398 



ILLINOIS. 



ment, consistent with such reduction of taxation as 

 the necessities of our people require, and to this end 

 we insist upon the strictest economy in public af- 

 fairs, the careful husbanding of the public resources, 

 and the rigid accountability of all public servants. 



Resolved, That we demand the overthrow of the 

 party in power, because it stands committed to the 

 destruction of the legitimate rights of the States, to 

 the subversion of the executive and judiciary de- 

 partments for partisan ends and to the erection of a 

 consolidated government upon the ruins of the Fed- 

 eral system ; because it is pledged to the policy of 

 protection which it has enforced by oppressive le- 

 gislation for the last ten years ; to the continuance of 

 nn onerous and aggravating system of internal reve- 

 nue taxation ; to the postponement of the payment of 

 the national debt : to the wholesale surrender to spec- 

 ulators of the public lands, and to the fostering of 

 schemes of private aggrandizement ; because it is 

 extravagant, wasteful, and corrupt, sustaining and 

 sustained by ring legislation ; its most distinguished 

 leaders unblushingly open to bribery and using the 

 power of their official positions for private purposes ; 

 because, destitute of principle, it is held together 

 solely by the cohesive power of public plunder. 



Icesolved, That the Democratic party now, as 

 ever, profoundly sympathize with the efforts of the 

 people everywhere to be free. That the great Re- 

 public of the United States necessarily occupies a 

 position of perpetual antagonism toward the despot- 

 isms of the world, a position which the Democracy 

 have no disposition to disavow, but which on the 

 contrary they openly acknowledge, and will unhesi- 

 tatingly maintain. That the Republic of France re- 

 ceives our hearty welcome into the family of free 

 nations j that its people, endeared to us by tradi- 

 tional ties, have our sinccrest sympathies in their 

 release from thraldom : that we commend the Ad- 

 ministration of the Federal Government for the re- 

 cognition so far accorded to the Republic of France, 

 and demand that the moral aid of its support shall 

 be given, to the fulle'st extent, in behalf of the rule 

 of the people inaugurated upon the overthrow of an 

 imperial dynasty. That the inhabitants of Germany 

 have our heartiest good wishes in their endeavor to 

 bring about a united country ; that we congratulate 

 them on their valiant conduct in the pending war, 

 and trust that the liberty which the defeat of the 

 Emperor has given their sister states will be vindi- 

 cated in their own persons, and a grand German re- 

 public be the glorious result of their efforts. That 

 the island of Cuba has too long languished under 

 the incubus of foreign despotism, and every effort 

 of this country should be bent to the attainment of 

 its liberation, that its people may partake of that 

 freedom for which they long, and share in our for- 

 tunes, if they so elect. That we are not unmindful 

 of the people of Ireland, and, fully recognizing the 

 wrongs they have been called upon to endure, we 

 trust that the tocsin of liberty now sounding has 

 struck the hour of their redemption. That, while 

 thus declaring our unalterable determination to re- 

 quire the whole weight of the government to be 

 thrown in behalf of republican institutions, we pro- 

 test against this country being drawn into taking 

 sides in the quarrels of despots, and we condemn 

 the leaders of the opposition for their desperate at- 

 tempts, from unwortny motives, to commit our nation 

 to the cause of any potentate claiming to rule a peo- 

 ple by divine right. 



Resolved, That in view of the administration of 

 our own State affairs, we declare that the present ad- 

 ministration has been more reckless in the expendi- 

 ture of the public money than any that ever yet ex- 

 ercised the power of the State, and in proof of this 

 we need say nothing more than call the attention of 

 the tax-payers to the fact that the appropriations of 

 the last Republican General Assembly have forced 

 the Auditor of State to raise the levy of State taxes 

 from six mills and five-tenths to thirteen mills on 



the dollar to meet these corrupt and profligate ex- 

 penditures. That all this is done by the party in 

 power, while professing economy in the management 

 of the public business. That we are opposed to the 

 present management of the State Penitentiary, which 

 we declare has cost the tax-payers of the State, for 

 the last three years, nearly, if not quite, one thou- 

 sand dollars per day, and which enormous sum we 

 believe and charge to have been either squandered 

 or stolen by the persons in charge of the same ; that 

 this expenditure can and should be avoided, and the 

 prison made self-sustaining. 



The financial condition of the State of Illi- 

 nois is represented to be satisfactory. The 

 public debt on the 30th of November was $4,- 

 890,937.30, with $3,082,104.22 in the Treasury 

 applicable to its payment. This leaves a bal- 

 ance unprovided for of only $1,808,833:20. 

 The value of property in the State, as fixed by 

 the tax assessors and equalized among the sev- 

 eral counties by the Board of Equalization was 

 as follows : 



On this amount, as adjusted by the Board of 

 Equalization, taxes are to be collected for the 

 ensuing year as follows: 



For revenue purposes 25 cents on $100 



For payment of the State debt 20 cents on 100 



For support of common schools 20 cents on 100 



This makes the total State taxation six and 

 a half mills on the dollar, which will produce 

 a revenue of $3,124,316.38. 



Public education in Illinois is represented 

 to be in a very flourishing condition. The 

 State Normal University was chartered in 

 1857, and now there is another in progress 

 known as the Southern Normal University, 

 located at Oarbondale. The Industrial Uni- 

 versity at Quincy was founded in 1867, and 

 was designed "to teach in the most thor- 

 ough manner such branches of learning as are 

 related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, 

 and military tactics, without excluding other 

 scientific and classical studies." There were 

 during the past year about 150 students at the 

 university, most of whom were devoting their 

 attention to practical studies. The Illinois 

 College, at Jacksonville, has 236 students and 

 15 instructors. The charitable institutions 

 of the State are under the charge of a Board 

 of Commissioners of Charities, created in 

 1869. There are institutions for the care of 

 the insane, the blind, the deaf and dumb, and 

 the feeble-minded, all located at Jacksonville. 

 New insane asylums are in course of erection 

 at Auria, Union County, and at Elgin. The 

 State Keform School at Pontiac was established 

 in 1867, and is doing a useful work. There is 

 also a Soldiers' College at Fulton, and a Home 

 for Soldiers' Orphans. 



The State occupied its own Penitentiary for 

 the first time on the 1st of July, 1867. $1,075,- 



