384 



ILLINOIS. 



POLITICAL CONVENTIONS. The Eepublican 

 State Convention met in Springfield on the 

 28th of June, and nominated General John 0. 

 Smith, of Cook County, for State Treasurer, 

 and Charles T. Stratton, of Jefferson County, 

 for State Superintendent of Public Instruction. 

 The following platform was adopted : 



Whereas, The Eepublicans of the State of Illinois, 

 in State Convention assembled, recognize now the ne- 

 cessity for the continued and continuing perpetuation 

 of the [Republican party ; the best interests of civil lib- 

 erty upon this continent, the highest considerations 

 of national honor and integrity, the freedom of the 

 ballot and the purity of the ballot-box, and the pros- 

 perity of our industries all demand this : therefore 



Resolved, 1. That the policy of the Eepublican party 

 of the nation and State is unchanged, and to that pol- 

 icy the Bepublicans of the State of Illinois commit 

 themselves. Fair elections and honest counts, North 

 and South ; the honest treatment of the public debts 

 and the public creditors ; a reduction of taxation ; the 

 encouragement, fostering, and protecting of all Ameri- 

 can industries, and a hearty approval of the policy of 

 the Tariff Commission, which shall regard all inter- 

 ests, and conserve them all ; such a practical reform 

 of the civil service as shall relieve the Executive from 

 the pressure of hordes of office-seekers, and as shall, 

 by providing some intelligent method for appoint- 

 ments to office, enable our Eepresentatives in both 

 branches of the national Congress to turn their atten- 

 tion to matters of national concern ; such a system of 

 internal improvement by great water-ways, either 

 natural or artificial, as will afford cheap and easy out- 

 lets to the sea of the enormous products of the Great 

 West ; the encouragement of friendly and cordial re- 

 lations between all sections of the country. These are 

 among the great national doctrines of the party in its 

 past, and to these it is committed still. 



2. Under the wise and patriotic administration of 

 our State affairs, the debt of the State has been hon- 

 estly paid, and its credit stands unquestioned and un- 

 challenged everywhere. By that wise administration, 

 the Eepublican party of the State of Illinois is entitled 

 to the confidence of the people of the State, and will 

 receive that confidence. 



3. That, with all liberty -loving men and women of 

 the world, we deplore the death of our late President, 

 James A. Garfield, and with all patriots we renew 

 our devotion to the principles of liberty which the 

 foul hand of assassination can never reach ; and we 

 extend to President Arthur our hearty support in all 

 efforts to conduct the affairs of state in the interests of 

 good government. 



4. Believing that all divisions and dissensions among 

 Eepublicans can be honorably and satisfactorily healed, 

 we also believe that now is the time to bury our past 

 differences and unite again under the old flag. Such 

 a union means the triumphant success of the party, 

 now and in 1884 ; and that success means the con- 

 tinued prosperity and happiness of the country. 



5. That the Eepublican party, now as in the past, 

 is in favor of such just laws as shall protect the agri- 

 culturist, the manufacturer j and the working-man from 

 the oppression of monopolists. 



The following resolution was also adopted : 

 Resolved, That we extend our hearty sympathy to 

 the oppressed of all nations in all honest efforts to es- 

 tablish liberty and a republican form of government, 

 and that our especial sympathy is extended to all law- 

 ful efforts now being made to establish republicanism 

 in Ireland. 



The Greenbackers, at their State Convention, 

 in Peoria, on the 2d of August, nominated Dan- 

 iel McLaughlin, of Braidwood, for State Treas- 

 urer, and Frank H. Hall, of Kane County, for 

 State Superintendent of Public Instruction. 



They reaffirmed their Chicago platform of 1880, 

 and added clauses in favor of female suffrage 

 and prohibition. 



The Democratic State Convention met in 

 Springfield, on the 7th of September, and 

 nominated A. Orendorff, of Sangainon County, 

 for State Treasurer, and Henry Kaab, of St. 

 Clair County, for State Superintendent of Pub- 

 lic Instruction. The following platform was 

 adopted : 



Resolved, 1. That the Democratic party of the State 

 of Illinois, in convention assembled, reaffirm the great 

 principles which are the foundation of free govern- 

 ment, among which are equal rights to all and exclu- 

 sive privileges to none, protection of the weak against 

 the encroachments of the strong, equal taxation, free 

 speech, a free press, free schools, and first of all a free 

 and incorruptiole ballot. 



2. That we favor honest reform in the civil service, 

 and denounce the extortion of large sums of money 

 from office-holders to corrupt the ballot and control 

 elections as the most threatening as it is the most in- 

 sidious danger that besets a free government ; and the 

 shameless resort to such methods by the National Ee- 

 publican Committee, and by the Eepublican repudia- 

 tion coalition in Virginia, evinces utter abandonment 

 of principle, and meets our unqualified condemnation. 



3. That we denounce the reckless extravagance and 

 profligacy of the Eepublican party in the appropria- 

 tion of the public Treasury, as manifested during the 

 late session of Congress, which increased the appro- 

 priations for the current fiscal year over those of the 

 past year made by a Democratic Congress to the enor- 

 mous extent of $78,000,000. 



4. That we extend our heartiest sympathy to the 

 Irish people in the struggle for their rights, in which 

 they are now engaged, and recognize in their persist- 

 ent efforts to obtain their freedom, despite the dun- 

 geon, the scaffold, and all the other infamous appli- 

 ances characteristic of British rule over Ireland, a love 

 of liberty which is unparalleled in history, and sheds 

 a ray of glory upon the Irish national character, com- 

 mending it to the respect, admiration, and support of 

 freedom-loving people throughout the world. 



5. That it is incumbent upon our Government to 

 protect its citizens, native-born and naturalized, at 

 home and abroad, and we denounce and condemn the 

 present Eepublican Administration for its neglect of 

 duty toward those lately imprisoned as " suspects " in 

 the jails of Ireland, by the arbitrary action of the 

 British Government. 



6. That we are in favor of the reduction of Federal 

 taxation to the lowest point consistent with the wants 

 of the Government under an honest and economical 

 administration of its affairs, and that such taxes be so 

 adjusted as to secure an equitable distribution of these 

 burdens. 



7. The Eepublican party of the State has proved 

 false to the pledges it nas made to the people. With 

 not a cent of bonded debt against the State, taxes for 

 the past year have been one third greater than the 



E receding year. The various boards of the various 

 tate institutions have been used more to advance the 

 interests of the Eepublican party than for the care and 

 comfort of the unfortunate men, women, and children 

 committed to their charge. The various radical State 

 officers are surrounded by numbers of unnecessary 

 clerks and attendants, whose salaries are paid from 

 the State Treasury. The humiliating spectacle is 

 presented of the Governor of the State saying, in his 

 annual message, that the sum of $3,000,000 would be 

 ample to pay" all the expenses of the State for two 

 years, and the same Governor approving bills passed 

 by the Eepublican Legislature appropriating nearly 

 $7,000,000 for such expenses ; and the large sum re- 

 ceived annually from the Illinois Central Eailroad 

 Company under the wise provisions of a law enacted 

 by a Democratic Legislature, instead of being utilized 



