732 MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 



made by the two old parties ; the tariff came in for a share, as usual. Butler, 

 being unpopular with many reformers, failed to materialize much strength, 

 and, as a consequence, the Greenback party practically disbanded with this 

 campaign. But the reform movement continued to grow among the people, 

 and manifested its strength in many ways. 



BENJAMIN HARRISON, 1888. Received in the electoral college 233 votes. 

 His opponent, Grover Cleveland, received 168 votes. Clinton B. Fisk, Pro- 

 hibition candidate, received 250,000 votes, and Alanson J. Streeter, Union 

 Labor candidate, 147,000. The question of tariff again monopolized the entire 

 attention of the people, almost to the exclusion of all other issues. The 

 Union Labor party, headed by Mr. Streeter, did all in their power to awaken 

 an interest among the people to their own welfare, but the task was hopeless. 

 Both the old parties saw in the contest that failure meant political death, and 

 they fought with all the energy of despair. After the campaign was over, the 

 country seemed to realize the trap they had fallen into, and organized labor 

 has been gaining rapidly since that time. 



UNITED STATES SENATORS. 



One of the demands of the Farmers 1 Alliance is for the election of senators 

 directly by the people. 



It may be interesting to say something as to how the Senate came to have 

 its present form. There was no Senate in the Continental Congress. There 

 was but one house, and each State had a single vote in it. The constitutional 

 convention of 1787, following the model of the British government, then the 

 best form known, was in favor of two houses, but sorely puzzled how to con- 

 stitute an upper house which would be different from the lower one, and a 

 check upon it. It was a long while before the idea of a Senate was conceived, 

 and it really grew out of the jealousy of the smaller States of the larger ones. 

 But eleven States took part in the earlier proceedings of the convention. 

 Two of the four delegates from New Hampshire came in later, and no dele- 

 gates were appointed by Rhode Island. The "small States 1 ' five in num- 

 ber were Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. 

 The "large States" were Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North and 

 South Carolina, and Georgia. 



The small States feared that they would be overslaughed by the large ones, 

 and so they hung out stubbornly for equal voice in Congress. Several of the 

 plans suggested did not contemplate an upper house, but the Virginia plan, 

 which was eventually made the basis of Congress, did. It, however, gave no 

 name to the upper house, but proposed that its members should be chosen by 

 the House of Representatives, out of a number of persons nominated by the 

 legislatures of the several States. Three ways in all were suggested to con- 

 stitute the membership : 



i. Appointment by the chief executive, from nominations by the legisla- 

 tures. 



