410 



INDIANA. 



compelling them to try their causes at places remote 

 from their homes. 



13. We approve the bill which recently passed the 

 House of Representatives, prohibiting members of 

 Congress and all officers and employe'* of the United 

 States from contributing money to influence elec- 

 tions. 



14. We are opposed to the assumption by Con- 

 gress of the debts of the District of Columbia, which 

 were contracted by the late corrupt " King," and we 

 believe the Government should pay her equal and 

 just proportion for local improvements, the same as 

 other owners of property, and no more. 



15. That the people of Indiana recognize with 

 pride and pleasure the eminent public service of the 

 Hon. Thomas A. Hendricks ; that in all public trusts 

 he has been faithful to duty, and in his public and 

 private life pure and without blemish. We there- 

 fore declare that he is our unanimous choice for the 

 presidency of the United States. 



16. That the delegates to the Democratic National 

 Convention this day appointed are hereby instructed 

 to cast the vote of this State in said convention as a 

 unit in such manner as the majority of the delegates 

 may determine. 



17. That we are opposed to the payment of any 

 part of the rebel debt, or any payment whatever for 

 emancipated slaves, or the property of rebels de- 

 stroyed in war. 



On the 2d of August the Eepublican candi- 

 date for Governor sent the following letter to 

 the chairman of the State Central Committee 

 withdrawing from the canvass : 



LAFAYETTE, IND., August 2, 1876. 

 DEAB SIR: Feeling satisfied, after a full consulta- 

 tion with yourself and other friends in diiferent parts 

 of the State, that I shall not receive the united sup- 

 port of the Republican party so essential to success 

 in the approaching election, I hereby tender you my 

 declination as a candidate for Governor. With the 

 best wishes for the success of the cause, I am yours 

 truly, GODLOVE S. ORTH. 



To Colonel G. W. FBIEDLET, Chairman of the Repub- 

 lican State Central Committee. 



The committee was called together on the 

 llth of August, and filled the vacancy on the 

 ticket with the name of Benjamin Harrison. 



The Independent or " Greenback " party 

 had put a ticket in the field early in the season, 

 but held a second convention on the 17th of 

 August to fill vacancies. Resolutions were 

 adopted, indorsing the platform of the Inde- 

 pendent State and national parties, denouncing 

 the act of 1873, by which the silver dollar was 

 dropped from our list of coins, and demanding 

 its return, claiming that its full coinage should 

 be encouraged to enable the Government to 

 pay its coin obligations in silver, as it has a 

 right to do under the original contract ; that 

 all values should be taxed equally, including 

 Government bonds and greenbacks ; that the 

 Independents have no faith in the professions 

 of reform which come, on the one hand, from 

 the corporation thief and railroad wrecker rep- 

 resenting the old Tammany regime of New 

 York, and, on the other hand, from the organ- 

 ization which in national convention has in- 

 dorsed the entire Administration of President 

 Grant, not even excepting its stealings ; and 

 that no confidence can be placed in the old 

 political parties which have been steeped in 

 .corruption and complicated with dishonesty. 



The candidates for the principal State offices 

 were Anson Wolcott for Governor, Richard 

 Gregg for Lieutenant- Governor, Allen W. Mon- 

 roe for Secretary of State, Uriah Coulson for 

 Auditor, J. Q. A. Newsom for Treasurer, and 

 William A. Tipton for Attorney-General. On 

 the 4th of October, only six days before the 

 election, Mr. Wolcott suddenly withdrew. He 

 gave his reasons at some length in a letter in 

 which he stated that most of the Democrats 

 in the Independent movement were secretly 

 supporting the regular party candidates, and 

 he did not consider it fair to the Republican 

 party of the State to keep up the division. 

 The closing paragraph of his letter briefly re- 

 stated the grounds of his action in these words : 

 " My sole reason for the course I have chosen 

 to pursue is the fact that very few leading 

 Greenback men of Democratic antecedents are 

 in the Independent movement, and there are 

 comparatively few Democrats of any degree 

 but what continue with their leaders and re- 

 main in the Democratic party. To persist in the 

 Independent movement, in the face of such 

 facts, will not advance the Greenback cause, 

 and will defeat the Republican party. Such is 

 my view of the situation. By this view I am 

 governed. Were the people moving from both 

 the old parties in anything like eqnal numbers 

 and in equal good faith to the Independent 

 party, the case would be wholly changed. Such 

 is my view of the situation, and by this view 

 I arn governed." 



The State Central Committee of the Inde- 

 pendent party promptly filled the vac.incy by 



nominating Harrington as their candidate 



for Governor. 



The political canvass was fraught throughout 

 with unusual excitement, and was watched 

 with eager interest all over the country, owing 

 to the fact that the parties were nearly matched 

 in the contest, and the result of the State elec- 

 tion was regarded as having an important bear- 

 ing on the national contest in November. The 

 following letter, published in August, shows 

 something of the spirit and character of the 

 campaign : 



GRAND HOTEL, INDIANAPOLIS, August 1. 1876. 



DEAR SIR : 1 have just finished a tour of six coun- 

 ties in Indiana, and feeling that any reliable informa- 

 tion from this State will interest you, I write : 



In the first place the canvass is well conducted. 

 The people are enthusiastic and determined, and the 

 old war spirit is thoroughly aroused ; and if it were 

 not for one thing we could rest certain of victory in 

 October. There is an Independent party in this 

 State, confined, it is true, to a few counties, but for- 

 midable, and it will defeat General Harrison. There 

 is but one way to overcome this movement. The 

 leaders of the Independents are poor, needy, and in 

 debt. They must be lectured. Let documents be 

 placed in their hands that they may be convinced of 

 their folly. A bloody-shirt campaign, with money, 

 and Indiana is safe ; a financial campaign and no 

 money, and we are beaten. 



The National Committee has done nothing for In- 

 diana. Alone they are fighting their battles and 

 bravely, but unless the National Committee wakes up 

 and does its duty to you, to the party, and to the 

 country, defeat is certain in October. I never in all 



