Chicago City (part 7 of 57)

Mr. Anthony. - Mr. President: I do not, in the short space of time that I shall occupy here, intend to travel over the ground covered by the gentleman who just preceded me, but shall confine myself to the question before the Convention. That question as I understand it, is, What has been the practice of the Republican party in the state of Illinois, in selecting their delegates to the National convention? This is a question, Mr. President, that is to be determined, and ought to be determined without any reference to the bearing it may have upon the distinguished soldier that was referred to by one of the sitting delegates from Illinois, and without any reference to the bearing it may have upon the, distinguished statesman that has been referred to by other gentlemen here ; but it must be decided on the facts of this case, and as I say again, in accord with the practice. Now, what has been the practice in this state ? The gentleman that preceded me, as I understood him, laid down the doctrine that it was the State conventions that elected the delegates to the National convention. I wish here in my place to deny it as a question of fact ; and I meet it fairly and squarely by saying that never in the history of the state of Illinois were the delegates to the National convention ever selected by anybody, except by conventions of the Congressional districts. I repeat it again in the most emphatic manner, and if the gentleman meant what he said, he stands before the public and the people of Illinois as a perverter of history. This is no time to mince words over a question of this character, and I am emphatic upon this, particularly so because I understood from the distinguished gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Boutwell) who has introduced a resolution here, that he was in favor of having delegates selected and organized in the way and manner that the precedents of the party had been for years in the past.

state of Illinois, was in 1856. The resolution that was introduced upon that subject was by a distinguished gentleman that occupies a seat in the First Congressional district here to-day. The Honorable John Wentworth introduced this resolution:

"Resolved, That the delegates in attendance from the several Congressional districts be requested to suggest the name of one person from each Congressional district for Presidential Electors, and three persons for delegates to the National convention : and that a committee of nine, consisting of one from each Congressional district, be appointed by the Chair, to recommend two such electors, and six delegates for the state-at-large.

Take the next record and follow it down to the present time. I wish to state to the gentlemen here, that; for the first time in the history of the state of Illinois was there a committee appointed upon motion of any gentlemen upon the floor, and it was the first time in the history of the party that the distinguished gentleman that spoke here a moment ago took out of his pocket himself a list of the committees without their being suggested by the various Congressional districts in the state. What are the facts in this case, as shown by statistics here ? The facts are that delegates were elected to the State convention. They went there, and in accordance with the custom of the party, the*y held there the Congressional district election. They selected their men as we had done since 1856. The first thing we knew, as I stated, after this had been done, and each of the Congressional districts in the state had selected their delegates to the National convention, it was found that in various ones of these* Congressional districts they would represent different persons, in their preferences from what the majority of that convention at that time wanted, and they proceeded to set aside the men that had been selected to this convention. Take i860 ; that was the next State convention of the Republican party at which delegates to the National convention were appointed. It was held in Decatur, May 9 and 10, i860. The following is an extract from the proceedings of that body : - Mr. John M. Palmer moved that a committee of one member from each Congressional district be appointed by the Chair, to nominate four delegates from the stateat-lar^e to the Chicago convention, with alternates and two candidates for electors from the state-at-large. Mr. Murphy moved to amend Mr. Palmer's proposition by providing that the members of the National Committee be selected, not by the Chair, but by "the several representatives present from the Congressional districts." At a subsequent stage of the proceedings appears this : - "The report of the Committee on Delegates and Alternatesat-large was presented and received. The committee recommended the selection of the following gentlemen." Then follows the names of the gentlemen. "On motion it was ordered that the various Congressional districts through the proper persons, hand in a list of district delegates selected by them, and also the district alternates."

What did the gentleman mean when he stood up before you here to-night and said that the State convention had selected the delegates to the National convention ? I have the record here. Take the 'convention of 1864. The Republican State convention of that year met at Springfield May 25, and the record on this point is as follows : - "Mr. Scammon of Cook, moved that a committee to consist of one delegate from each Congressional district, to be selected by the delegates from among themselves, be appointed to nominate six delegates-at-large for the Baltimore convention, and their alternates, and to select two delegates from each Congressional district and their alternates, and one candidate for elector for President and Vice-President in each Congressional district." Mr. Cook, of LaSalle, moved to amend the last branch of the resolution so as to read as follows : "That the delegates from each Congressional district select two delegates to the Baltimore convention, and two alternates. The amendment was accepted by Mr. Scammon." That was the action in 1864. Take 1868. In that convention it was as follows:. The Republican State convention met at Peoria, May 6. As part of the proceedings of that, Mr. Franklin Corwin of LaSalle was elected President, and then announced that four committees had been decided upon, one of which was a committee to choose electors iand delegates to the National convention. The various Congressional districts were called upon to name one member for each of these committees, and it was announced as follows : Committee to Name Delegates to the National convention, First district, A. C. Hesing ; Second, George S. Bangs, and so forth.

Mr. Murphy, of New York. - I would like to ask the gentleman if he did not state in the corridors of the hotel two days ago this week that, under no circumstances would he vote for General Grant, if he was nominated ?

Mr. Anthony. - Sir? I never said so in my life, and I never thought of saying such a thing in my life. No, sir ; I will support General Grant or any other man that this convention nominates. I want to say that I represent here the Third Congressional district in this county. It has a population of over 120,000. Nearly

50,000 of that population are Germans. In that district at the Cook county elections there were only two men that were elected as Grant men in the entire district. Myself and the other delegate, Mr. Hesing, were by the Congressional convention elected unanimously as delegates to this convention. Whom did they take to place over us ? They took and placed over us, for one, the Hon. John L. Beveridge, who was beaten out of sight in his own town. They could not find Germans enough in that district to make a representative of, and they took a most reputable man, a good man, but a Bohemian, who does not represent the German population at all. The gentleman pictures to you what disasters'will follow. I want to tell you that these ten Congressional districts of the state of Illinois constitute the Republican party itself. In 1876 they gave a Republican majority of nearly 28,000. The counties down South that voted solid against us gave at that time more than 8,000 Democratic majority. These gentlemen talk about revolutionary measures. The men to introduce and inaugurate revolution were the men who operated and co-operated with the gentlemen. We are here pleading for justice, and we ask no more than to follow the precedents of the party.

Mr. Storrs, of Illinois. - Mr. President: A proposition is made for the first time in the political history of a national convention to abolish state conventions in Illinois. It will not work. We have gone along since 1856 under our system of state conventions, and have rolled up magnificent Republican majorities. I hope that Maine, I hope that Ohio, looking back to their troublesome history as Republican states, will not undertake to force upon us their methods. It is very clear that they had better adopt ours. The gentleman who last addressed the convention has arrogated to the Congressional districts for whom he speaks, the supreme credit of being the Republican party of the state of Illinois. The First, Second and Third Congressional districts two years ago gave Democratic majorities of 17,000. So much for history. The gentleman must have been out of the party, and have forgotten the event. I stand here to-night with the only evidences of title as a delegate to this convention that a delegate from the state of Illinois ever presented. It is a question of title. No delegate from Illinois ever appeared in a national convention that did not bear with him the credentials of the state which he represented in that body - never ; and the 111 i - noisan who got into the convention on any other terms crawled in under the canvas, or was appointed doorkeeper. He never got in in the regular way. It is a question of title. I hold tonight the credentials from the State convention, and my title is no better because the evidences are the same as of the eighteen delegates whom you propose to exclude. You admit me and you exclude them, on precisely the same evidences of title. Reconcile the inconsistency if >ou know how. Since 1856 this state has held Republican state conventions, and there has never been an instance in its history - not one - in which a delegate was appointed to a national convention where the authority to make the appointment did not proceed from the convention at large. I do not care how vigorous, declamatory, noisy and vehement the assertion to the contrary may be. That is the history of the state. When committees were formed for the selection of delegates, they were formed because the convention authorized them to be formed. Is the creature, I ask this body, superior to the creator? If it was a committee selected by the Congressional districts, it was because in every instance the convention authorized the organization of the committee, and directed the body from which it should be constituted ; and on all occasions the committee, clothed with this power, derived its authority, not to select, not to appoint, but merely to name delegates to the National convention ; and their action was reported back to that body for its approval or its disapprobation. That has been the history of the state. Now it is proposed to change it. It has been urged, however, that a great, blessed privilege, that of district representation, has been invaded.

