- 

 vival of trade. 



6. We pledge our support to such legislation in Con- 

 gress, and such measures by the State Legislature, as 

 may be necessary to effect a correction of the abuses, 

 and prevent extortion and discrimination in charges 

 by railroad corporations. 



7. We most cordially invite the aid and cooperation 

 in this defense of the national integrity and the 

 tion's purse, of all Republicans and war Dem 

 who have differed with us on temporary issues, 

 have clung to a party name honored by their fb 

 fathers, but dragged in the dust by the degene 

 party leaders of to-day. 



The regular Democratic State Convention 

 met at Hastings, September 29th, and made the 

 following nominations for State officers : For 

 Governor, Thomas W. Tipton ; Lieutenant-Gov- 

 ernor, S. H. Calhoun ; Secretary of State, G. 

 W. Johnson ; Auditor of State, D. C. Patter- 

 son ; State Treasurer, Frank Folda ; Commi 

 sioner of Public Lands and Buildings, E. 

 Andrus ; Superintendent of Public Instruction, 

 Alexander Bear; Attorney-General, George E! 

 Pritchett. The platform included the follow- 

 ing strictures on the Republican management 

 of State affairs : 



The Democracy of Nebraska declare that under Re- 

 publican fundamental laws, under Republican statu- 

 tory enactments, and under the administration of Re- 

 publican officials, during its thirteen years of State ex- 

 istence, its people have been plundered, as to their 

 public domain (which has been divided out ostensi- 

 bly for the purpose of constructing railways, but 

 really for enriching political favorites), to the extent of 

 nearly all the five hundred thousand acres of internal 

 improvement lands, and that taxes under a Repub- 

 lican Constitution which provided for them, and un- 

 der special laws which made them collectable, have 

 been levied upon the many for the purpose of con- 

 structing and giving railroads to the few ; that the 

 fundamental proposition, that no citizen shall be de- 

 prived of his property without due process of law, has 

 been ignored and trampled under foot by the Repub- 

 lican system of subsidizing corporations, and bv the 

 imposition and collection of taxes from the people as a 

 subsidizing sequence. 



Therefore the Democrats of Nebraska protest against 

 the further endowment of private corporations, either 

 at the expense of the public domain, or at a cost to the 



Ile's pockets, by the further issuing of county 

 s, or other evidences of public debt. 



The Democrats demand an amendment to the State 

 Constitution which shall for ever prohibit the vesting, 

 by gift from this State, of another acre of land in a 

 private corporation, and which shall make it for ever 

 impossible to donate county or precinct bonds, or any 

 other evidence of public debt, to any corporation what- 

 soever. 



Many of these obligations, incurred for the purpose 

 of inducing the construction of railroads, are undoubt- 

 edly legal, and should be paid ; and many of them 

 are undoubtedly illegal and void. The former should 

 be refunded, at a rate of interest not exceeding six per 

 cent, per annum, and the latter should be Icgallv re- 

 sisted in every county, precinct, and town in the State, 



They demand the calling in and liquidation of State 

 bonds at the earliest possible moment, and the reduc- 

 tion of the rate of interest thereon at once by refunding. 



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