448 



IOWA. 



roads refused to obey the second order of the 

 commissioners, hoping that the law would event- 

 ually be declared invalid. About this time it 

 was discovered that this second order had not 

 been legally promulgated, and a new notice by 

 the commissioners of its promulgation became 

 necessary, so that it did not legally take effect 

 till Oct.' 25. On Oct. 28 the commissioners or- 

 dered the Attorney-General to begin suits against 

 the larger delinquent roads, and in December 

 some of these suits were begun. At the close of 

 the year the State Supreme Court had not de- 

 cided the appealed injunction suit. 



For 1889 the report of the commissioners pre- 

 sents the following railroad statistics : Miles of 

 road, 8.259, a decrease of 38 miles during the 

 year; assessed valuation, $42,882,984, a decrease 

 of $388,024; gross earnings, $37,478,571, an in- 

 crease of $1,112,907; operating expenses, $25,- 

 616,805, an increase of $1,585,719; net earnings, 

 $11.861,766, a decrease of $472,812. The de- 

 crease of mileage is due chiefly to the taking up 

 of 33 miles of track on the Estherville and the 

 Claiinda branches of the Union Pacific road. 

 There was no new construction during the year. 



Political. On June 25 the Republican State 

 Convention met at Sioux City, and nominated 

 the following State ticket, to be voted for at the 

 November election : For Secretary of State, W. 

 M. McFarland: for Auditor, James A. Lyons; 

 for Treasurer, Byron A. Beeson ; for Attorney- 

 General, John Y. Stone; for Railroad Commis- 

 sioner, J. W. Luke ; for Justice of the Supreme 

 Court, James H. Rothrock ; for Clerk of the Su- 

 preme Court, G. B. Pray; for Supreme Court 

 Reporter, N. B. Raymond. The platform dis- 

 cusses State issues as follows : 



We declare against any compromise with the sa- 

 loon, _and stand by the people of this State in their 

 hostility to its existence, spread, and power. We fa- 

 vor such legislation on the part of Congress as phall 

 protect the police power of the States in their efforts 

 to regulate, confine, or prohibit the public bar, and 

 for approval of the work and record of the Republican 

 party of this State in this great cause of temperance, 

 involving the public peace and the safety of good gov- 

 ernment, we appeal confidently to the electors of Iowa. 



The Republican party of tfiis State is in favor ^of 

 promoting in every fair and honorable way the in- 

 dustrial interests of the people of this State. We be- 

 lieve the business interests of the people are inter- 

 changeable and mutual, and that injustice toward 

 one class must, sooner or later, work to the injury of 

 all classes. Particularly do we believe that the great 

 industry represented by the farm stands at the nead 

 of Iowa industries, and that a faithful guardianship 

 of that interest is a prime obligation upon those who 

 make and administer our laws. 



We congratulate the people of this State, irrespect- 

 ive of party relationship, upon the measure of success 

 attained in the contest in this State in behalf of the 

 just legal control of the railway corporations doing 

 business in this State ; and we appeal to the people 

 to see to it that there be no recession in the iust policy 

 of the State in this regard. We believe that efforts 

 to nullify the interstate commerce law should bo re- 

 sisted, to the end that national protection and State 

 protection may alike be equal U all communities and 

 among all classes. 



The Democratic State Convention met at Ce- 

 dar Rapids on Aug. 6, and made the following 

 nominations: For Secretary of State, William 

 H. Chamberlain ; for Auditor, George S. Wit- 

 ters ; for Treasurer, William L. White ; for At- 



torney-General, Cyrus H. Mackey: for Railroad 

 Commissioner, Peter A. Dey; for Justice of the 

 Supreme Court, P. B. Wolfe ; for Clerk of the 

 Supreme Court, E. J. Sankey ; for Supreme Court 

 Reporter, Theodore W. Ivory. The platform 

 contains the following declarations on local is- 

 sues : 



We declare our continued adherence to the principle 

 of railroad control as expressed in the laws of the State 

 and General Government, and we favor such changes 

 as experience may show to be necessary to maintain 

 a just and equitable relation between carriers and 

 shippers. 



We reaffirm the policy respecting the control of the 

 traffic in intoxicating liquors set forth in the Demo- 

 cratic platform of 1889, and approved by the people at 

 election of that vear, and we are in favor of such legis- 

 lation, State and national, as may be necessary to carry 

 that policy into effect. 



On Aug. 14 representatives of the Union La- 

 bor and Greenback parties met at Des Moines in 

 State convention, and agreed upon the following 

 ticket : For Secretary of State, E. P. Brown ; 

 for Auditor, C. F. Davis; for Treasurer, A. S. 

 Blakely ; for Attorney-General, T. F. Willis ; 

 for Railroad Commissioner, J. M. Joseph ; for 

 Justice of the Supreme Court, M. H. Jones; for 

 Clerk of the Supreme Court, Alfred Wooster ; 

 for Supreme Court Reporter, D. J. Morris. The 

 name of George D. Porter was later substituted 

 for that of M. II. Jones. The platform said noth- 

 ing on State issues except : 



We favor the Australian ballot system, demand its 

 adoption in this State, and we denounce the late Gen- 

 eral Assembly for withholding it from the people. 



On Sept. 14 a convention of third-party Pro- 

 hibitionists at Des Moines selected the following 

 candidates : For Secretary of State. C. R. McFar- 

 lin; for Auditor, R. A. Dorcus; for Treasurer, 

 J, C. Reed ; for Railroad Commissioner, Caleb 

 Dailey ; for Justice of the Supreme Court, Dan- 

 iel B. Turney ; for Clerk of the Supreme Court, 

 F. S. Spurrier; for Reporter, F. S. White. A 

 candidate for Attorney-General named Warren 

 was later added to the ticket. 



At the November election the Republican can- 

 didates were elected by small pluralities. For 

 Secretary of State McFarland received 191,606 

 votes ; Chamberlain, 188,240 ; Brown, 8.813 ; 

 McFarlin, 1,646. In the contest for Railroad 

 Commissioner, Peter A. Dey, Democrat, who had 

 been twice elected to the same office when the 

 rest of his ticket failed, was this year defeated 

 by 310 votes, the official returns being : Luke, 

 190,007 ; Dey, 189,697 ; Joseph, 9,090 ; Daily, 

 1,637. The pluralities of the other Republican 

 candidates upon the State ticket varied from 

 1,713 for Treasurer to 3,993 for Attorney-Gen- 

 eral. On the proposition to hold a convention 

 to revise the State Constitution, the vote was 

 27,809 in its favor and 159,394 against it. 



The congressional elections, held at the same 

 time, resulted in the choice of 6 Democrats and 

 5 Republicans, as follows : First District, John 

 J. Seerley (Dem.), 17,459, John H. Gear (Rep.), 

 16,388; Second District, Walter I. Hayes (Dem.), 

 20,748, Bruce T. Seaman (Rep.), 11,738; Third 

 District, David B. Henderson (Rep.), 19,689, Carl- 

 ton F. Couch (Dem.), 19,491 ; Fourth District, 

 Walter PI. Butler (Dem.), 17,972, J. II. Sweney 

 (Rep.), 16,023 ; Fifth District, John T.'IIamilton 