"All these delegates are from the Congressional districts for which they were named, and there is but one exception to this statement of fact. Among the contesting delegates there is one delegate selected from the Sixth district who is not a resident of the district, and has not been for years past. I go further with this history. I shall not detain you to-night by reading ; but let me call your attention to the call for that convention. It is a convention of what ? Of the Republicans of the state of Illinois. To meet how? To meet in State convention. For what purpose ? As a state convention - as an entire, complete, indivisible, political body to nominate candidates for state offices, and to name forty-two delegates to this body. That is the call. Recognizing the call, the thousands of Republicans of this state sent 693 delegates, not to a congregation of Congressional conventions, but to a great solid body called a state convention, in which either the majority or the minority must rule. And in this instance the majority decided to rule. Never has there been an instance in the entire history of this state when such a thing as a Congressional district convention was held within, outside, on the verge of, near by, or adjacent to, a state convention - never. In this long history to which I have referred, sometimes the convention has appointed a committee made up of one person from each Congressional district, to do what ? Sometimes the chair has named the committee ; sometimes the convention has named the committee, to select delegates to the National convention. When that has been done the work has been referred back to that body, and they approved. The state convention has set its seal of approval on the work, and by its credentials sent each delegate here, and he has represented not merely a school district, not merely a sewing society, not merely a fractional part of a Congressional district, but he has represented, in part, the majesty of the great state of Illinois. Now, what is the offense which the state of Illinois on this occasion has committed? It desired, speaking authoritatively through its state convention, to give expression to its will. Whatever its will, we knew of but one method by which that will could be ascertained. It was by an appeal to the convention itself. When the convention, representing the Republicans of the state, declared by its majority its preference for a particular candidate, that was the will of the state, and if it had the power thus to express its wish, it had, I undertake to say, power to make this expression effectual. If it had the right to instruct, and no one denies that it does possess that power, with the right to instruct, it had the right to make its instructions so vigorous that they would be obeyed. If it could express its will it had a right to enforce the execution of that will ; it had a right to defend itself against treachery, trickery, fraud, corruption, violated faith, broken pledges and disregarded instructions. It did protect itself, and that convention, as all prior conventions have done, selected men who needed not to be instructed. It selected men who knew no law but the will of the majority which they represented ; who knew no ' boss' and no allegiance to anything, and recognized no despotism except the stern, inexorable and irresistible despotism of duty.

"It has been suggested, however, that an argument can be drawn from the call of this convention. Looking back to the various calls of national conventions from 1864 down to this day, no allusion whatever has been made to Congressional districts. There has merely been an expression indicating the number of delegates which each state was to select, but in this case the call was prepared by one of the members of the committee at the suggestion of its chairman, and never referred to the committee as a body for its action. Is the will or accident of some scrivener to be substituted for and made the law of a great national convention ?*..** I appeal to considerations way beyond the mere personal preferences which we feel to-night. I appeal to those considerations infinitely grander, vastly nobler, than those personal preferences that inspire the galleries, and I am afraid, the body of this convention. I appeal to the great cause which absorbs within itself, and is grander than all the greatness of our individual leaders. I appeal for that harmony in the future which we must have. I appeal to that just judgment of the party which I do not believe will ever knowingly, or willingly, or deliberately, inflict a wrong. I conjure you to stay your hand over what the Republican party in this state will regard as an outrage on its dignity, and on the freedom of its action.

"I wish to indulge in no line of commentary that can intensify the bitterness which already exists. I wish to denounce no one. But I have been upon this platform advocating a cause which has been espoused here to-night, and announced in the report of this majority of the Committee, what looked to me like disembodied spirits of the party of the Liberal movement of 1872. I am in favor of no such resurrection. When the bolter dies, I hope that he may die, Sir, the death that knows no waking. It does seem as if all the tombs of all the chronic bolters of the state had been rifled, and their forms, re-fleshed, set up here to speak a law to the Republicans of the state of Illinois. I object to being instructed from that quarter. And now, looking to this future with which we are so rapidly walking, looking to this great contest upon which we are so soon entering, do not, I beg you, by one single word that you may utter, or one vote that you may cast, impair the energy of that great rank and file which constitute the 50,000 Republican majority of the state of Illinois. I beg you to deal justly with us all, and whatever individual preference this great convention may express, will be responded to, not half-heartedly, not despairingly, not doubtingly, but with whole soul and in dead earnest. Nominate James G. Blaine if you will, and when the gentlemen who are cheering in the galleries to-night are reposing under the soft summer sky, tired of politics and disgusted with its fatigues, you will find the followers of the grand old, silent, soldier awake by their camp-fires, and carrying the banner of the sluggard forward to triumphant victory. (Loud and long-continued applause). Give the grand old state that never knew a draft, and never filled up a regiment with paper soldiers - give the grand old state, the home of Lincoln, and Douglas, and Grant, a fair chance. Put no indignity on the honor of her sons. Then, if you can nominate the worthy son of Ohio, John Sherman, do it fairly, and when the hysterical gentlemen who are afraid that he is not popular enough to carry Illinois, are inquiring their way to the polls, the grand old guard, whose representative I am, will have planted the banner of victory on the citadels of the enemy. By all means let us be free and absolutely untrammeled ; put no just cause for complaint on us ; have no hesitancy in a candidate who exhibits scars, provided they are honorable scars, won in honorable warfare. Select no man without a record ; pull no skulker from under the ammunition wagon, because he shows not upon him the signs of battle ; take the old tried hero - let us take him if we can get him ; and then I believe, with the old guard behind him, who have never kept step in this world to any music but the music of the Union, and with the friends of Blaine, and the friends of Sherman, and the friends of all good men, a victory will be achieved, the like of which has never been recorded in the annals of our national politics. Citizens of one country, members of one party, let us remember that, while we accept no indignities from our enemies, we hope, and trust, and pray our friends will put none upon us. Here in the midnight, with the storm without, and these assembled Republicans within, we are first to be just, first to be fair, and victory is ours as sure as the morning comes. Gentlemen, I thank you."

The roll was called on a motion of Mr. Powell Clayton, of Arkansas, to substitute the minority for the majority report of the Committee on Credentials, in reference to the First district of Illinois, and the motion was lost by a vote of yeas 353, nays 387. So much of the majority report as related to the First district of Illinois was then adopted by a vote of yeas 384, nays 356 ; the majority report in relation to the Third district was adopted by a vote of yeas 385, nays 353, and that portion of the majority report relating to the Fourth district was adopted by yeas 388, nays 351. The convention adjourned at 2:20 o'clock A. M.

