520 



IOWA. 



Resolved, That we are in favor of economy in public 

 expenditures, including the reduction of salaries, local 

 and general, whenever they may be deemed excessive, 

 and also a reduction in the number of the officials. 



Resolved, That the Democratic party of Iowa is de- 

 sirous of prompting temperance, and, being opposed to 

 free whiskey, it is in favor of a judicious license law. 



Resolved, That we favor the holding of all public 

 servants to a strict accountability, and their prompt 

 and severe punishment for all thefts of public moneys 

 and maladministration of public office. 



The Nationals met in Convention at Des 

 Moines on May 28th. John Porter was chosen 

 President. The following nominations were 

 made: For Governor, Daniel Campbell; for 

 Lieutenant-Governor, H. II. Moore; for Su- 

 preme Judge, M. H. Jones; for Superinten- 

 dent of Schools, J. A. Nash. The following 

 preamble and resolutions were adopted : 



Whereas, The sovereign and supreme power of the 

 American Union is vested in the free will of the citi- 

 zens thereof, who have an equal and unquestionable 

 right to express that will as to them may seem best 

 adapted to secure the peace, perpetuate the liberty, and 

 promote the prosperity of each individual, a.s well as to 

 enhance and protect the common welfare of our coun- 

 try; and, 



Whereas, This power has been delegated to un- 

 worthy servants, who have diverted it from its origi- 

 , nal purpose, whereby grievous wrongs have been per- 

 petrated on the masses of the people, subjecting them 

 to gross injustice and widespread poverty, untold pri- 

 vations, and business paralyzation ; and, 



Whereas, These grievances have been greatly aug- 

 mented by limiting the legal-tender quality of the 

 greenbacks ; by loaning the credit of the Government 

 to national-bank corporations ; by changing Govern- 

 ment bonds into coin bonds, and making the same ex- 

 clusively payable in gold ; by the conversion of a non- 

 interest-bearing circulating medium into an interest- 

 bearing Government debt; by defrauding labor of 

 employment ; by the ruinous shrinkage in the value 

 of property ; by the depression of business ; by the 

 willful restrictions placed upon the remonetization of 

 the silver dollar ; by the exemption of capital from its 

 just share of the burden of taxation ; by the contrac- 

 tion of the greenback currency : by the forced resump- 

 tion of specie payments ; by the increase in the pur- 

 chasing power of money, and its attendant hardships on 

 the debtor class ; by declaring poverty a crime, and pro- 

 viding punishments therefor ; by the criminal waste 

 of the public domain, through enormous grants of land 

 to railroad corporations ; by an oppressive taxation ; 

 by high rates of interest for the use of money ; by ex- 

 orbitant salaries and fees to public officers ; by official 

 corruption in the administration of public affairs ; and, 



Whereas, A moneyed despotism has grown up in 

 our land out of this state of affairs, which controls the 

 law-making power of our country, dictates judicial 

 decisions, wields an undue influence over the chief 

 executive of the nation in the consideration of laws 

 passed for the benefit of the people, thus enabling the 

 money power to carry on its schemes of public plun- 

 der, under and by which colossal fortunes have been 

 gathered in the hands of the ambitious and unscrupu- 

 lous men whose interests are at war with the interests 

 of the people, hostile to popular government, and deaf 

 to the demands of honest toil : 



Therefore, We, the representatives of the Union 

 Greenback-Labor party of Iowa, adopt the following 

 as our platform of principles : 



1. The General Government alone to issue money ; 

 the amount in circulation to be fixed by a constitu- 

 tional amendment upon a per capita basis ; calling in 

 of all United States bonds, and the payment of them 

 in full legal-tender money. 



2. That the national banks, as banks of issue, must 

 be abolished by law, and that legal-tender greenback 



money of the Government of the United States shall 

 be substituted for their circulation. 



3. That we demand the unlimited coinage of the sil- 

 ver dollar of the present standard weight and fineness. 



4. That the American people owes a debt of grati- 

 tude to the Union soldiers that can never be fully paid, 

 and in recognition of their patriotic services we en- 

 dorse the arrearages of pensions, and favor the passage 

 of a bill providing for the equalization of bounties 

 similar to the one vetoed by ex-President Grant. 



5. That we view with grave apprehension the con- 

 tinued oppression of the people by corporate powers, 

 and while we execrate the inhuman treatment of Union 

 soldiers in the prison-pens of the South during the 

 late rebellion, we condemn the violence of partisan 

 spirit in the legislative halls of Congress, which s_eeks 

 to revive the dead issues of the past, while conspiring 

 against and deliberately refusing to pro vide measures of 

 relief adequate to the living necessities of the present. 



6. That it is the right and duty of all qualified elect- 

 ors of any State in the Union to vote according to their 

 conscientious convictions, and to have that vote hon- 

 estly and fairly counted ; and that any attempt to in- 

 terfere with that right either by threats or bands of 

 armed men, or the use of troops at the polls, or by 

 fraud in conducting the election, or bribery in making 

 out the returns, or by threats to dismiss from service, 

 or any other means by which that right is abridged, 

 is a crime that should be severely punished. 



7. That the officeholders of our country are the ser- 

 vants and not the masters of the people, and that these 

 officers should be removed and punished to the full 

 extent of law whenever they betray the public trust 

 confided to them ; and we demand that all official fees 

 and salaries, commencing with the President, should be 

 reduced from 25 to 50 per cent. ; and we further demand 

 the strictest economy in the administration ot our courts 

 of justice, and in all other Federal and State offices. 



8. That we highly commend the moral reform of 

 men and the elevation of families by the agency of 

 the temperance cause, and demand the use of all just 

 and legal means for the suppression of the evils of in- 

 temperance. 



9. That all real estate be assessed to the owner, and 

 the tax thereon be paid by him ; provided, that in 

 case there is a mortgage or vendor's lien upon the 

 land, and he pays the whole tax, that he may deduct as 

 a payment on said lien the pro rata share of the tax. 



10. That the revenue law of the State shall be 

 amended so that the penalty or interest on the sale of 

 delinquent taxes should not exceed the sum of ten per 

 cent, per annum, and that the time of redemption shall 

 be extended to a term of five years. 



11. We favor the repeal of the present Kailroacl Com- 

 missioners' law, and the adoption of a suitable legisla- 

 tive action to reduce and equalize freight. 



12. That the prison-convict labor shall never como 

 in competition with free labor, by the contract system, 

 under any name. 



Resolved, That we approve the bold and indepen- 

 dent stand taken by our Greenback Kepresentatives 

 in Congress : and we especially endorse the conduct 

 of Messrs. Weaver and Gillette in their contest with 

 the combined opposition of both old parties. 



The Republican State Convention assembled 

 at Des Moines on June llth. Ex -United 

 States Senator James Harlan was chosen Pres- 

 ident. The following nominations were made : 

 For Governor, John H. Gear, renominated ; 

 for Lieutenant-Governor, F. T. Campbell, re- 

 nominated ; for Supreme Judge, J. M. Beck ; 

 for Superintendent of Schools, C. W. von Coelln. 

 The following resolutions were adopted : 



The Eepublican party of Iowa, in convention as- 

 sembled, declares : 



1. The United States of America is a nation, not a 

 league. This is the doctrine of the Constitution, con- 

 firmed by the result of the war of the rebellion. The 



