ILLINOIS. 



377 



Internal Improvements. A considerable move- 

 ment was begun in tbe latter part of the year 

 to secure improvements upon the water-ways 

 of the State. Two conventions, one at Quincy 

 and the other at Peoria, met in October to pro- 

 mote this object. The Quincy convention urged 

 improvements on the Mississippi from I)es 

 Moines, Iowa, to the mouth of the Illinois river, 

 in order to cheapen transportation for the grain- 

 crops of the upper Mississippi region. The 

 purpose of the Peoria convention is seen from 

 the following resolutions : 



Whereas, The proper improvement of the Illinois 

 and Des Plaines rivers, with a few miles of wide and 

 deep canal, will connect 1,660 miles of large river navi- 

 gation with 700 miles of lake navigation, all within 

 the boundaries of the United States, permeating the 

 heart of the republic. 



Whereas, The State of Illinois has on the recom- 

 mendation of the United States engineers, tendered 

 the two locks, and dams on Illinois river to the 

 General Government, while the Government has now 

 in course of construction two more locks and dams on 

 the lower Illinois ; and the improvement is demanded 

 by the wants of commerce and our national defenses, 

 and have strongly recommended its favorable consid- 

 eration by Congress, and have 



Unsolved, That to that end we hereby respectfully 

 urge upon Congress that at the coining session it ac- 

 cept the locks and dams ceded to the General Govern- 

 ment by the State of Illinois, and appropriate the 

 amount of money estimated and asked for by the en- 

 gineers to complete the two locks and dams now un- 

 der construction on the lower Illinois, and appropriate 

 at least one third of the amount estimated to improve 

 the rivers to Joliet. 



That we cordially indorse the proposed canal con- 

 necting Lake Micnigan with the upper Mississippi 

 river via Hennepin to said river, at or near Eock Isl- 

 and, as a national undertaking of great importance to 

 the producers in the West and shippers in the East, 

 and earnestly commend it to Congress and the people 

 of the United States as a national water-way to be 

 promptly acted upon. 



Plenro-Pncnmonia. The discovery in Septem- 

 ber of last year that this disease had attacked 

 large numbers 6*f cattle in the stock-yards of 

 Chicago, and had existed there for some time, 

 led to strenuous efforts on the part of the Live- 

 stock Commissioners of the State to prevent 

 its increase, and if possible to eradicate it. 

 The Governor issued a proclamation quaran- 

 tining the infected district, many of the dis- 

 eased cattle were slaughtered, and the stables 

 disinfected or destroyed. Up to August of this 

 year over 8,000 animals had been killed by or- 

 der of the commission. At that time the dis- 

 ease was reported to be fully under control, 

 and, although there were a few chronic cases 

 existing, there was no danger of its communi- 

 cation to other animals. The Governor there- 

 upon requested those States that had issued 

 quarantine regulations against Illinois to modi- 

 fy or revoke them, .but it was not till later in 

 theyear that the quarantine against any of the 

 Chicago yards was raised. Provision was 

 made by the General Assembly for reimburs- 

 ing the owners of slaughtered animals, and 

 other action tending to increase the power and 

 efficiency of the Live-Stock Commissioners in 

 similar emergencies was taken. 



Chieago. The municipal election in April re- 

 sulted in a complete overturn in the political 

 circles of the city. There were only two tick- 

 ets in the field Republican and United Labor 

 the contest being virtually between the 

 friends and opponents of socialistic ideas. 

 Eoche, Republican, was elected mayor, re- 

 ceiving 51,089 votes, while his opponent, Nel- 

 son, obtained only 22,848. The Democrats 

 largely voted the Republican ticket in prefer- 

 ence to allying themselves with the Labor 

 ticket. Only one aldermanic district was car- 

 ried by the Labor party. In June an election 

 of circuit judges for Cook County was held, in 

 which substantially the same elements were 

 opposed to each other. State- Attorney Grin- 

 n ell, who was most prominent in the prosecu- 

 tion of the Anarchists, was the principal con- 

 testant on the Republican ticket, while the La- 

 bor party nominated one of their defenders. 

 The vote was nearly three to one in favor of 

 the Republicans. 



Early in the year disclosures were made im- 

 plicating the County Commissioners of Cook 

 County, and some of the managers of county 

 institutions, notably of the county prison, in 

 a systematic robbery, by approving bills and 

 drawing money for county supplies that were 

 never delivered or consumed. Eleven of the 

 suspected officials were tried in August and 

 convicted. 



The Anarchists. On Sept. 14, 188T, the Su- 

 preme Court of Illinois handed in its decision 

 affirming the judgment of the lower court in 

 the case of the condemned Anarchists. The pe- 

 culiar feature of the action of the court dur- 

 ing the trial was the decision that the inciting 

 to murder in general terms, of which the An- 

 archists had been guilty, followed by their 

 presence at a meeting at which a bomb was 

 thrown and life taken, was evidence of a con- 

 spiracy to murder, and that those persons upon 

 whom this was proved were guilty of murder. 

 Application was at once made by counsel to 

 the Supreme Court of the United States for a 

 writ of error. This application was denied by 

 a unanimous decision of the court on Nov. 2, 

 1887. The decision was very important, and 

 was set forth at great length. The result 

 of the application was evident as soon as 

 the court announced that it was ready to 

 discuss the merits of the case. The court held 

 that its duty was not merely to consider the 

 question of jurisdiction. A writ of error 

 ought certainly not to be allowed against the 

 highest court of a State if it appeared that the 

 action of the State court was so plainly right 

 as not to require argument, and especially if it 

 was evident that the action was in accord with 

 the well-considered judgment of the national 

 Supreme Court in similar cases. The only 

 capital case that had ever been brought be- 

 fore the court that of Twitchell vs. the State 

 of Pennsylvania had been decided in accord- 

 ance with this principle. In the case of 

 the Anarchists, while the counsel had not 



