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PENNSYLVANIA. 



Political. State officers were chosen Nov. 8 ; 

 also members of Congress and a State Legislature 

 (with the exception of half the Senate), which will 

 have the choice of a United States Senator to suc- 

 ceed Matthew S. Quay. 



The People's party held its convention at Wil- 

 liamsport, April 27, and made the following nomina- 

 tions : For Governor, Dr. Silas C. Swallow ; Secre- 

 tary of Internal Affairs, T. P. Rynder ; Member of 

 Congress, William II. Berry. 



Dr. Swallow, who as Prohibition candidate for 

 the office of State Treasurer in 1897 received nearly 

 119,000 votes, was afterward made the candidate 

 for the Governorship by the Prohibition, Liberty, 

 and Honest Government parties. 



The Republican State Convention met in Harris- 

 burg, June 2. There was a bitter contest between the 

 Quay and the anti-Quay forces, the latter led by 

 John Wanamaker, who had been a candidate for 

 the nomination for Governor, but withdrew his 

 name, leaving the contest between W. A. Stone, of 

 Allegheny, the Quay candidate, and C. W. Stone, of 

 Warren, anti-Quay. W. A. Stone won by a vote of 

 198 to 164. A proposition to make the nomination 

 unanimous was voted down. The resolutions were 

 mainly upon national affairs. Demand was made 

 that Congress " make adequate provision for the 

 construction of a water way between the slack- 

 water navigation of the Ohio and its tributaries 

 and the Great Lakes " and " continue the appropri- 

 ation for the improvement of Delaware river until 

 this channel shall be of sufficient depth and width 

 to receive the largest battle ships and the biggest 

 vessels of our merchant marine into the port of 

 Philadelphia." 



Gratitude was expressed to the representatives of 

 the State in Congress for their efforts in securing 

 such appropriations from the National Government 

 as will insure the final completion of the improve- 

 ments upon the Ohio, the Allegheny, and the Mon- 

 ongahela rivers, so that free slack- water navigation 

 will be secured to the people of that great manu- 

 facturing and industrial region. 



The State administration was approved, and good- 

 roads legislation recommended. 



The ticket was : For Governor, W. A. Stone ; 

 Lieutenant Governor, J. P. S. Gobin : Secretary of 

 Internal Affairs, James W. Latta ; Congress at 

 Large, Galusha A. Grow and Samuel A. Davenport ; 

 Superior Court Judge, William Porter. 



The Democratic Convention met in Altoona, 

 June 29. A strong effort was made to unite the 

 party upon Judge James G. Gordon, a gold-standard 

 Democrat, as the candidate for Governor. James 

 M. Guffey was also mentioned as a candidate. He 

 had been appointed early in the year to succeed W. 

 F. Harrity as the representative of the State on the 

 National Democratic Committee, the charge having 

 been made that Mr. Harrity was no longer in accord 

 with his party. Mr. Guffey before the convention 

 threw his strength to George A. Jenks. He led the 

 free-silver forces in the convention, which proved 

 to be dominant. Notwithstanding this fact, an 

 effort to insert a plank reaffirming the Chicago 

 platform was defeated, the controlling influence in 

 the convention preferring that the platform should 

 relate entirely to State issues. 



The platform said, regarding the Republican 

 party : 



" It promised, in most solemn declaration, reform 

 in legislation and the betterment of municipal gov- 

 ernment, and it has not only violated these promises, 

 but it endeavored to perpetuate by most obnoxious 

 statutes the power of municipal rings and combina- 

 tions of corrupt politicians to pass laws for the en- 

 richment of special interests, and it has, through the 

 system of bossism, to which it has complacently sub- 



mitted in the past, elevated these self-constituted 

 leaders to the highest positions of political honor 

 and public trust within its power to confer. 



" It has not only needlessly multiplied offices to 

 make place for party hacks and the subservient 

 tools of party leaders, thereby greatly enlarging the 

 public expenditures and made increased taxation 

 necessary to pay new salaries, but has without just 

 cause recklessly increased the salaries of public 

 officials in all departments of the State government, 

 and so depleted the public funds that the public 

 charities of the State have been robbed of their 

 necessary appropriations. 



" It has not only tolerated the unjust withholding 

 of the public moneys appropriated to the common 

 school and public charities, that favorites of the 

 treasury might be enriched and the funds for cor- 

 rupting the elections might be enlarged, but its 

 recognized leaders have endeavored to thwart and 

 defeat all legislation and every movement looking 

 to a correction of these abuses. 



" For the purpose of maintaining large balances in 

 the State treasury and to use them for corrupt po- 

 litical purposes it has withheld millions of dollars 

 of personal property tax from the counties which 

 were entitled to the prompt return of it. 



" It has created- a building commission for the 

 erection of a State Capitol whose manifest purpose 

 is to disregard the plain mandate creating it, to per- 

 petuate for an unnecessary length of time its unfor- 

 tunate existence, to benefit the favorite contractors 

 of some political boss, the fruit of whose actions 

 will be a large increase of the State indebtedness." 



Further, the resolutions declared that the Demo- 

 cratic party, if intrusted with the administration of 

 the affairs of the State, would abolish needless 

 offices, and reduce excessive salaries, simplify the 

 ballot law. and pass laws prohibiting trusts and 

 combinations inimical to free competition and indi- 

 vidual enterprise ; and that the statute regulating 

 the administration of the State treasury should be 

 fearlessly and faithfully enforced, the moneys ap- 

 propriated to public schools and public charities 

 should not be withheld, and those due the counties 

 should be properly paid to them ; "equal and exact 

 justice should be meted out to citizens, with fa- 

 voritism for no persons or interests ; and no laws 

 prejudicial to the interest of the States, cities, and 

 municipalities " should be passed. 



The ticket follows : For Governor, George A. 

 Jenks ; Lieutenant Governor, William H. Sowden ; 

 Secretary of Internal Affairs, P. C. Delacey; Con- 

 gress at Large, Jere N. Weiler, F. P. lams ; Superior 

 Court Judges, William Trickett and C. M. Bower. 

 The vote on the nomination for Governor stood : 

 Jenks, 305; Gordon, 116; A. H. Coffroth, 2; J. 

 Henry Cochran, 1. 



The canvass was very animated, and serious 

 charges of bribery, "selling out," and secret deals 

 were made, besides charges of misappropriation of 

 public funds against past State administrations. 

 Mr. Wanamaker, Mr. Jenks, and Dr. Swallow nuuU' 

 speeches arraigning officials for their conduct of 

 State affairs. The Republican candidate for the 

 office of Governor declined a challenge from Dr. 

 Swallow to a joint discussion of the issues of the 

 campaign. Single-Plank Clubs were organized in < 

 the various counties by the Honest Government 

 managers, having for their motto, "Thou shalt not 

 steal." 



The election resulted in the victory of the Repub- 

 lican ticket. The vote for Governor stood : Stone. 

 Republican, 476,206; Jenks, Democrat, 358,300;' 

 Swallow, Honest Government, etc., 132,931 ; Barnes, 

 Socialist-Labor, 4,278. 



The Legislature for 1899 will have on joint ballot 

 164 Republicans, 84 Democrats, and 6 Fusionists. 



