ARKANSAS. 



41 



owned by railroad corporations in' the State, 

 the assessed valuation of their tracks, super- 

 structures, and rolling-stock having increased 

 about $7,500,000, since 1884, being now $13,- 

 704,638. The State expended for the year end- 

 ing June 30, 1885, for school purposes, $729,- 

 168.31, leaving a balance of school fund on 

 hand of $469,837.51. The 5-mill district-school 

 tax is voted annually by the people in nearly 

 all the school districts. 



Within the past year have been erected sub- 

 stantial buildings for the School for the Blind, 

 and that for the deaf-mutes, and a large addi- 

 tion to the Lunatic Asylum, and two new build- 

 ings within the walls of the Penitentiary, and 

 the old State-house has been repaired and im- 

 proved. 



Political. The Democratic State Convention 

 was held in Little Kock, on the 30th of June 

 and the 1st of July. The following ticket was 

 nominated: For Governor, Simon P. Hughes; 

 Secretary of State, Elias B. Moore ; Attorney- 

 General, Daniel W. Jones; State Treasurer, 

 William E. Woodruff ; Associate Justice, Bur- 

 rell B. Battle ; Auditor of State, William R. 

 Miller; State Land Commissioner, Paul M. 

 Cobbs ; Superintendent of Public Instruction, 

 Wood E. Thompson. The platform adopted 

 contained the following : 



"We indorse the National Democratic Administration, 

 and reaffirm our allegiance to the national Democratic 

 party and our firm adherence to its time-honored prin- 

 ciples. 



vie regret the depressed condition of the agricultu- 

 ral interests of the State, and the strained relations of 

 capital and labor, and trace these conditions directly 

 to the operation of a high protective tariff. 



We are in favor of the unlimited coinage of silver, 

 and demand that the coin of the United States, gold 

 and silver, be paid out on the debts of the Govern- 

 ment, without discriminating against silver. 



We recommend the payment of the State debt as 

 rapidly as it can be accomplished under reasonable 

 taxation, consistent with public interest. 



We recognize that agriculture is the main stay and 

 chief support of the State ; we demand that the Gener- 

 al Assembly shall foster and encourage it by establish- 

 ing a Bureau of Agriculture and Labor Statistics, with 

 a view to the improvement of the conditions of the 

 laborer and the advancement of agriculture. 



We recognize that railroads are among the prime 

 factors of modern civilization, and we demand that 

 the General Assembly shall foster and encourage their 

 construction and maintenance by wise and just laws, 

 and shall prohibit all willful obstruction to their op- 

 eration. At the same time we declare that railroads 

 are public highways, subject to the control of the 

 State for the benefit of the public. We therefore de- 

 mand that the General Assembly shall so regulate 

 freight and passenger charges as to protect the interest 

 of the people while doing justice to the railroads, 

 making their charges equal and uniform, and shall 

 prohibit, under severe penalties, all discriminations 

 in favor of or against particular persons, localities, and 

 classes of freight. 



The Republican State Convention met in 

 Little Rock, near the end of July, and nomi- 

 nated the following ticket: for Governor, La- 

 fayette Gregg ; Secretary of State, H. A. Millen; 

 Attorney-General, D. D. Leach ; Treasurer, L. 

 Altheimer ; Auditor, David B. Russell ; Asso- 



ciate Justice, Supreme Court, O. D. Scott; 

 Land Commissioner, A. W. Stone; Superin- 

 tendent of Public Instruction, A. H. Boles. The 

 following are the essential features of the plat- 

 form: 



We demand that the system of protection to Ameri- 

 can industries, which has been built up and sustained 

 by the Republican party, be maintained in all its in- 

 tegrity ; that the great privileges which have been 

 achieved by the sacrifice of the blood and treasure of 

 the nation be forever maintained, and for this reason 

 we favor an honest redemption of every pledge made 

 by the nation to those who sacrificed their lives for 

 the maintenance of the Union. 



We are opposed to the policy which indiscriminately 

 vetoes acts for the relief of those who imperiled their 

 lives and sacrificed their health for the nation in time 

 of its peril, and rewards insubordination in time of 

 war by special places of honor and profit. 



We demand that the public domain, which is the 

 common property of the people, shall be reserved for 

 actual settlers and neither donated nor sold to specu- 

 lators or soulless corporations. 



We denounce the Democratic party of this State for 

 failing to redeem any of the pledges made to the peo- 

 ple : for enacting and maintaining a system of crimi- 

 nal laws, which in cruelty surpasses that practiced in 

 the middle ages, for permitting convict-labor to com- 

 pete with honest workingmen ; for the failure to punish 

 corruption and embezzlement in high places, and es- 

 pecially for allowing the State treasury to be plundered 



any attempt thereat futile by approving bonds of offi- 

 cials, known to be nugatory and void by the approving 

 official at the time of their approval ; for enacting laws 

 which nullify the beneficial provisions of the Constitu- 

 tion regarding homestead exemptions ; for failing to 

 enact laws for the protection of the laborer, and giving 

 him a cheap and speedy remedy for the collection of 

 his just dues ; for encouraging the most flagrant vio- 

 lation of the sacred right of suffrage ; and for the pur- 

 pose of assisting these frauds they have provided for 

 separate elections at great expense to the people and 

 injury to the business interests. 



We recognize the fundamental principle of our Gov- 

 ernment that all power is in the people, and we 

 therefore favor a submision to the people of the State 

 of an amendment to the Constitution prohibiting the 

 manufacture or sale of alcoholic liquors in this State. 



In all elections in this State where there are no re- 

 gular Eepublican candidates in the field, we recom- 

 mend to the Republicans that they support the Inde- 

 pendent candidates, as against the regular nominees 

 of the Democratic party. 



Early in August a ticket was put in the field 

 by a committee of the State Agricultural Wheel, 

 appointed at a meeting held June 9. The fol- 

 lowing were the nominees: for Governor, 

 Charles E. Cuningham ; Secretary of State, 

 J. J. Bell ; Auditor, Oliver S. Jones; Treasurer, 

 T. J. Andrews ; Superintendent of Public In- 

 struction, A. B. Marberry; State Land Commis- 

 sioner, C. E. Tobey; Attorney-General, John 

 M. Harrell. Mr. Harrell declined the nomina- 

 tion. At the election, on Sept. 6, the Demo- 

 cratic ticket was successful. Returns from 66 

 counties out of the 75 show the following vote 

 for Governor: Democratic, 81,600; Republi- 

 can, 46,100; Wheeler, 17,600. At the same 

 time a vote was taken on the question of license 

 and no license. In 70 counties the total vote 

 was 165,000, and the vote for license 75,000; 