Roscoe Conkling, of New York, placed Gen. U. S. Grant in nomination for the Presidency in this convention, and the speech of this celebrated statesman was pronounced one of his most splendid efforts. The speech was as follows : " ' And when asked what state he hails from, Our sole reply shall be,

"In obedience to instructions which I should never dare to disregard, expressing also my own firm convictions, I rise, Mr. President, in behalf of the state of New York, to propose a nomination with which the country and the Republican party can grandly win. The election before us is the Austerlitz of American politics. It will decide for many years whether the country shall be Republican or Cossack. The supreme need of the hour is not a candidate who can carry Michigan. All Republican candidates can do that. The need is not of a candidate popular in the territories, because the territories have no vote. The need is of a candidate who can carry doubtful states. Not the doubtful states of the North alone, but also the doubtful states of the South, which we have heard, if I understand aright, ought to take but little or no part here, because the South has nothing to give, but everything to receive. The need which urges itself on the conscience and reason of the convention is of a candidate who can carry doubtful states, both North and South. And believing that he, more surely than any other man, can carry New York against any opponent, and carry not only the North, but several states of the South, New York is for Ulysses S. Grant. Never defeated in peace or in war, his name is the most illustrious borne by living man. His services attest his greatness, and the country - nay, the world - knows them by heart. His fame was earned not alone by things written and said, but by the arduous greatness of things done ; and perils and emergencies will search in vain in the future, as they have searched in vain in the past, for any other on whom the nation leans with such confidence and trust. Never having had a policy to enforce against the will of the people, he never betrayed a cause or a friend, and the people will never desert or betray him. Standing on the highest eminence of human distinction, modest, firm, simple and self-poised, having filled all lands with his renown, he has seen not only the high-born and the titled, but the poor and lowly, in the uttermost ends of the earth, rise and uncover before him. He has studied the needs and defects of many systems of government, and he has returned, a better American than ever, with a wealth of knowledge and experience added to the hard common sense which shone so conspicuously in all the fierce light that beat upon him during sixteen years of the most trying, the most portentous, the most perilous, in the nation's history. Villified and reviled, ruthlessly aspersed by numberless presses, not in other lands but in his own, assaults upon him have seasoned and strengthened his hold on the public heart. Calumny's ammunition has all been exploded ; the powder has all been burned once, its force is spent, and the name of Grant will glitter, a bright and imperishable star in the diadem of the Republic, when those who have tried to tarnish it have moldered in forgotten graves ; and when their memories and their epitaphs have vanished utterly.

" Never elated by success, never depressed by adversity, he has ever, in peace as in war, shown the very genius of common sense. The terms he presented for Lee's surrender foreshadowed the wisest prophecies and principles of true reconstruction. Victor in the greatest war of modern times, he quickly signalized his aversion to war and his love for peace by an arbitration of international disputes, which stands the wisest, the most majestic example of its kind in the world's diplomacy. When inflation, at the height of its popularity and frenzy, had swept both Houses of Congress, it was the veto of Grant, single and alone, which overthrew expansion, and cleared the way for specie resumption. To him, immeasurably more than to any other man, is due the fact that every paper dollar is at last as good as gold. With him as our leader we shall have no defensive campaign. We shall have nothing to explain away. We shall have no apologies to make. The shafts and arrows have all been aimed at him, and they lie, broken and harmless, at his feet.

"Life, liberty and property will find a safeguard in him. When he said of the colored men in Florida : ' Wherever I am they may come also,' he meant that, had he the power, the poor dwellers in the cabins of the South should no longer be driven in terror from the homes of their childhood, and the graves of their murdered dead. When he refused to receive Dennis Kearney in California he meant that communism, lawlessness and disorder, although it might stalk high-headed and dictate law to a whole city, would always find a foe in him. He meant that, popular or unpopular, he would hew to the line of right, let the chips fly where they may. His integrity, his common sense, his courage, his unequaled experience are qualities offered to his country. The only argument - the only one - that the wit of man or the stress of politics has devised is one which would dumbfound Solomon, because Solomon thought there was nothing new under the sun. Having tried Grant twice and found him faithful, we are told that we must not, even after an interval of years, trust him again. My countrymen ! - my countrymen ! - what stultification does not such a fallacy involve ? The American people exclude Jefferson Davis from public trust. Why ? Because he was the arch traitor and would-be destroyer. And now the same people is asked to ostracize Grant, and not to trust him ! Why ? Why ? I repeat. Because he was the arch preserver of his country, and because, not only in war, but twice as Civil Magistrate, he gave his highest, noblest efforts to the Republic. Is this an electioneering juggle, or is it hypocrisy's masquerade ? There is no field of human activity, responsibility or reason in which rational beings object to an agent because he has been weighed in the balance and not found wanting. There is, I say, no department of human reason in which sane men reject an agent because he has had experience, making him exceptionally competent and fit. From the man who shoes your horse to the lawyer who tries your cause, the officer who manages your railway or your mill, the doctor into whose hands you give your life, or the minister who seeks to save your soul, what man do you reject because by his works you have known him. and found him faithful and fit ? What makes the presidential office an exception to all things else in the common sense to be applied to selecting its incumbent ? Who dares to put fetters on that free choice and judgment which is the birthright of the American people ? Can it be said that Grant has used official power and place to perpetuate his term ? He has no place, and official power has not been used for him. Without patronage, without emissaries, without committees, without bureaus, without telegraph wires running from his house or from the seats of influence to this convention, without appliances, without electioneering contrivances, without effort on his part, Grant's name is on his country's lips. He is struck at by the whole Democratic party, because his nomination is the deathblow of Democratic success. He is struck at by others, who find an offense and disqualification in the very services he has rendered, and the very experience he has gained. Show me a better man. Name one, and I am answered. But do not point as a disqualification to the very experience which makes this man fit beyond all others. There is no "third term" in the case, and the pretense will die with the political dog-days that engendered it. One week after the Democratic convention we shall have heard the last of this rubbish about a " third term." Nobody now is really disquieted about a third term except those hopelessly longing for a first term, and their dupes and coadjutors. Without effort or intrigue on his part, he is the candidate whose friends have never threatened to bolt unless this convention did as they said. He is a Republican who never wavers. He and his friends stand by the creed and the candidate of the Republican party. They hold the rightful rule of the majority as the very essence of their faith, against not only the common enemy, but against the charlatans, jayhawkers, tramps and guerillas who deploy between the lines and forage, now on one side, and then on the other. The convention is master of a supreme opportunity. It can name the next President of the United States. It can make sure of his election. It can make sure not only of his election, but of his certain and peaceful inauguration. It can assure a Republican majority in the Senate and House of Representatives. More than all, it can break that power which dominates and mildews the South. It can overthrow an organization whose very existence is a standing protest against progress.

"The purpose of the Democratic party is spoils. Its very hope and existence is a solid South. Its success is a menace to order and prosperity. This convention can overthrow and disintegrate these hurtful forces. It can dissolve and emancipate a distracted 'solid South.' It can speed the nation in a career of grandeur, eclipsing all past achievements. Gentlemen, we have only to listen above the din and look beyond the dust of an hour, to behold the Republican party announcing, with its ensigns resplendent with illustrious achievements, marching to certain and lasting victory with its greatest Marshal at its head."

