ILLINOIS. 



393 



But the Executive shall not dissolve the House of 

 Representatives upon a declaration of non-confidence 

 affirmed by the country in the return of a new House. 

 Before entering on the duties of his office, the Ex- 

 ecutive shall take the following oath or affirmation : 

 "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faith- 

 fully maintain and observe the Constitution and ex- 

 ecute the laws of the United States." 



Wherever in the Constitution the word "Presi- 

 dent" now stands, the word "Executive" shall be 

 substituted, and all sections, clauses, or parts there- 

 of, inconsistent with this amendment, are hereby 

 annulled and declared void. 



And be it further resolved. That our Senators in 

 Congress be instructed, and our Eepresentatives be 

 requested, to favor the adoption by Congress of a 

 joint resolution, proposing to the several State Le- 

 gislatures for ratification and adoption as part of 

 the Constitution of the United States, the following 

 amendment as a substitute for section 2 of Article 1., 

 viz. . 



Sec. 2. The House of Representatives shall be 

 composed of members chosen by the people of the 

 several States to serve for the term of three years, 

 unless the term be ended before the expiration of 

 three years by a dissolution of the House, as pro- 

 vided in Article II. of this Constitution. The electors 

 of Representatives in each State shall have the qual- 

 ifications required for electors of the most numerous 

 branch of the State Legislature. 



Before the close of the session a protest was 

 drawn up and signed by nearly all the Repub- 

 lican members of the House against the arbitra- 

 ry rulings of the Speaker in numerous instances, 

 and his refusal to allow the minority its just 

 rights in debate, and the influence in controlling 

 action which the rules were intended to secure. 

 The instances were enumerated and the circum- 

 stances stated to show that the Speaker had dis- 

 regarded the rights of members to be heard, and 

 ruled in defiance of all precedent and law to 

 carry his own points and those of the majority 

 in spite of legitimate opposition. In conclu- 

 sion, the protest says : 



When such means are resorted to, to overcome the 

 minority and attain partisan ends, when the simplest 

 dictates of justice and the plainest principles of par- 

 liamentary law are thus lost sight of, where members 

 of the minority are thus refused the privilege, ay, 

 the right, of having their votes recorded as they 

 give them; when we are compelled to quietly sit 

 by and see our official acts falsified, and the official 

 record of the people's representatives go down to the 

 future, bearing a lie upon its face, and when we 

 have sat here for weeks and months, under the al- 

 most daily infliction of wrongs similar to those enu- 

 merated., vainly hoping, from day to day, that the 

 light of justice would finally break through the clouds 

 of partisan passion that seem to envelop the House, 

 and bring to us some relief, is it to be wondered at 

 that we find ourselves at last compelled to resort to 

 this, the only means left us under the constitution 

 of our State, to protest against the wrongs which we 

 are powerless to prevent ? 



To offset this the Democratic members made 

 a protest in reply, answering and explaining 

 the allegations of the Republican protest. 



The Farmers' Association of Illinois held its 

 third annual meeting at Springfield on the 21st 

 of January. A ; long series of resolutions was 

 adopted, including the following: 



Whereas, Through the departure from the primary 

 principles of our Government, as promulgated by its 

 founders, and through the imprudent exercise of that 



highest prerogative of the freeman, the right of suf- 

 frage, we, the farmers of Illinois, in common with the 

 wealth and food producers of these United States, 

 have, through our past action, acquiesced in a sys- 

 tem of class legislation, which makes the great ma- 

 jority slavishly subservient to a small minority ; and 



Whereas, This condition is clearly traceable to the 

 fostering protection which has been accorded by our 

 legislative bodies, both State and national, to the 

 financial, mercantile, manufacturing, and transport- 

 ing interests, enabling them to accumulate an undue 

 proportion of the national wealth, and encouraging 

 them in the exercise of the corrupting lobby influ- 

 ences which have become inseparable from our legis- 

 lative system : therefore 



Resol/oed, That the preservation of our national life 

 imperatively demands that every American voter 

 shall attend with care all primary nominations and 

 elections, so as to insure the election of competent 

 and honest men to all offices in the gift of the people. 



Resolved, That the record of old political parties of 

 this country is such as to forfeit the confidence and 

 respect of the people, and that we are therefore ab- 

 solved from all allegiance to them, and should act no 

 longer with them. 



Resolved, That we do not recognize any necessity 

 that public officers should receive extravagant sala- 

 ries, to the end that they may conform to the demand 

 of expensive and fashionable tastes, which in their 

 very nature are antagonistic to republican principles ; 

 and, therefore, we demand a reduction of official sala- 

 ries, including that of the President of the United 

 States to its former basis, as soon as can be constitu- 

 tionally done. 



Resolved, That we demand the immediate reform 

 of abuses in the civil service, through which the pa- 

 tronage of the Government is dispensed as a reward 

 for partisan service, rather than with regard to the 

 public necessities. 



Resolved, That the right to exchange the products 

 of labor is coextensive with the right of ownership. 

 We submit to all needful taxation for the support of 

 the Government, but denounce all taxation levied for 

 the benefit of special classes. We hold that the ex- 

 isting duties on clothing, lumber, salt, iron, and steel, 

 are not only unnecessary to the successful prosecu- 

 tion of these industries, but oppressive to labor, and 

 tend to create monopolies ; while at the same time 

 they furnish a pretext for extravagant charges for 

 railway transportation. 



Resolved, That we demand the repeal of the na- 

 tional banking law, and that the Government shall 

 supply national paper-money directly from the Treas- 

 ury, made a legal tender for all debts, public and 

 private, including duties on imports, to be inter- 

 changeable for registered bonds bearing 3.65 per 

 cent, interest. 



Resolved, That the existing railroad legislation of / 

 the State should be sustained and enforced until | 

 thoroughly tested before the courts ; that we oppose ' 

 any legislation by Congress under the ^>lea of regu- 

 lating commerce between the States, which shall de- 

 prive the people of their present controlling influence 

 through State legislation. 



At a convention of the National Temperance 

 Association at Chicago, on the 3d of June, the 

 following resolution among others was adopted : 



Resolved, That the time has arrived to more fully 

 consider the relations of the national Government, 

 and its responsibility for the alcoholic liquor-traffic, 

 and we hereby ask the Forty-fourth Congress to 

 prohibit the manufacture and sale of all alcoholic 

 beverages in the District of Columbia, and in the 

 Territories of the United States, and to prohibit their 

 importation from foreign countries ; to require total 

 abstinence from all alcoholic beverages on the part 

 of all officers and subordinates of the civil, militarv, 

 and naval service, and to initiate and adopt, for rati- 

 fication by the several States of the Union, a consti- 



