IOWA. 



381 



ABT. XXIV. This constitution may be amended 

 or revised at any regular meeting of the Grange, by 

 a vote of two-thirds of the members present. 



The Republican State Convention, which 

 was held in Des Moines on the 25th of June, 

 adopted the following resolutions : 



The Republicans of Iowa, in mass convention as- 

 sembled, make this declaration of principles : We 

 hold the Republican party to be a political organiza- 

 "* ! .on of those American citizens who are opposed to 

 lavery in all its forms, who believe that all men are 

 entitled to the same political and civil rights ; who 

 believe that all laws, State and national, should be 

 made and administered so as to secure to all citizens, 

 wherever born, or whatever their color, creed, con- 

 dition, or occupation, the same rights before the law ; 

 who believe in free schools, free opinion, and uni- 

 versal education ; who believe that American society 

 and the American people should all be raised to the 

 highest possible plane of liberty, honesty, purity, 

 intelligence, and morality, and that all laws should 

 be made and the government constantly adminis- 

 tered with this aim in view, and that no party has a 

 right to the support of the people which is not in- 

 spired with this purpose. Believing that the Re- 

 publican party is still controlled by these principles, 

 and that it is now as it has been from its beginning, 

 an organization of the best and purest political sen- 

 timent of the country, we as Republicans renew the 

 expression of our devotion to it, and our belief that 

 we can secure through it the political reform and the 

 just and necessary measures of legislation, and of 

 relief from monopolies and other abuses of power 

 which the country so much needs : therefore 



Retailed, That, proud as we are of most of the past 

 record of the Republican partv, we yet insist that it 

 shall not rely upon its past achievements ; it must be 

 a party of the present and of progress ; and as it has 

 preserved the Union, freed the slave, and protected 

 him from the oppression of the slave-master, it will 

 now be derelict to its spirit and its duty if it does 

 not protect all our people from all forms of oppres- 

 sion, whether of monopolies, centralized capital, or 

 whatsoever kind the oppression may be. 



Btmlteil, That we insist upon the right and duty 

 of the State to control every franchise of whatever 

 kind it grants; and while we do not wish that any 

 injustice shall be done to the individual or corpora- 

 tion who invests capital or industry in enterprises of 

 this kind, we yet demand that no franchise shall bo 

 granted which is prejudicial to the public interests, 

 or in which the rights and interests of the State and 

 the people are not carefully and fully guarded. 



Rtinlted, That the producing, commercial, and in- 

 dustrial interests of the country should have the best 

 and cheapest modes of transportation possible ; and 

 while actual capital invested in such means of transit, 

 whether by railroad or otherwise, should be permit- 

 ted the right of reasonable remuneration, an abuse in 

 their management, excessive rates, oppressive dis- 

 crimination against localities, persons, or interests, 

 should be corrected by law, and we demand congres- 

 sional and legislative enactments that will control 

 and regulate the railroads of the country, and give 

 to tha people fair rates of transportation, and protect 

 them against existing abuses. 



Rmolved, That we heartily applaud the active 

 measures of the late Congress, in ferreting out and 

 exposing corruption. Wo have seen, with profound 

 regret, in the developments made thereby, evidence 

 of political and official corruption, and the abuse of 

 responsible positions by men of all political parties, 

 to further personal ends, and wo demand pure offi- 

 cial conduct, and the punishment of unfaithful pub- 

 lic men, who, having betrayed the confidence freely 

 extended to them, snail not ho shielded from the 

 disgrace of their acts by any partisanship of ours, 

 n'l we denounce all Credit-Mobilier transactions, 

 and all official misconduct of whatever form. 



Resolved, That we believe that whenever a person 

 holding any position of trust, given him by the peo- 

 ple, is guilty of fraud or embezzlement, he should be 

 convicted and punished under the criminal laws of 

 our hind, in addition to the recovery, from him or his 

 bondsmen, of the amount so embezzled. 



Resolved, That the act of the majority of the mem- 

 bers of the last Congress, in passing what is known 

 as the back-pay steal, by which they voted into their 

 pockets thousands of dollars which did not belong to 

 them, as well as the act of those who voted against 

 the same, and yet received the money, is most fla- 

 grantly improper and infamous, and should secure 

 the political condemnation of all who were party to 

 it; and wo demand that the provisions of the said 

 act, by which the salaries were increased, shall be 

 promptly and unconditionally repealed. 



Resolved, That we sympathize with every move- 

 ment to secure for agriculture and labor their due 

 influence, interests, and rights, and the Republican 

 party will be their ally in every just effort to attain 

 that end. 



Resolved, That we are desirous of political reform, 

 and for honesty, economy, and purity, in all official 

 administration; that to secure this is the duty of 

 every citizen ; that to this end every good man 

 should feel bound to participate in politics, and, to 

 make an end to bad men forcing their election by 

 securing a party nomination, we declare it the duty 

 of every Republican to oppose the election of a bad 

 and incompetent candidate, whether lie be a candi- 

 date upon our own or upon any other ticket. 



The candidates to he named were for Gov- 

 ernor, Lientenant-Governor, Judge of the Su- 

 preme Court, and Superintendent of Public In- 

 struction. Governor Cyrus 0. Carpenter, Judge 

 Joseph M. Beck, and Superintendent Alonzo 

 Ahernethy, were renominated, and Joseph Dy- 

 sart was named for Lieutenant-Governor. 



There was no action taken by the old Dem- 

 ocratic party, but on the 13th of August the 

 opponents of the Republicans met at Des Moines 

 in what they called an " Anti-Monopoly " 

 Convention. John G. Vale was nominated for 

 Governor,Fred. O'Donnell for Lieutenant-Gov- 

 ernor, Benton J. Hall for Judge of the Supreme 

 Court, and D. W. Prindle for Superintendent 

 of Public Instruction. The following pream- 

 ble and resolutions were unanimously adopted : 



Whereat, Political parties are formed to meet pub- 

 lice mergencies, and, when they have discharged the 

 duties which called them into being, they may be- 

 come the means of abuses as gross as those they 

 were organized to reform. 



Whereat, Both the political parties have discharged 

 the obligations assumed at their organization, and 

 are no longer potential instruments for the reform 

 of the abuses which have grown up in them, wo 

 deem it inconsistent to attempt to accomplish a po- 

 litical reform by acting with and in such organiza- 

 tions : therefore 



Resolved, That we, in free convention, do declare, 

 as a basis of our future action 



1. That all corporations' are subject to legislative 

 control ; that those created by Congress should be 

 restricted and controlled by Congress, and that those 

 under State laws should be subject to the control 

 respectively of the States creating them ; that such 

 legislative control be in express abrogation of the 

 theory of the inalienable nature of chartered rights ; 

 and that it should be at all times so used to prevent 

 moneved corporations from becoming engines of op- 

 pression. 



Rennlvcd, That the property of all corporations 

 should be assessed by the same officers, and be taxed 

 at the same rate, as the property of individuals. 