Mr. Joy of Michigan, placed James G. Blaine of Maine, in nomination, seconded by Mr. Pixley of California ; Mr. Drake of Minnesota placed in nomination William Windom, of the same state; James A. Garfield of Ohio, placed John Sherman of that state in nomination, and the following extract from his speech and a historic incident of the convention are taken from the official proceedings :

"Not here, in this brilliant circle where 15,000 men and women are gathered, is the destiny of the Republic to be decreed for the next four years. Not here, where I see the enthusiastic faces of 756 delegates, waiting to cast their lots into the urn and determine the choice of the Republic ; but by four millions of Republican firesides, where the thoughtful voters, with wives and children about them, with the calm thoughts inspired by love of home and country, with the history of the past, the hopes of the future, and reverence for the great men who have adorned and blessed our nation in days gone by, burning in their hearts - there God prepares the verdict which will determine the wisdom of our work to-night. Not in Chicago, in the heat of June, but at the ballot boxes of the Republic, in the quiet of November, after the silence of deliberate judgment, will this question be settled. And now, gentlemen of the convention, what do we want ? [A voice. We want Garfield.]

Mr. Billings of Vermont, placed in nomination George F. Edmunds of that state ; Mr. Cassoday of Wisconsin, placed in nomination Elihu B. Washburne of Illinois, seconded by Mr. Brandagee of Connecticut. On the first ballot the vote stood, Grant 304 ; Blaine 284 ; Sherman 93 ; Edmunds 34 ; Washburne 30 ; Windom 10 ; total number of delegates 756 ; necessary to a choice 379. James G. Blaine received his highest number of votes on the first ballot ; Grant received 307 on the twenty-eighth ballot, and increased to 313 on the thirty-fifth ballot, when Blaine's vote had dropped to 257. One Pennsylvania delegate voted for Garfield on and after the second ballot ; on the sixth and most of the ensuing ballots Garfield received 2 votes ; on the thirtieth John Sherman received his highest number ; on the thirty-fourth Garfield received 17, of whicji 16 were from Wisconsin ; on the thirty-fifth Garfield received 50, of which 27 were from Indiana and 4 from Maryland, and on the thirty-sixth ballot he was nominated, receiving 399 to Grant's 306. Ohio did not vote for Garfield until the final ballot. Roscoe Corikling moved to make the nomination unanimous, and Senator Logan seconded the motion, speaking as follows :

Mr. Logan, of Illinois. - Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Convention : We are to be congratulated that we have arrived at a conclusion in reference to the presenting of a candidate to become the standard bearer of the Republican party for President of the United States. In union and harmony there is strength. Whatever may have transpired in this convention that may have momentarily marred the feelings of any one here, I hope that, in our conclusion, it will pass from our minds. I, sir, with the friends of, I think, one of the grandest men that graces the earth, stood here to fight a friendly battle in favor of his nomination ; but sir, this convention has chosen another leader. The men that stood by Grant's banners will be seen in the front of this contest on the field. We will go forward in this contest, sir, not with tied hands, not with sealed lips, not with bridled tongues, but to speak the truth in favor of the grandest party that has ever been organized in this country ; to maintain its principles, to maintain its power, to preserve its ascendancy ; and sir, with the leader you have selected, my judgment is that victory will perch upon our banners. I, sir, as one of the representatives from the state of Illinois, second the nomination of James A. Garfield of Ohio, and I hope it may be made unanimous.

Nomination of Elihu B. Washburne for Vice-President. On the call of the roll for the nomination of Vice-President, Mr. Pixley of California, spoke as follows : - Mr. President, and Gentlemen of the Convention : I rise for the purpose of placing a man in nomination for the office of Vice-President of the United States, in which he was born ; but only in consultation with and by the desire of my own state - California. In the enthusiasm of the choice that has given us undoubtedly one of the ablest and strongest men of the nation to head our ticket as candidate for President, I think we ought not to lose sight of the importance of securing an equally able and equally strong man for the second place upon that ticket. The nomination that has been made is undoubtedly one that will commend itself to the best intelligence of the whole Republican party of the United States ; and although our delegates did not obtain the eminent gentleman for whom we voted, we go back to our Western shore in confidence that those three states will back up their political traditions of the last twenty years, and give the electoral vote of California, Nevada, and Oregon again to the Republican party. I have had the pleasure of the acquaintance of the gentleman whom I am about to name, for a great many years. For sixteen years he was in the Congress of the United States. He made a magnificent record there. He made a record in the direction of questions that are now becoming very prominent before the American people. I had the further pleasure, Mr. President, to meet this gentleman under very trying circumstances, in the city of Paris, when I was abroad. You all know to whom I refer - it is Elihu B. Washburne, of Illinois. Mr. President, I saw that gentleman, too, at a period when it tested the true dignity and bravery of the American character. I saw him chosen, because he was Ambassador of the United States, to be the Ambassador of the belligerent German powers. I saw him throw the protecting shield of the American banner over that class of our fellow-citizens that are so largely represented in the United States. I desire to have all that my friend, Mr. Brandegee, of Connecticut, said when he placed Mr. Washburne in nomination for Pres- ident, to be re-said of him now as candidate for Vice-President ; for surely if he was so largely respected and loved by the German people for his dignity of character while in Paris, as a candidate here for this high office, with the same dignity of character he will command the same respect from the same people, and bring to the party every German vote. I am conscious and certain that in every one of the great cities, whether the Republican party is strong there or weak, the German population will be grateful to this convention if we shall give them the strongest ticket that can be made for all the people of the country - James A. Garfield for President, and Elihu B. Washburne for Vice- President. With a single word I shall close. The question of locality is sometimes considered, and I have heard it suggested here. But if the delegates from Ohio nominate their man, and the delegates from Illinois consent to Mr. Washburne, I think the locality will not be considered as being of any importance, or cutting any figure as opposed to the general fact that Mr. Washburne will bring to our ticket that large foreign element that is working with the Republican party, and has done so ever since it has been a party in the United States.

Chester A. Arthur of New York, was placed in nomination for Vice-President by Gen. Woodford of New York, and the nomination was seconded by Emory A. Storrs as follows :

Mr. Storrs, of Illinois. - On behalf of the majority of the Republican delegates from the state of Illinois, it is my duty, as it is my extreme pleasure, to second the nomination made for the Vice-Presidency, of Hon. Chester A. Arthur, of the state of New York. I believe that every dictate of political wisdom and political prudence looks in that direction. I believe that the " old guard," which stood through thirty-six ballots 306, whose line never wavered, in whose ranks there never was a shrinking man, in whose solid front there never was a desertion - I believe that this old guard, that has carried in the past and will carry in the future the flag of the party to triumph, wishes and prays for the nomination of Chester A. Arthur. I know that these stalwart Republicans, representing hundreds of thousands of Republicans throughout the Union, are as firmly resolved that Garfield shall be elected President as if the modest man, the great statesman, the silent soldier, had received the nomination of this convention. We have suffered no defeat ; nothing could have defeated nor dismayed us but a wavering of the line, and the line never wavered. With our banners still flying, members of the same army, inspired by the same elevated purpose, animated by the same patriotic spirit, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New- York, joining hands together, will carry the flag through to a triumph as splendid as the party ever achieved. I know 1 speak in behalf of those who have always been Republicans ; I know I speak in behalf of those who are now Republicans ; I know I speak in behalf of those who always will be Republicans; I know I speak in behalf of the great silent soldier, when I second the nomination of Chester A. Arthur, of New York.

The ensuing ballot resulted as follows : Chester A. Arthur of New York, 468; Elihu B. Washburne of Illinois, 193 ; Marshall Jewell of Connecticut, 44 ; Horace Maynard of Tennessee, 30; Blanche K. Bruce of Mississippi, 8; James L. Alcorn of Mississippi, 4 ; Edmund J. Davis of Texas, 2 ; Thomas Settle of Florida, 1 ; Stewart L. Woodford of New York, 1.

