ILLINOIS. 



393 



of Illinois regards the Constitution, with its amend- 

 ments, as the supreme law of the Union, to be re- 

 spected and obeyed in all its parts ; and the political 

 distinctions founded on race and color being now 

 abolished, we pledge ourselves in the future, as in 

 the past, to maintain at all times the constitutional 

 rights and franchises of all men, without regard to 

 previous condition. 



Resolved, That taxes should be levied solely for the 

 support of the Government and the maintenance of 

 its credit, and that the imposition of taxes having 

 for their object the transfer of capital from one class, 

 section, or individual to another, without the consent 

 of the owners, is unjust, delusive, impolitic, and op- 

 posed to all the principles of republican government. 



Resolved, That commerce, trade, and industry, are 

 founded upon the mutual exchange of services among 

 men, and that whatever operates to cripple or ob- 

 struct such exchange can only be productive of loss 

 to the whole community. 



Resolved, That the present tariff has destroyed the 

 ship-building industry, and almost annihilated the 

 foreign commercial marine of the United States ; 

 that it has prohibited the construction, on our lakes 

 and rivers, of iron vessels with increased carrying 

 capacity in proportion to tonnage and draught ol 

 water, with greater durability and diminished outlay 

 for repairs and insurance all which tend to mate- 

 rially cheapen the transport of products ; that while 

 this tariff is unnecessarily increasing the profits of the 

 iron-producer, it is crippling the ship-building and 

 ship-owning interests of the great lakes and rivers, 

 so that, as respects competition with our Canadian 

 rivals, these interests are placed by the General Gov- 

 ernment at a great disadvantage and this in the 

 face of the most abundant natural resources for ship- 

 building and navigation. 



Resolved, That to the same unwise policy is charge- 

 able, in a large degree, the heavy cost of railroad 

 transportation, the cost of such transportation being 

 always in proportion to the cost of iron ; and that it 

 is idle for the Western farmer, notwithstanding his 

 superior advantages of soil and climate, to expect to 

 compete with agriculturists in other parts of the 

 world, when his products are conveyed to market 

 over rails which cost seventy per cent, more than 

 they cost elsewhere. 



Resolved, That our system of taxation should be 

 readjusted and simplified, with a view to raising the 

 nece'ssary amount of revenue from the smallest num- 

 ber of articles, to the end that the cost of collection 

 may be decreased and a fruitful source of corrup- 

 tion removed. 



Additional resolutions were offered, declar- 

 ing more directly in favor of " full and abso- 

 lute free trade ; " recommending the estab- 

 lishment of a Department of Labor in the na- 

 tional Government; denouncing "all combi- 

 nations or rings Tammany or otherwise for 

 political or partisan purposes ; " demanding 

 full amnesty for past political offences ; insist- 

 ing that American citizens should be protected 

 by the Government in every part of the world ; 

 favoring a recognition of the rights of labor ; 

 urging a return to specie payments ; calling on 

 the Legislature to pass laws for the protection 

 of miners; demanding that public lands be 

 hereafter held for the benefit and use of actual 

 settlers only; declaring in favor of an honest 

 payment of the public debt, but against any 

 special favor to creditors not warranted by the 

 acts creating the debt ; demanding retrench- 

 ment and reform in the Federal Government, 

 and denouncing the " corruption of the war- 

 making power of Genera] Grant in the San 



Domingo question as a gross violation of the 

 Constitution." These resolutions provoked 

 some discussion, but were finally adopted. 

 The election took place on the 8th of Novem- 

 ber, and resulted in the choice of John L. 

 Beveridge, the Eepublican candidate. The to- 

 tal vote was 253,263, of which Beveridge re- 

 ceived 137,926, and Hayes 115,357, making 

 the majority of the former 22,589. 



In October the city of Chicago was the scene 

 of one of the most terrible conflagrations of 

 modern times. There had been several un- 

 usually destructive fires on previous days, but 

 on -the evening of Sunday, the 8th of that 

 month, the main conflagration commenced, 

 having its origin in a small wooden barn on 

 De Koven Street, in the Western District of 

 the city. The buildings in that quarter were 

 mostly of wood, and there were several lum- 

 ber-yards along the margin of the river. 

 Through these the flames raged with great 

 fury, and were carried across the stream by 

 the strong westerly wind which was prevail- 

 ing at the time, and thence swept up into the 

 Southern Division, which was closely built up 

 with stores, warehouses, and public buildings, 

 of stone, brick, and iron, many of them sup- 

 posed to be fire-proof. The fire raged all day 

 on Monday, the 9th, and crossed the main 

 channel of the Chicago River, sweeping all be- 

 fore it in the Northern District, which was oc- 

 cupied mostly by dwelling-houses. 



In the Western Division, where the fire 

 originated, about 194 acres were burned over, 

 including sixteen acres swept by the fire of 

 Saturday evening, October 7th. This section 

 contained, besides several lumber-yards and 

 planing-mills, and numerous wooden struct- 

 ures of an inferior sort, the Union Depot of 

 the St. Louis and the Pittsburg & Fort 

 Wayne Railroads. 500 buildings were de- 

 stroyed in all, and 2,250 persons rendered 

 homeless. In the South Division the burnt 

 district comprised about 460 acres. It ex- 

 tended from a line running diagonally from 

 the corner of Michigan Avenue and Congress 

 Street, west-southwest to the intersection of 

 Fifth Avenue and Polk Street, up to the main 

 channel of the river on the north, and filled 

 the whole space between the southern branch 

 of the river to the lake, one block only re- 

 maining unburnt in all that area. This dis- 

 trict contained the greater part of the most 

 expensive structures in the city all the whole- 

 sale stores, all the newspaper-offices, all the 

 principal banks, and insurance and law offices, 

 many coal-yards, nearly all the hotels, and 

 many factories, the Court-house, Custom- 

 house, Chamber of Commerce, etc. The 

 number of buildings destroyed in this division 

 was about 3,650, which included 1,600 stores, 

 28 hotels, and 60 manufacturing establish- 

 ments. About 21.800 persons were rendered 

 homeless. In the North Division the devas- 

 tation was the most wide-spread, fully 1,470 

 acres being burned over out of the 2,533^ 



