780 



UNITED STATES. 



mitted to own real estate in the United States, and 

 that the realty possessions of the resident alien should 

 be limited in value and area. 



Resolved, That no flag shall float on any public 

 buildings, municipal, State, or national, in the United 

 States, except the municipal, State, or national flag of 

 the United States the flag of the stars and stripes. 



Resolved, That we reassert the American principles 

 of absolute freedom of religious worship and belief, 

 the permanent separation of Church and state ; and 

 we oppose the appropriation of public money or prop- 

 erty to any church or institution administered by a 

 church. We maintain that all church property 

 should be subject to taxation. 



Other Conventions. The first presidential 

 ticket of the year was nominated by a conven- 

 tion of the Industrial Keform party, at Wash- 

 ington, D. C., on February 22, and contained 

 the names of Albert E. Redstone, of California, 

 for President, and John Colvin, of Kansas, for 

 Vice-President. The new party found only a 

 few supporters, and had no appreciable influ- 

 ence in the election. Another ticket, equally 

 without support at the polls, was nominated 

 by the National Equal Rights party at Des 

 Moines, Iowa, on May 15, bearing the names 

 of Belva Lockwood, of Washington, D. 0., for 

 President, and Alfred H. Love, of Philadel- 

 phia, for Vice-President. The latter declined 

 the nomination, and the name of Charles Stuart 

 Wells was substituted. A demand for woman 

 suffrage and equal rights of man and woman 

 constituted the most important portion of the 

 platform. On July 16 the Grand Council of 

 the Independent Labor party met at Detroit, 

 and, after discussion of the different parties 

 and candidates, voted to support the Repub- 

 lican candidates. A call issued on August 16 

 for a national convention of the Greenback 

 party, brought together only eight delegates at 

 Cincinnati on September 12, who issued an ad- 

 dress proclaiming the Greenback principles, but 

 made no nominations. On July 25 a conven- 

 tion of colored Democrats was called to meet 

 at Indianapolis to organize a movement to di- 

 vide the negro vote. There were 64 delegates 

 divided into two factions, each of which strove 

 for control of the convention, and their quarrels 

 tended largely to destroy the influence and ef- 

 fect of the movement. Resolutions supporting 

 the Democratic ticket and approving Democratic 

 principles were adopted. A large and en- 

 thusiastic conference of anti-saloon Republicans 

 was held at New York on May 2 and the day 

 following. Representatives were present from 

 nearly every State, and the necessity of solving 

 the liquor problem through the agency of the 

 Republican party was discussed. Resolutions 

 were adopted and a movement organized in- 

 tended to arrest the growing defection of Pro- 

 hibitionists from the Republican party. 



Political Clubs. An important feature of the 

 political canvass of this year was the rapid 

 growth of the politioal club system. Two 

 powerful organizations, the Republican League 

 of the United States and the National Associa- 

 tion of Democratic Clubs, were formed, whose 

 influence stimulated the formation of clubs over 



the whole country, supplementing and in some 

 cases practically superseding the regular party 

 machinery. 



Early in 1887 the Republican Club of New 

 York city began the work of enlisting the Re- 

 publican clubs already in existence into one 

 compact body, and, by means of circulars and 

 letters, the existence of about three hundred 

 clubs was discovered, A national convention 

 of these organizations was held in New York 

 city, Dec. 15-17, 1887, with about 1,500 dele- 

 gates in attendance from twenty-three States 

 and Territories. Daniel J. Ryan, of Ohio, was 

 temporary, and William M. Evarts permanent, 

 chairman. A National Republican League was 

 there organized, to becomposed of State leagues, 

 which in turn were to be made up of local 

 clubs. James P. Foster, of New York, was 

 elected president; Andrew B. Humphrey secre- 

 tary ; and J. S. Clarkson, of Iowa, chairman of 

 the executive committee ; the headquarters 

 being in New York city. New clubs sprung 

 up everywhere, and by August, 1888, 6,500 

 clubs were reported, with an estimated mem- 

 bership of one million voters. The work of 

 forming clubs in the doubtful States was pushed 

 rapidly. In West Virginia the number in- 

 creased in six weeks from 4 to 118, and there 

 were over 300 clubs in November. Before the 

 election there were 1,100 clubs in Indiana, with 

 a membership of 80,000, and 1,400 clubs in New 

 York. State leagues were formed and State 

 conventions of Republican clubs were held 

 during the campaign in nearly all the Northern 

 States. A great work was done by these or- 

 ganizations in the distribution of campaign 

 documents, and especially in the enrollment of 

 Republican voters. 



The former work was aided and extended 

 by the Home Market Club, of Boston, Mass., 

 which was formed to spread the doctrine of 

 protection. Its work was largely confined to 

 the circulation of documents, nearly thirteen 

 million being issued and distributed, to a great 

 extent, by the local clubs of the Republican 

 League. 



In this movement the Democrats were 

 scarcely less active than their opponents. The 

 National Association of Democratic Clubs grew 

 out of a suggestion of the Young Men's Demo- 

 cratic Club of New York to form a league of 

 Democratic clubs to secure the adoption of the 

 principles of tariff and civil-service reform. 

 After much correspondence, several clubs unit- 

 ed in a call for a conference, which was held 

 in New York city, April 21, 1888, and was 

 participated in by delegates from twenty-one 

 clubs from fourteen States. This conference 

 called a convention of Democratic clubs, which 

 was held in Baltimore, July 4, 1888, and was 

 attended by 2,400 delegates from 500 clubs. 

 W. E. Russell, of Massachusetts, was chosen 

 temporary, and John Winans permanent, chair- 

 man of the convention. The principles of the 

 association were adopted, which henceforth 

 became an organization for the success of the 