The Greenback National convention was also held at Chicago June 20, and James B. Weaver of Iowa, was nominated for President, and P. J. Chambers of Indiana, for Vice-President. The Democrats nominated Winfield S. Hancock of Pennsylvania, for President, and William H. English of Indiana, for Vice-President, at Cincinnati in July. The state campaign of 1880, so far as its influence in Chicago and Cook county was felt, was not productive of anything more exciting than a closely contested election. There were five electoral tickets - Republican, Democratic, Greenback, Prohibition and Anti-Secret Society - in the field, and in the Chicago districts the Trade and Labor element and the Socialists ran candidates for Congress. The Democrats selected a Chicago man, Lyman Trumbull, as their candidate for Governor, and his Republican opponent was Shelby M. Cullom. In the First Chicago district, for Congress, William Aldrich, Rep., received 22,307 votes; John Mattocks, Dem., 18,024 ; J. Altpeter, Socialist, 605 ; Richard Powers, Trade and Labor, 532. In the Second district George R. Davis, Rep., received 20,603 votes ; John F. Farnsworth, Ind. Rep., 16,014; O. A. Bishop, Trade and Labor, 29 ; Charles G. Dixon, Greenbacker, 461 ; Reinhard Loremy, Socialist, 514. In the Third district Charles B. Farwell, Rep., received 16,627 votes; Perry H. Smith, Jr., Dem., 11,903; Charles H. Adams, Greenback, 221 ; Oscar Neebe, Socialist, 141 ; Adolph Waldmann, Socialist, 114.

Among the Garfield electors were George Schneider, Robert T. Lincoln, John M. Smyth and James A. Kirk, and among the Hancock electors William C. Seipp, W. J. Hynes and Francis A. Hoffman, Jr. Garfield's highest vote in the state was 318,037, which number was received by Robert T. Lincoln ; and Han-

STATES SENATOR THE HARPER BILL, ETC. MUNICIPAL CAMPAIGN of 1883 - mayor Harrison's third term. The Democratic city convention of 1881 was held at the Palmer house in March, and Carter H. Harrison was re-nominated for Mayor by acclamation. In accepting the nomination, Mayor Harrison made a terse and vigorous speech, denouncing the press for making partisan attacks upon him, and proposing to run on his first two years' record as Mayor. Rudolph Brand was nominated for City Treasurer; Patrick J. Howard re-nominated for City Clerk, and Julius S. Grinnell re-nominated for City Attorney, on the ticket with Mr. Harrison. John M. Clark was the nominee of the Republican convention for Mayor ; John Raber, for City Treasurer ; Thomas W. Sennott, for City Clerk, and W. D. Underwood for City Attorney. The Hon. Jesse Spalding was a prominent candidate for Mayor, and had sufficient delegates to divide the convention. There were a number of so-called "Harrison Republicans," who voted against A. M. Wright in 1879, and this faction made threats that they would not support the Republican Mayoralty candidate unless they were allowed to name the nominee. For this and other reasons Mr. Spalding's friends withdrew his name, at his solicitation, from before the convention, and Mr. Clark was duly nominated. The election occurred Tuesday, April 5, and resulted as follows :

City Clerk

In this election Timothy O'Meara ran independently for Mayor, receiving 764 votes. The Socialists nominated George Schilling for Mayor, and Frank A. Stauber for Treasurer, serving no purpose other than to show the complete breaking down of their movement in politics since the election of two years before. Schilling received 240 votes, and Stauber 1,999. There were 1,885 scattering votes on City Attorney, and 1,838 on City Clerk. The Aldermanic vote in the various wards was as follows :

March 30, 1881, Mayor Harrison vetoed the annual appropriation bill, saying in connection therewith : - In the year 1879 this administration was forced to issue $1,250,000 in scrip, and in 1880, although there was $1,411,000 in the General Fund, we were forced to issue $589,000 in scrip. There was but one way to get rid of this blot upon our credit ; that was to levy, and then to save from the levy. Mr. Heath saved from the levy of 1878 about $400,000. I saved from the levy of 1879 nearly $600,000, and from the levy of 1880, $400,000. This saving was made by a rigid economy, an economy for which we were constantly abused by the thoughtless, and often by those who ought to have been more wise. By this means, and by collection of back taxes, we found the city in a condition at the beginning of this year to be able to pay its General Fund about $2,050,000. This was not in cash, but was in credits, and from various other funds, and to be paid as the taxes for 1880 shall be collected. * * * I cannot help thinking that the School Board could easily have reduced its demand. I think $1,146,- 274 too much by at least $150,000. Boards which are responsible to no one are ever found to magnify their necessities, and unless held in check will eat up an inordinate amount of taxes. * * * I have been told that if I veto this ordinance I will fatally injure myself for next Tuesday. I would prefer goinoout of politics now with a consistent record than to win a further term by doing or permitting to be done what I believe to be a wrong upon this fair city.

May 9 1 881, the Council approved the official bonds of Julius S. Grinnell, City Attorney, and Rudolph Brand, City Treasurer. The former's bond in the sum of $10,000 was signed as sureties by W. M. Hoyt and Horace A. Hurlbut, and City Treasurer Brand's bond in the sum of $4,500,000 by Michael Brand, Conrad Seipp, George Schneider, Peter Schoenhofen, Ernst Ulich, H. J, Christoph, Tobias Almendinger and Frederick W acker as sureties. At this meeting of the Council Mayor Harrison submitted his second inaugural message, as follows :

To the City Council of the City of Chicago : - Gentlemen, - In passing from my first into a second term of orifice as Mayor of this great city, I wish to express to the citizens of Chicago my deep gratitude for the high honor they have conferred upon me, and to assure them that in re-electing me by so handsome a majority I feel most keenly that they have placed me under increased obligations to do my best to merit their confidence. A public man should seek popularity only by being worthy of it. It shall be my earnest endeavor so to win it. To the applause of the people is my highest ambition, to obtain it my greatest pleasure. It is with confessed pride, gentlemen, that I congratulate you and the people of Chicago upon the unexampled prosperity she has enjoyed during the past two years, and upon the proud financial position she occupies among the cities of the world ; and I felicitate myself that this proud eminence has been attained, to a great extent, during my first term of office. But while saying this, I wish to acknowledge that it has been my good fortune to be at the head of the city's affairs during a brighter day than was vouchsafed to my immediate predecessors. At the same time I owe to my able assistants the statement that they have been prompt in taking advantage of this brighter day, and that they have not wasted the sunshine. Permit me to call your attention to the condition in which I found the city affairs two years ago, and to contrast it with the present financial status. Then, and for several prior years, the city, not having the means to pay her servants and to obtain supplies with cash, was forced to issue scrip or warrants on the Treasurer, to be paid from taxes to be collected many months after such issuance. In 1878, my predecessor - an economical officer - issued about $2,238,000 of this scrip. This entailed upon employes a loss of from 5 to 10 per cent, on the dollar, and upon the city, through its contracts, a loss of from $150,000 to $200,000 per annum.

