564 



MINNESOTA. 



In behalf of the farmers of Minnesota, with whose 

 interests the Republican party of the State has always 

 been identified, we declare that the present railroad 

 and warehouse law should be so amended in the light 

 of experience gained by its practical operation as to 

 secure an open and unrestricted market for the prod- 

 ucts of the soil ; that the progressive reduction of 

 railway freight and passenger rates which has been 

 accomplished under Republican rule should be con- 

 tinued as rapidly as is consistent with a reasonable 

 return upon such capital as is actually in the business 

 of transportation ; that railroads should be restricted 

 from holding lands exempt from taxation except lands 

 in actual use in the operation of the road; that just 

 grades and honest weights and measures should be 

 insured by a sufficient system oflocal inspection. 



We declare that the practice of corporations of wa- 

 tering their stock so as to claim incomes upon ficti- 

 tious and unreal values can not be too strongly repre- 

 hended, and that the rates of freight and transporta- 

 tion upon railroads should be limited to a fair com- 

 pensation, which should cover the actual operating 

 expenses of the road and legitimate interest upon the 

 capital actually invested, and that laws should be en- 

 acted to enforce compliance with this declaration. 



That the legal rate of interest in this State should 

 be reduced to a maximum of eight per centum, and 

 the usury laws of the State should be rigorously en- 

 forced. 



That the State should use a portion of the income 

 of its magnificent school funds in the purchase and 

 supply of all school-books in use in its public schools 

 to pupils actually attending and legally entitled to 

 their privileges. 



We demand that ample laws should be enacted for 

 the protection of all persons engaged in mining, manu- 

 facturing, and other labor-employing industries, and 

 for ample indemnification of loss or injury through 

 lack of proper safeguards or negligence, and that the 

 employer should be equally liable, whether such loss 

 or injury result from the negligence of the employer 

 or any servant or co-employe ; that, without lessen- 

 ing the penalties upon delinquent; tax-payers, it should 

 be made forever impossible, under color of law or of 

 any legal decision, to rob the humblest citizen of his 

 home by means of official fraud, negligence, or inca- 

 pacity. 



The rights and equities of labor must constitute the 

 corner-stone of any well-founded state. For advanc- 

 ing the interests of the workingman the Republican 

 rarty pledges its support to the following principles : 

 It is unworthy of a civilized state that there should 

 exist any inequality in the condition of capital and 

 labor before the law, or that the administration of jus- 

 tice should be impeded by technicalities, unjust de- 

 lays, or discriminations ; the people should reassert 

 and practically enforce, through their representatives, 

 the fundamental principle of universal, civic, and in- 

 dustrial equality ; the prison labor of the State should 

 not be employed, under the contract system, in com- 

 petition with free and honest workingmen ; while it 

 is for each municipality to decide whether it will prose- 

 cute its public works hy contract or by direct employ- 

 ment, in either case the wages of the laborer should 

 be made an adequate remuneration for his toil. The 

 Legislature should establish a State Bureau of Labor 

 Statistics, forbid the employment of young children 

 in laborious occupations injurious to health or strength, 

 should insist on the education of children in the 

 schools, and compel employers to provide safeguards 

 against danger to workmen engaged in mines and fac- 

 tories, and to render indemnification to those injured 

 by reason of absence of the same ; arbitration is the 

 only approved method of settling differences between 

 employer and employe 1 , and should be adopted and en- 

 forced by appropriate legislation, so as to secure in all 

 disputes an early, fair, and authoritative settlement. 



That compensation should be equal without regard 

 to sex tor the same amount and quality of work. 



The producers of the great Northwest demand a 



lower rate of taxation upon the necessaries of life 

 than that of the war period. We favor, therefore, as a 

 just and necessary lightening of their burdens and an 

 aid to their prosperity, an early and judicious revision 

 of the tarift', with a' simplification and reduction of 

 customs duties; to which work the Republican party, 

 by its last national platform, stands pledged as soon 

 as the people restore to it control of Congress. 



That this convention approve of the action of the 

 majority of the Minnesota delegation in the House of 

 Representatives of the United States in voting to con- 

 sider the bill for the revision of the tariff. 



We are in favor of a genuine system of reform of 

 the civil service, based on the appointment to office 

 after proper examination of men of capability, hon- 

 esty, and fidelity, and we commend the civil-service 

 law passed by a Republican Congress and approved 

 by a Republican Executive as a step in the right direc- 

 tion, and we arraign the Democratic party for an 

 titter disregard of every principle of civil-service re- 

 form and for its broken pledges. 



The Republican party of Minnesota is in favor of 

 high license, local option, and a rigid enforcement of 

 existing laws relating to the liquor-traffic. 



That the Republican party favors the organization 

 by the United States Government, in connection with 

 the post-office, of financial exchanges, safe deposits, 

 and facilities for the deposit of savings of the people 

 in small sums. 



The Prohibitionists had the following ticket 

 in the field : Governor, T. E. Child ; Lieuten- 

 ant-Governor, J. P. Pinkham ; Treasurer, C. 

 A. Bierce; Secretary of State, P. J. Kniss; 

 Auditor, W. H. Allen; Attorney-General, W. 

 M. Hatch; Supreme Judges, J. McKnight, J. 

 W. Cochran, C. E. Shannon ; Supreme Court 

 Clerk, C. A. Fosnes. On November 2 the Re- 

 publican ticket was elected. The following is 

 the vote for Governor: Republican, 107,008; 

 Democratic, 104,464; Prohibition, 8,966 ; scat- 

 tering, 37; Republican plurality, 2,600. For 

 Lieutenant-Governor the vote was: Repub- 

 lican, 114,038; Democratic, 97,028; scattering, 

 38; Republican plurality, 17,010. The other 

 State officers had about the same plurality as 

 the Lieutenant-Governor. The vote for the 

 amendment of Article VIII of the Constitution 

 stood: Yes, 131,533; No, 17,914. Republican 

 Congressmen were elected in the Second and 

 Fifth Districts, and Democrats in the other 

 three. The Legislature consists of 30 Repub- 

 licans and 17 Opposition in the Senate, and 66 

 Republicans and 37 Opposition in the Houee. 



Crops. The report of the Commissioner of 

 Statistics shows the acreage and yield of the 

 principal cereals nnd the flax-crop for the year 



1885, together with the acreage for the year 



1886. A summary of the totals is as follows: 

 Wheat. Number of acres in 1885, 3,043,683 ; num- 

 ber of bushels, 41,253,888; yield per acre in bushels, 

 13-55; acres in 1886, 3,083,531. 



Oats. Number of acres in 1885, 1,095,805; bush- 

 els 34,388,213 ; yield per acre in bushels, 31-38 ; acres 

 in 1886, 1,196,235. 



^7-%. Number of acres in 1885, 285,919 ; num- 

 ber of bushels, 6,653,851 ; yield per acre in bushels, 

 23-27 ; acres in 1886, 327,470. 



Corn. Number of acres in 1885, 580,223 ; number 

 of bushels, 16,290,035; yield per acre in bushels, 

 28-07 ; acres in 1886, 620,955. 



Flax. Number of acres in 1885, 214,873 ; number 

 of bushels of seed. 2,240,077 ; yield per acre in bush- 

 els, 10 ; acres in 18b6, 248,588. 



