224: 



CONNECTICUT. 



over 100 square miles. The catch from the three 

 natural beds during the year was over 1,000,000 

 bushels, and it gave employment to 200 boats and 

 600 men for three months. 



Live Stock. In July, 1896, the United States 

 Department of Agriculture estimated the number 

 and value of farm animals in the State as follow: 

 Horses 43,913. value, $2,922,361; milch cows, 136,- 

 206 value, $4,072,059; other cattle, 69,390, value, 

 $1,745,494; sheep, 34.520, value, $91,892; and 

 swine, 53,737, value, $480.406 ; total value, $9,312.- 

 712 ; a decrease in valuation since January, 1895, of 

 $202,825. The decrease in number is in horned 

 cat t le and sheep. 



Monuments. The Legislature of 1893 provided 

 for the erection of memorials on the battlefields of 

 the civil war, commemorating the service of the 

 Connecticut troops thereon engaged. The Twelfth 

 Regiment monument, at Winchester, in the Shenan- 

 doah valley, was dedicated Oct. 19, and the monu- 

 ment in honor of the Second Connecticut Heavy 

 Artillery, originally the Nineteenth Connecticut 

 Infantry, was "unveiled in the National Cemetery at 

 Arlington, Oct. 21. The Eleventh Regiment monu- 

 ment, erected two years .ago on the battlefield of 

 Antietam, was this year removed from its original 

 site to the position" at Antietam bridge which was 

 gallantly held by the regiment during the battle. 



Woman Suffrage. At the town elections in 

 October women voted on school questions in only 

 45 of the 162 towns in which elections were held, 

 and the total vote was about one fourth the number 

 of women who registered, that number being 5,289. 

 The vote this year was 1,399 ; in 1895 it was 2,001, 

 and in 1894, 2,425. 



Political. The Republican State Convention, 

 held at New Haven on April 22, declared in favor 

 of protection with reciprocity, restriction of immi- 

 gration, and supplying the Government with the 

 men and munitions necessary to uphold the Monroe 

 doctrine. Other declarations were as follow : 



" We are unalterably opposed to the issue of un- 

 secured paper currency, either by the Government 

 or the banks, or the free coinage of silver, at any 

 ratio, and favor a single standard of value, and that 

 standard gold. We believe that this policy, with a 

 sound and stable currency upon a gold basis, will 

 furnish sufficient revenue to meet all requirements 

 of the Government and properly support it. 



"We believe in such discriminating duties in fa- 

 vor of American bottoms as will again revive our 

 shipping interests, and extend our trade and com- 

 merce to every land." 



On June 10 the Democratic Convention was held 

 in Hartford. It approved the administration of 

 President Cleveland, expressed itself in favor of a 

 system of tariff taxation for revenue which should 

 p'rovide a surplus for. the payment of the Federal 

 debt, and passed also the following resolutions : 



" As a necessary consequence, the honest payment 

 of public debts and the preservation of the public 

 faith and credit require that the gold standard of 

 money, as a measure of value, shall be maintained. 



" While we favor th"e most liberal use of silver 

 consistent with the enforcement of a gold standard, 

 we are unalterably opposed to the free coinage of 

 silver, deeming it a device for the debasement of 

 our currency, and to the compulsory purchase of 

 silver by the Government. Under existing circum- 

 stances to pay public debts in silver coin is repudia- 

 tion : to pay private debts in the same coin is to 

 rob the wage earner ; and to provide for the free 

 cuinage of silver means the destruction of legitimate 

 business and great suffering among the laboring 

 classes. 



" We believe the safety of our national finances 

 requires a system of sound banking, by which a 



bank-note currency ample to supply the needs of 

 the whole country shall be created, safely secured, 

 and always and everywhere redeemable in gold." 



On Sept. 1 the Republican State Convention, 

 held in Hartford, to nominate presidential electors 

 and candidates for State officers adopted the fol- 

 lowing : 



\Ve, the Republicans of Connecticut in con- 

 vention assembled, while reaffirming the principles 

 of the Republican party, as enunciated in the plat- 

 form adopted by the National Convention at St. 

 Louis, and in the masterly letter of acceptance of 

 our presidential nominee, William McKinley, and 

 in the admirable platform recently adopted by our 

 State convention, recognize in the crisis which has 

 been forced upon this country by the un-American 

 and revolutionary action of the so-called Demo- 

 cratic Convention, held at Chicago, that the ques- 

 tion of supreme importance at present is the pres- 

 ervation of the life, honor, and integrity of our 

 nation. 



' We realize that this can only be accomplished 

 by the maintenance of our judicial system, which is 

 the bulwark of our liberties and the admiration of 

 the world, and by the continuance of a financial 

 policy which makes gold the standard of value 

 until a different policy is adopted by international 

 agreement. 



" We favor a tariff which will provide revenue 

 sufficient to meet the ordinary necessary expenses 

 of the Government, and so adjusted as to place 

 American labor, without the sacrifice of our high 

 wage system, on at least equal terms in our own 

 market with the labor of other lam Is. 



" We commend the wise and economical adminis- 

 tration of the affairs of this State by Governor 

 Coffin and his associates." 



On the first ballot Lorrin A. Cook was nominated 

 for Governor ; James D. Dewell was the nominee 

 for Lieutenant Governor ; Charles Phelps for Sec- 

 retary of State; Charles W. Grosvenor for Treas- 

 urer ; and Benjamin P. Mead for Comptroller, 



The Prohibition State Convention was held in 

 New Haven Sept. 8. The 3 declarations of its plat- 

 form favored the suppression of the manufacture 

 or sale of alcoholic beverages. A woman-suffrage 

 clause was excluded after a vigorous debate. The 

 nominations for State officers were : For Governor, 

 Edward Manchester ; for Lieutenant Governor, 

 Charles E. Steele ; for Secretary of State, Wilbur 

 L. Chamberlain ; for Treasurer, George P. Fenncr ; 

 for Comptroller, Elijah C. Barton. 



When the Democratic State Convention assem- 

 bled at New Haven on -Sept. 16, one of the first pro- 

 ceedings was the resignation of 12 members of 

 the regular State Committee, and of its chairman 

 and its secretary. Two vacancies already existed 

 in the committee, whose original number was 

 24, and 2 members were not in attendance 

 at the convention. A proposition from the Peo- 

 ple's party for a conference " for the selection of 

 candidates for presidential electors and also candi- 

 dates for State officers to be presented for the con- 

 sideration of the Democratic State Convention now 

 in session," was received, and an adjournment of 

 an hour was taken for the conference. Among the 

 rules adopted on reassembling was one to the effect 

 that members of the State Central Committee take 

 office immediately upon election, instead of on Jan. 

 1, as formerly. The platform adopted included the 

 following: 



" We indorse the platform adopted at Chicago 

 by the Democratic National Convention, and that 

 we pledge our earnest and faithful support to Wil- 

 liam J. Bryan and Arthur Sewall, the candidates 

 nominated by the Democratic party. 



" Growing'industrial disaster and distressful pov- 