reduce the issuance of scrip to less than $1,500,000 in 1879, and in 1880 to less than $590,000. In 1881 I hope to escape the blot of scrip entirely. For twenty-one months every employe has been paid in cash. The city cannot legally borrow a dollar, and yet, not having ready money to meet her semi-annual interest, she was compelled to hypothecate the interest coupons when due, and to pay a heavy commission for carrying them until taxes could be collected. These illegal commissions cost her each year from $50,000 to $70,000. Since 1879 we have promptly met our interest without borrowing or paying one cent of commissions. Two years ago the city owed $249,000 of what was known as Hayes-Colvin certificates. These the courts had declared illegal. But our good name demanded that they should be paid. We have taken them all up, paying them in full, together with interest, the whole amounting to $275,643. In 1880 we paid off $291,000 of 7-100 water bonds, and refunded $490,000 of 6 and 7 per cent, sewerage bonds, with a like amount of 4^ per cent, bonds, which we sold at over 2 per cent, premium, and on the first of April of this year we refunded $843,500 of 7 per cent, municipal bonds, with a like amount of 4 per cent, bonds, which command to-day about 4 per cent, premium. The annual savings of interest thus effected amount to $54,215. In former years the sinking fund had become depleted by the amount of $236,024 ; this we have restored. From the appropriations of 1879 and 1880 we saved $1,050,000. This heavy saving, added to taxes of prior years collected, and to cash from various sources, enabled us to contribute to the appropriation for 1 88 1 $550,000, and yet left in the general fund nearly $1,500,000 as a reserve to meet current expenses, and to enable us to avoid the issuance of scrip. * * * This financial showing I make, gentlemen, not boastfully, but to enable you and the people to enjoy with me a feeling of justifiable pride. * * * The Department of Public Works. - Under the immediate eye and control of this department rests all work of a public character. Without a vigilant care and the strictest honesty, thousands of dollars would be annually squandered, and rings of a most dangerous character fostered. The record of this department has demonstrated that its present head thoroughly understands the requirements of his position, and has rendered the public signal service by his firm course in awarding contracts upon their merits, and not through favoritism. Strict business principles have prevailed, and every contractor has been fairly and honestly served. In consequence there has been a most free and healthy competition for all public works. The rings that predominated before have been routed at every turn. Their various attempts to assert themselves in important contracts have been frustrated, and the city has been a gainer thereby by thousands of dollars. More work has been accomplished for less money than the same class of work has cost before, and small appropriations have answered where larger ones would have been required, were the old order of things in vogue. * * * I believe the wooden period for street paving should pass away from Chicago. Our central and heavily trafficked streets need something more durable than sappy pine or cedar blocks cut from burnt-over swamps. Granite and Medina sandstone can be had without stint. The beauty and health of the city require that such pavements should become the rule, and not the exception, in the heart of the city. A few nervous gentlemen may object to the noise, but they should remember that the music of the pine-covered forests is not compatible with the busy traffic of a mighty commercial city. * * * The Police Department. - In speaking of this department, I can say that it is upon a most efficient and satisfactory footing. Less crime has been prevalent than heretofore, and the morals of the city were never in better condition. The chiefs of this department have rendered me prompt and energetic service, and criminals have found it safer and more comfortable to remain away from the city. What has been done can be best shown by the statement that while the recoveries of stolen property for the years 1877 and 1878 were within $70,207 of the value of property reported stolen, they were only $3 1,754 below the value of stolen property in 1879 and 1880. Besides, the value of stolen property has been less for the past two years by $69,444. * * * In connection with this improved state of affairs, I desire to say that the telephone police alarm stations have proved a most valuable adjunct to the department. We began with its introduction in the West Twelfth street district, which was overrun with desperadoes, roughs and footpads, and finding it so useful in summoning police to apprehend this class, we have so extended the system to other portions of the city that districts hitherto comparatively unprotected are now thoroughly under police surveillance. There have been established already some ninety alarm stations, and had the City Council set a larger appropriation than it did, we should cover other still remote and unprotected sections. But for this change the present police force would be entirely inadequate to meet the demands of the city. Our force is the smallest of any large city in the country. The present number composing it is almost the same as it was when we had a little over half of our present population. Increased efficiency and telephonic communications have rendered the force doubly serviceable, and aided in a very material and perceptible decrease in crime.

For this telephonic innovation and improvement upon old police methods we are chiefly indebted to Prof. John P. Barrett and Mr. Austin J. Doyle, who originated and perfected the system. The system contemplates connections with business houses and private residences, and already several have availed themselves of its benefit, to be in a position to receive prompt police assistance in case of an emergency. It has already proved itself of incalculable value to the department, and will be made to cover the city as rapidly as means will permit. * * * The Fire Department. - In looking over the records of this department for the past four years, I find that it has not only coped more successfully with fires, but kept down the average loss during the past two years at a point below that of the two preceding years, in spite of the greater number of conflagrations in the latter period. In 1877 and 1878 there were 923 fires, and the amount of loss involved was $1,351,314, making the average loss $2,989, while in 1879 and 1880 there were 1,606 fires, and a loss of $1,707,898, making the average loss only $1,980. It will be accordingly noted from this that while there were 683 more fires during the past two years than during the two preceding years, the average loss has been $1,009 less f°r the Past two years. This speaks volumes of praise for the effective working of the force as at present constituted.

Health Department. - No department of the city has shown more efficiency during my term of office than this. The city has grown in population with great rapidity. It has been impossible for the appliances necessary to health to keep pace with this growth. While the population of the city is that of one of centuries' growth, the street pavements and sewerage system has been necessarily that of a city of two generations of men. Many of the manufacturing interests have extended with a rapidity vastly beyond the city's growth ; some of these interests are of a character ordinarily offensive to the senses, and supposed to be injurious to the health. A quarter of a century ago there were packed in Chicago 56,000 hogs, during the last year over 6,000,- 000. The slaughtering of other animals has increased almost as rapidly. Nearly all of this growth has been within the past decade. The great amount of refuse matter from this vast horde of animals has to be taken care of. The most of it is utilized. This naturally gives out offensive odors, and if not promptly attended to, breeds disease. For years the summer air was offensive, that of autumn and winter often almost intolerable. Some of the finest portions of the city were oftentimes for weeks unfit for delicate people to live in. By a steady perseverance, knowing no favor and fearing no opposition, fighting in the courts, abused and villified - the head of the health department has done his duty. While he has fought stenches, he has stood by me in upholding our great manufacturing interests. Consequently it can be said to-day that there has been nothing to offend the nostrils within eighteen months. * * * The flood pouring from an overflowed country lately caused a changed water to come from our crib and affected our people temporarily. It was injurious to very weak people and caused strong ones (to their bodily discomfort) to take to so-called mineral water or to indulge unusually in beer or liquor, and at once reporters seeking items find doctors eager to cry "poison in our water." A little precaution for a week or so every few years can prevent our people from suffering, and during all the remainder of their lives here they enjoy the coolest and purest water of the inhabitants of any large city on the face of the globe.

