706 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



SOUTH DAKOTA. 



between the hard-money metals shall have been 

 reached by international agreement, such an agree- 

 ment with the leading commercial nations as will 

 keep it so." 



In reference to the new Constitution and other 

 State matters, the resolutions said : 



' We are in favor of a government service based 

 on merit and character and capacity, and not on 

 the corrupt and debasing Jacksonian system of ' to 

 the victors belong the spoils ' ; but while as Repub- 

 licans, we heartily indorse the above principles as 

 highly important from a national point of view, 

 what is of vastly more importance to us, and to all 

 good citizens here in South Carolina, is to secure 

 fair and honest elections, and to get rid of our pres- 

 ent arbitrary and despotic factional State govern- 

 ment with a'll its accompanying evils. We there- 

 fore reaffirm our purpose to use every proper and 

 legitimate means to have our new Constitution set 

 aside as in conflict with the Constitution and laws 

 of the United States. We admit that it has certain 

 good points in it, notably its improved educational 

 facilities. But it is tainted with fraud in its origin ; 

 it is fraudulent in its character, and fraudulent in 

 that it was foisted upon the State without ratifica- 

 tion by a popular vote. We therefore hold that 

 neither Congress nor the Federal courts ought to 

 recognize its validity. We also declare our most 

 emphatic opposition to the entire brood of iniquities 

 imposed on the State by the dominant element, and 

 pledge the Republican party to remove them as 

 rapidly as possible if put in a position to do so." 



Both wings of the party held conventions for 

 nominating State officers at Columbia, Sept. 17. 

 Both adopted platforms and nominated candidates. 

 The first, or "old-line" wing, which was the one 

 recognized at the national convention, put forward 

 the following ticket : For Governor, K. .M. Wallace ; 

 Lieutenant Governor, J. P. Latimer; Secretary of 

 State, B. 0. Duncan ; Treasurer, George I. Cunning- 

 ham ; Comptroller General, E. F. Cochran ; Attor- 

 ney-General, L. D. Melton ; Adjutant General, E. 

 Brooks Sligh ; Superintendent of Education, E. B. 

 Burroughs. 



The other ticket was: For Governor, Sampson 

 Pope ; Lieutenant Governor. W. W. Russell ; Sec- 

 retary of State, B. R. King; Comptroller General, 

 V. P. Clayton ; Attorney-General, L. D. Melton ; 

 Treasurer, D. J. Knotts; Superintendent of Educa- 

 tion, M. A. Dawson; Adjutant General, A. T. Jen- 

 nings. 



The Democratic convention met in Columbia, May 

 20. Resolutions presenting Senator Tillman as a 

 presidential candidate were adopted with but 4 dis- 

 senting votes. Delegates were instructed to vote 

 as a unit. The platform was prepared by a com- 

 mittee, of which Senator Tillman was chairman. 

 It denounced the administration of President Cleve- 

 land as un-Deraocratic and tyrannical ; repudiated 

 the construction placed on the financial plank of 

 the last Democratic National Convention by the 

 President and Secretary Carlisle; denounced the 

 issue of the bonds; expressed the belief that "the 

 power and usurpations of the Federal courts as now 

 organized are dangerous to the public ; demanded 

 the calling of a constitutional convention to form 

 an organic law suitable to the changed conditions 

 and the growth of the country ; called for a more 

 economical administration of national affairs ; de- 

 manded the free and unlimited coinage of silver at 

 the ratio of 16 to 1, regardless of the action of any 

 and all other nations, and the enlargement of the 

 powers of the Interstate Commerce Commission. 



A minority report signed by two members was 

 presented, asking the elimination of the condemna- 

 tion of President Cleveland, and demanding a pledge 

 to abide bv the action of the national convention. 



Senator Irby supported the antibolting declaration, 

 charging that Tillman's ambition to be President, 

 which could not be gratified in the Democracy, was 

 at the bottom of the bolting proposition. Senator 

 Tillman replied in a bitter speech, and the platform 

 reported by him was then adopted. 



A new Constitution was adopted for the party in 

 the State, of which the following were the main 

 points: Candidates for United States Senator still 

 to be chosen by primary : chairmen of county ex- 

 ecutive committees to be chosen by the county con- 

 ventions; each club to have a separate voting place 

 in primaries; each candidate to pledge himself be- 

 fore the first campaign meeting ; a majority required 

 to elect ; State executive committee to have final 

 decision of all contests. 



W. H. Ellerbe received an overwhelming major- 

 ity of the votes for the gubernatorial nomination 

 at the primaries. Following is the Democratic 

 ticket: For Governor, W. H. Ellerbe; Lieutenant 

 Governor, M. B. McSweeney ; Secretary of State, D. 

 H. Tompkins; Treasurer, W. H. Timmerman ; Comp- 

 troller, James Norton ; Attorney-General, W. A. 

 Barber; Adjutant General, J. G. Watts; Superin- 

 tendent of P^ducation, W. D. Mayfield. 



The vote taken at the primaries for United States 

 Senator to succeed Senator Irby, showed Joseph H. 

 Earle to be the choice of the people. He received 

 42,915 out of a total vote of 82,482, Gov. Evans re- 

 ceiving 39,567. 



The vote for President stood : Bryan, 58,798 ; 

 McKinley, 9,281 ; Palmer, 828. For Governor, Eller- 

 be, Democrat, received 59,424 ; Wallace, Regular 

 Republican, 2,780; Pope, Reorganized Republican, 

 4,432. The other Democratic candidates were elected 

 by similar majorities. All the members of Congress 

 elected are Democrats. There are no Republicans 

 in the State Senate, and there is but one in the 

 House. 



SOUTH DAKOTA, a Western State, admitted 

 to .the Union Nov. 3, 1889; area, 77,650 square 

 miles; population, according to the census of 1890, 

 328.808. Capital, Pierre. 



Government. The following were the State 

 officers during the year : Governor, Charles H. 

 Sheldon, Republican; Lieutenant Governor. Charles 

 N. Herried ; Secretary of State, Thomas Thorson ; 

 Treasurer, Kirk G. Phillips; Auditor, J. E. Hippie; 

 Attorney-General, Coe I. Crawford; Adjutant Gen- 

 eral, George A. Silsby : Superintendent of Public 

 Instruction, Frank Crane ; Commissioner of Labor 

 Statistics, S. A. Wheeler; Commissioner of School 

 and Public Lands, John L. Lockhart ; Railroad 

 Commissioners, John R. Brennan, George A. John- 

 ston, E. F. Conklin ; Chief Justice of the Supreme 

 Court, Dighton Corson ; Associate Justices, Al- 

 phonso G. Kellam, who resigned Jan. 30. after 

 which Dick Haney was appointed, and Howard G. 

 Fuller ; Clerk of the Supreme Court, Ivan W. 

 Goodner. 



Finances. The balance in the treasury July 1, 

 1895, was $320,489.91 ; the receipts during the fiscal 

 year were $1,352,333.49; the disbursements, $940,- 

 173.50; and the balance remaining July 1, 1896, 

 was $412,159.99. 



The expenditures from the general fund amount- 

 ed to $352,820.98. The collections (aside from cash 

 on hand July 1, 1895, $180,011.07, sale of revenue, 

 warrants $150,000, and transfer of funds received 

 from W. W. Taylor. $115,400.57) amounted to 

 $380,891.94, being $28.070.96 in excess of warrants 

 issued on the general fund. The warrants issued 

 during the preceding year were $126,118.30 in ex- 

 cess of the collections. 



In August the State Board of Equalization made 

 provision for reducing the bonded indebtedness, 

 $106,000, by a levy of 1'8 mill bond and interest 



