IOWA, 



413 



tV.)!ii the suffrage clause, was adopted by the 

 , hut detVati-d in tlie Senate by n do-i- 

 YOU-. One of the circuit judges having decided 

 th it \vomi-n were not eligible as county super- 

 intendents of schools, an act drafted by the 

 S ip niitnulent of Public Instruction, making 

 tin-in eligible to all offices connected witli pub- 

 lic schools and legalizing thoir past acts in 

 s'irh capacity, was promptly passed by both 

 Houses with very slight opposition. Another 

 subject which occupied considerable attention, 

 but upon which nothing was done, was that 

 of regulating the sale of intoxicating liquors. 

 Attempts wore made on the one hand to bring 

 beer and wine under the operation of the pro- 

 hibitory law, and to have dram-shops made 

 public nuisances, and on the other to have the 

 principle of looal option engrafted upon the 

 t-xNtiii^ law. The former failed in the Senate 

 and the latter in the House. A report of a 

 minority of the committee on the suppression 

 of intemperance favored the passage of a li- 

 cense law for the following reasons : 



1. Because the present Maine liquT law has failed 

 to accomplish the end for which it was enacted, 

 ami this conclusion ia found in the fact that liquor 

 is sold in nearly every village, town, and city in the 

 Stata. and in the further fact that the records of our 

 courts show that intemperance, and consequently 

 crime, has increased rather than diminished. 



2. Because secret drinking: is encouraged by it, 



and this is the worst of drinking. Ic converts drug- 



into dram-shops, and makes otherwise good 



a'i 1 respectable men hypocrites, sneaks, and liurs, 



in the purchase of liquors. 



;5. It cripples the power of the Stute to suppress 

 nuisances and to check intemperance by paving a 

 premium for black-mailing and placing the deafen 

 who are desirous of keeping orderly houses at the 

 mercy of drunken rowdies and infamous scoundrels. 



4. Because it induoes men to be dishonest by en- 

 cour.iging lying and false swearing, and engenders 

 t>:i 1 t'.iith among the people by making debts for the 

 * ilc of liquors uncollectable, thereby giving a license 

 t > s.v'mdlers. 



">. Because it encourages bad and irresponsible 

 in-ill to engage in the traffic of liquor, and tunds to 

 drive out of the business men wfio would keep or- 

 d3rlv houses and who svould, if not subjected to 

 hlaec-DMilin<{ spies, themselves aid in the suppres- 

 MOII of intemperance. 



fi. Because it presents the strange anomaly in 

 legislation of taxation without protection, and be- 

 cause of the further anomaly of holding the dealer 

 responsible instead of the real offender. 



7. It makes a farce of our laws by its unjust, un- 

 wi-te, and impracticable provisions. 



8. Because it chocks the growth and prosperity of 

 pur State by discouraging immigration, by discourag- 

 in .' the establishing of distilleries, and sending from 

 our State millions of dollars annually for the pur- 

 chase of liquors, which are consumed herein, by 

 taking from the State a large revenue which would 

 be derived from licenses, and thereby lighten the 

 burden of taxation. 



9. Because it is in contravention to the provisions 

 of the Constitution and the spirit of legislation, 

 which guarantees to every citizen freedom and pro- 

 tection with taxation. 



The question of a national financial policy 

 was discussed in both branches. The follow- 

 ing resolutions were adopted in the House by 

 a vote of 57 to 27 : 



, That gold is the recognized standard 

 value und medium of exchange of the world. 



R&toloed, The no value is a law unto itnclf ait to a 

 standard of value unless it does buxincxn outnide of 

 its own boundaries and thus proscribes itM-lf from 

 business intercourse with the rent of the worM. 



Resolv&l, That we favor a uniform currency with 

 gold, hcnc-t! we favor wise, ntcudy, and continuous 

 steps toward the resumption of specie payment** 

 in order that the proper currency of our country 

 may be made as good as gold as noon as it can 

 wisely bo done, thus placing our paper circulation 

 on a par in this country with the recognized money 

 of the world, and thereby supplying our people with 

 a more convenient circulating medium than gold, 

 which shall be at the same time its equivalent value. 



Resolved, That whenever it shall appear that the 

 act of 1875, known as the " resumption act," shall 

 become subversive of the interests of the people, 

 we demand its repeal, or such modification thereof 

 as will avert any portending harm to the interests 

 of the people, and accomplish the purposes thus 

 desired. 



A resolution in favor of the immediate 

 repeal of the resumption act was indefinitely 

 postponed in the Senate by a vote of 31 to 13. 



The Democrats of the State held a conven- 

 tion at Des Moines on the 17th of May, for the 

 purpose of choosing delegates to the National 

 Convention of the party. No other business 

 was transacted, but the following platform was 

 adopted : 



The Democracy of Iowa in convention assembled, 

 while pledging earnest support to the declaration or . 

 principles that will be given to the country by the 

 St. Louis Convention, declare as follows their views 

 upon some of the vital questions now before the 

 republic for discussion and adjustment : 



That in view of the weakness of its administra- 

 tion of justice, and the corruption which reeks in 

 every part of the public service, disgracing us at 

 home and degrading us abroad, there is given evi- 

 dence of the unfitness of the party in power longer 

 to bear the responsibilities of government. 



Resolved, That we demand and will enforce hon- 

 esty and reform in the government, and demand of 

 our National Convention such unmistakably earnest 

 pledges of uprightness and decency in the adminis- 

 tration of the country as shall command the confi- 

 dence of irs purest and most patriotic men, and the 

 selection of standard-bearers whose lives, private 

 and official, are a guarantee to the country of their 

 ability to carry forward the great work ot retrench- 

 ment and reform made immediately necessary by the 

 corruptions and crimes of the Republican party ._ 



Resolved, That inasmuch as gold is the recognized 

 standard of values throughout the world, and fur- 

 nishes the basis for general trade and commerce, we 

 favor an early return to specie pavmcnt, because it 

 will place the business interests of this country on a 

 sure and satisfactory basis, and secure us from the 

 uncertainties attending the existence of two mon- 

 eyed mediums of unequal values: at the same time 

 we believe that a forced and sudden resumption of 

 specie payment, such as is contemplated by the so- 

 called " Sherman resumption actor 1875,'] will cause 

 wide-spread disaster and ruin to our business inter- 

 ests, has hud and is now having a blighting effect 

 upon all industry, and, being one of the many finan- 

 cial blunders of the Republican party, should be at 

 once repealed. 



The Republican State Convention was hold 

 at Des Moines on the 31st of May, and not only 

 appointed delegates to the National Conven- 

 tion, but nominated candidates for presidential 

 electors and State officers. There was no Qov- 