The mortality statistics of the principal American cities were quoted, and Chicago's mortality, 20.8 per 1,000 of population was shown to be lower than the mortality in eight principal cities. The message continued :

One of the questions which has agitated our citizens and the public press lately is that of gambling. On this subject I have been severely criticised in some quarters and in other quarters as eminently respectable I have been indorsed in the position I have assumed. If not openly it has been very generally tacitly admitted that it is impossible to thoroughly eradicate the evil, but as to the exact course to pursue toward it, a diversity of opinions exists among those who have examined this phase of social life. " We cannot," some say, "rid the community of gambling, but how can the evil be reduced to its minimum effect?" There seems to be the rub. Those who have so rigorously cried out for its extermination have failed to suggest any possible or practicable plan by which the desired end can be accomplished. In their blind zeal they seem to forget the essential results of all attempts, viz.: That every effort at its annihilation has been a dismal failure. They are by no means left without practical ex- amples of the results of such efforts. If they would only pause in their frenzy and direct their attention to the time sporting or club houses were presumptively closed, they would easily recall facts that indicated that not only the private precincts of hotels and public buildings, but fashionable resorts, were invaded, and games of chance indulged in. There, free from and unobserved by the guardians of the law, young as well as old were " taken in and fleeced." A few wealthy gamblers managed to run their places behind locked doors and by means of a liberal feeing, officers intrusted to see that there was no gambling, blinked at violations of the law, passed on, and kept the central authorities in ignorance of their existence. When it was finally discovered that one place was in full blast, the police made a descent upon it, an explosion of powder ensued, and the case went into the state courts, where Judge McAllister held substantially that police officers had no authority to break in the doors of places where it was not absolutely certain that gambling was being regularly conducted therein. This decision was looked upon as a victory by the gamblers, and gambling shops opened, with various self-imposed restrictions, in different sections of the city. Ropers-in flourished extensively, and gamblers held undisputed sway behind doubly barred and screened doors. Subsequently the owners of these places put a bold front to their vocation, and in view of former experience, the then existing administration evinced no special inclination to break them up. They were accordingly in a high tide of prosperity long before I entered upon the Mayoralty, and the authorities were fully cognizant at all times of their location.

Considering what the results had been, I came to the conclusion, on becoming Mayor, that the evil must be kept within proper bounds and restrictions. More than that, I determined to restrict these houses to the central portions of the city, where they could be closely watched and kept in check. By this course of procedure I had in view the easy and unrestricted entrance of either the police, to detect sharp practices by the gamblers, keep minors out, and find any crooked person who might seek its enchantments, or of business men, who might desire to see whether an employe was squandering money surreptitiously taken from his funds. By such course as I have thus outlined I have had the indorsement of a large number of citizens, and the results have been far better than they would have been under different conditions. Under the apparent rigid rule in vogue in 1873, there were in the city forty-four gambling establishments and twenty odd bunko places; in 1877, over thirty gambling houses and a dozen or more bunko rooms, while during 1880 there have not been seventeen of the former, and not a single bunko establishment. I notice the correspondent of the Tribune says there are in Washington city, with a population less than one-third of that of Chicago, from twenty-five to thirty gambling houses in full blast, and yet, he says, they pull them frequently, and break up their furniture. The present state of affairs here is due to restrictions, and while a great number of complaints came to my office shortly after my inauguration, there have been not more than a half dozen within the past eighteen months. The plan of keeping these places in the heart of the city enables the police officers to learn where brace boxes are played upon unsuspecting victims. Such houses are promptly dealt with. Those that are run are put upon their good behavior ; minors are excluded, and those who must play protected from the tricks of dealers, and games of a character calculated to attract the man of small means and the young, are being entirely prevented. I am not defending gambling per se, but if my position is wrong in dealing with it from a practical standpoint, the people have their remedy. They can appeal to an authority higher than mine, and strange it is that such citizens and newspapers as have assailed me have not also directed their batteries toward that authority. Those who think my plan not the best have a state law under which any one so disposed can take his hand in suppressing gambling. I fear, however, that Mr. Lincoln was not mistaken when he said that "statutory enactments can't turn a calf's tail into a third hind leg." The fireside, the lyceum and the well-stocked public library will do more than laws to suppress social evils. But those who differ with me have a law under which a citizen, feeling that the community has been outraged by the existence of gambling, can go and swear out a warrant and secure satisfaction. The Grand Jury are open to his complaints, and even the assistance of the State's Attorney can be invoked. In conclusion, I desire to return my thanks to the members of the outgoing Council and to the heads of the different departments for their kind assistance and courtesies, and to ask the indulgence and aid of the incoming Council in all measures looking to the welfare and prosperity of the city.

Carter H. Harrison, Mayor. The official bond of Theodore T. Gurney, Comptroller, in the sum of $100,000, signed by Sidney A. Kent, Henry Botsford, John B. Lyon, Sylvester D. Foss and Wiley M. Egan, and the official bond of Charles S. Waller, Commissioner of Public Works, in the sum of $50,000, signed by Edward Waller. William O. George and James L. Waller as sureties, were approved by the Council May 30, as also were the bonds of William J. McGarigle, General Superintendent of Police, for $25,000, signed by J. H. Whitbeck, M. J. Sullivan and George Schneider; D. J. Swenie, Fire Marshal, for $25,000, signed by T. E. Courtney, Louis Haas and Thomas Lynch ; Oscar C. DeWolf, Health Commissioner, for $5,000, signed by George W. Hale and Sextus N. Wilcox as sureties. July 6, 1881, Mayor Harrison sent the following communication to. the Council in reference to the assassination of President James A. Garfield by Charles J. Guiteau :

To the City Council of the City of Chicago - Gentlemen : Since your last session the hand of an assassin has been lifted against the life of the President of the United States. It has caused a thrill of horror to fill the hearts of all good men throughout the civilized world, and the people of the United States have been inexpressibly shocked that such an attempt should have been a second time made against their chief magistrate and their most exalted servant. The citizeas of Chicago have had but one feeling aroused by this horrible deed - a feeling mingled with detestation of the great crime, and heartfelt sympathy with President Garfield and his family. While they deeply deplore that any one could conceive and execute so dastardly a deed, they yet know that it was the act of a single man, and not the conspiracy of others, and they earnestly condemn the rancor which could even suggest that Guiteau 's crime was the premeditated act of any faction of the country. They recognize that assassination as a means of removing a public servant can never become a growth on free American soil. The assassin may shock the sentiment of Americans, but cannot cause them to doubt the safety of the Republic, nor can he materially disturb the equipoise of its institutions. Chicago now rejoices that the condition of the President gives hopes of his recovery. I recommend that you pass resolutions of sympathy with him and his family. Carter H. Harrison, Mayor.

Aids. Burley, Wickersham and Hildreth were appointed a committee to prepare resolutions. The resolutions were adopted by a rising vote of the Council, and were as follows :

Resolved, That we, the Common Council of the city of Chicago, deeply deplore and emphatically condemn the recent attempt to assassinate the President of the Republic.

Resolved, That the act was one of unequaled and unparalleled atrocity, inasmuch as it was an attempt to destroy a Chief Executive who blends in himself the qualities that distinguish a President and a Statesman, and adorn a man.

September 20, a special meeting was held to take action suitable to the occasion, the Mayor and thirty-four aldermen being present. The Mayor presented the following message :

