512 HISTORY OF THE GRANGE MOVEMENT; OR, 



performance of their public duties, to the neglect partially or wholly of the 

 opinions and wishes of the mass of the people ; and that therefore we, as 

 farmers and laborers, despair of ever having our wishes complied with or our 

 interests subserved in the administration of public affairs until we shall take 

 upon ourselves the discharge of the duties we owe to ourselves and to each 

 other of choosing and electing our own candidates independently of the action 

 of all other political organizations, and we therefore earnestly recommend to 

 the farmers and laborers of the State that we shall do all in our power to pro- 

 cure the nomination and election of full and complete county, district, and 

 State tickets, embracing candidates elected in the interests of the masses of the 

 people for all the positions in the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches 

 of the Government to be elected this Fall, and that, to the end that this policy 

 may generally obtain, we solicit the cooperation of the industrial masses of the 

 other States in order that the influence of the movement may be extended to 

 the administration of our national affairs. 



Tenth : That we receive with satisfaction the decision of the Supreme Court 

 of this State in the case of Blake agt. The Winona & St. Peter Kailroad 

 Company, in which the Court holds, in effect, that the railroads are simply 

 improved highways, public roads, and that as such the right to prescribe a 

 rate of tolls and charges is an attribute of the sovereignty of the people of 

 which no legislation can divest them, and that the thanks of all the people of 

 this State are due to W. P. Clough, the attorney for the plaintiff, whose skill, 

 ability, and devotion to the cause of the people secured this judicial triumph. 



Eleventh : That we have seen with alarm the startling revelations in refer- 

 ence to the condition of our State Treasury, the undoubted defalcation of our 

 Treasurer of over $100,000, and the reported defalcation of his successor of 

 nearly $40,000 ; the loan of the public funds to merchants and lumber dealers ; 

 the making of accounts with bogus certificates of deposit ; the fact that nearly 

 half a million of the school fund, the precious heritage of our children, was 

 left unindorsed as required by law, and completely at the mercy of these dis- 

 honest officials ; the perjuries of the State Treasurer before the Commission, 

 and finally, the desperate efforts that were successfully made to hide the King 

 of guilty parties who had used the State Treasurer as their tool. 



Twelfth : That we claim that the law requiring these companies to fence the 

 lines of their roads should be strictly enforced, and that the said companies 

 should be compelled to pay for all loss and damage to stock caused by the 

 absence of such fences. 



Thirteenth : That we are opposed to the monopoly of wood and coal in oui 

 great cities by the Rings, as a shameful tax on the industry of the people. 



Fourteenth : We ar-? in favor of free water communication with the ocean by- 

 means of the improvement of the Mississippi and other great rivers of the 

 State, and the improvement of the great lakes ; that we are in favor of an 

 examination by ilie National Government of the region between the St. Croix 

 and Lake Superior, to ascertain whether canal communication can be made to 

 connect the tributaries of the Mississippi with the waters of Lake Superior. 



Fifteenth : We are in favor of uch reasonable limitation of the hours of 