To the Mayor and Aldermen of the City of Chicago, in City Council Assembled - Gentlemen : Last night while you were discussing an important matter, the fire gong startled you by its measured toll It said, "The President is dead ! " You at once silently adjourned. I have called you together to make the formal announcement that the Chief Magistrate of the United States, after a heroic struggle of eighty days with grim death, has at last given up the fight - that his spirit at 10:35 last night winged its flight to the presence of its God, leaving behind it a name which will live as long as history continues to be written. This is a painful announcement, whether you think of James A. Garfield as a man or as the executive head of this mighty Republic. As a man he had his faults, perhaps, for who that is human has not? But his virtues were even greater than have been bestowed upon even a minority of the men whom the world has called great. He was a kind and generous friend, a loving and gentle husband, and a devoted father. He was an industrious public servant, and endeavored to square all his public acts by an upright and peculiarly sensitive conscience. He was an earnest patriot, and showed his love for his country on the battle-field as well as in the legislative halls. He was ambitious, but his ambition was of that exalted character which pined for an eternal fame. He has been cut off in a manner which will cause his name to live forever. But he has been robbed of his most darling wish, which was that he would fasten his name to some act that would forever endear him to his fellow-men. As President of this mighty land, had he been spared, this most earnest desire might have been gratified. It is a bitter thing for such a man to be cut off thus on the threshold of his great opportunity. Re- garding him as a man, we can profoundly mourn his untimely death ; but when we regard him as the chief magistrate of the United States, we have far more poignant pain. He was murdered, not because he had awakened personal animosity, not because he had embittered a human life, but because he was the chief magistrate. The assassin aimed at his heart, not because that heart was a man's, but because it beat beneath a President's breast. It is a terrible thought that the man whom a nation exalts to be its chief executive, its chief servant, should be a target for a fanatic's bullet. Thank God but one feeling animates the hearts of all men and women in this broad land - execration and horror of the deed, and of the wretch who perpetrated it. I hope this execration will grow into a hatred of the vile system in our body politic which maddened Guiteau's brain. The assassin of the President was a mad fanatic, but his last act was the result of political pyaemia in our governmental fabric - greed of office. It has been charged that the black axiom, " To the victor belong the spoils," was promulgated by a great man. Every friend of the defender of New Orleans should resent the vile aspersion. To that axiom we owe the rapid diffusion of the poison which belongs to the spoils system. Office is for the good of the people, and not spoils for the officeholder. That party should be entitled to the longest life in this country which most boldly and honestly demands that this upas tree of Republican institutions be eternally and utterly eradicated. The death of James A. Garfield brings this hideous monster plainly before the eyes of the world. He believed in reform in the civil service. His countrymen can best show their appreciation of his worth by following what he would advise could his spirit speak to them to-day. Let it be written in letters of blood, "Guiteau's bullet was sped by the spoils system. In the name of Garfield, death to the vile system."

Gentlemen, I recommend that you adopt appropriate resolutions, that the same be spread upon the records, and that you appoint a committee of the Council to attend the funeral of our lamented President, and, in the name of Chicago, to drop a tear upon his grave. I shall issue a proclamation calling upon all the people of this great city to desist from all labor and amusements during the hours of the funeral, and thus to show their respect for the dead President of the United States, and their horror of the black deed which so untimely took him off.

ley were appointed a committee to prepare and present to the Council such resolutions as they might deem appropriate. While the committee retired Aid. Burley addressed the Council as follows : The President of the United States is dead. Again we are called to mourn the death of the Chief Magistrate by the hand of an assassin. Again we are obliged to see our system of Republican government tested, and let us hope that all our people will now, as in days gone, be united in the determination that our government shall stand. Whatever may be the individual differences of opinion, let us be united in the one idea that in union and in the supremacy of law lies our safety. The President is dead ! Long live the President. The President is dead, but we still have a president and a government. While we mourn the loss of our late honored Chief Magistrate, let us reaffirm our loyalty to our government, and to those upon whom its cares and duties devolve. Let us pray that God in His divine providence will direct our rulers and guide them, and preserve our country from internal dissensions and external wars. There is little to be said upon an occasion like this. I cannot avoid expressing my admiration for the man we have lost, and expressing the hope that his successor may be all we could hope or wish him to be. I will suggest with regard to the resolutions that it would be proper to add one that the Mayor and a Committee of Aldermen, to be appointed by him, attend the funeral ceremonies wherever they are held, as representatives of the city of Chicago. The committee presented the following resolutions, which were adopted by a rising vote :

Whereas, We have learned with profound sorrow and regret of the death of the eminent and respected Chief Magistrate of the nation, James A. Garfield, who, during his short occupancy of the highest position in the gift of a great people, and as the ruler of 50,000,000, had won their entire confidence, their esteem, and their admiration by his manly character, his broad views, and his statesmanlike qualities ; who gave promise of giving our country an administration under which unexampled prosperity would be a ruling characteristic alike in all sections, industries of all kinds fostered and encouraged as they never have been encouraged before in the history of America, and our relations as a corporate body-politic established on a closer, firmer, and more intimate and amicable basis than ever before, with the other nations of the world ; and who had evinced, in all the rancors of political strife between party factions, a deep sense of a feeling which should always animate the breast of a great peo- pie - a feeling to which the martyred Lincoln gave memorable utterance in the epigrammatic sentence : ''With malice toward none, with charity for all," and,

Whereas, Our grief has been made the more keen and intense by the fact that his death has been by the hand of an unprincipled and dastardly assassin ; that in his demise the lawlessness, utter abandonment and recklessness of a man should be made manifest in a country of pure and liberal principles, where "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" is guaranteed to all in the Constitution of our land, and that the wish of all for his continued administration should thus be ruthlessly set aside, by one iniquitous individual ; and,

Whereas, Our sense of sorrow is also most deeply touched at a time when it seemed that, after so long and anxious waitingfor his recovery, he might still be saved to the nation, and that the long and heroic struggle he made for life gave hopes for a return of health ; therefore be it,

Resolved, That as a proper mark of respect the City Hall be draped in mourning for the period of thirty days, and that on the day of the funeral ceremonies, his Honor, the Mayor, direct that all the public offices and schools be closed, and that he request that all places of amusement be closed, and business be suspended.

Resolved, That these resolutions be spread upon the records of this Council, and that copies be sent to the President of the United States, and the heads of departments in Washington, and to the family of the late President

Resolved, That his Honor, the Mayor, and a committee of nine Aldermen, to be appointed by him, attend the funeral ceremonies wherever they are held, as representatives of the city of Chicago.

The Mayor and Committee of Aldermen, accompanied by a committee of the County Board, attended the funeral ceremonies at Cleveland, O. On the same day there was an imposing demonstration of military and civic organizations in Chicago, the procession accompanying a catafalque through the principal streets of the city.

The excitement attending Guiteau's infamous act was intense. Crowds of people surrounded the newspaper and telegraph offices daily to learn the latest particulars of the President's condition. When the announcement came, on the evening of September 19, that he had breathed his last in the cottage at Elberon, the Council was in session, and when the fire-gongs began their dismal toll the Chairman's gavel fell, and the Council arose in a body and adjourned with silent impressiveness. All public and many private buildings in the city were profusely draped with mourning emblems, and in no city in the Union was detestation of this black crime in the history of the nation more conspicuously expressed, nor was sympathy with the President's bereaved family more genuine and spontaneous. That portion of the Mayor's first communication deploring a certain manifestation of rancor, had reference to inuendoes in certain organs of the so-called Blaine or " Featherhead" Republican faction, that the assassination was satisfactorily received by the " Stalwarts," the opposing faction in the party. The public generally repudiated this partisan attempt to create a suspicion that any portion of the people were gratified at the commission of this infamous crime. Charles J. Guiteau, the assassin, was called by many newspapers a Chicago " crank," but he was no more a Chicago product than of other cities which he made his residence during a strange and erratic career. His parents lived in Freeport, 111., and at one time he wandered through the wilds of the West in a religious frenzy. His history is now too well known to need repetition. When in this city he lived a portion of the time with his brother-in-law, George Scoville, a lawyer, who had married his sister some years before. He resorted to the Public Library a great deal in the preparation of his peculiar religious pamphlets. Lawyer Scoville and Charles H. Reed, ex-State's Attorney of Cook county, who had taken up his residence in Washington some time before, defended Guiteau in his trial. While the general belief in Chicago was that Guiteau was insane, and witnesses were summoned from this city to attest the fact, physicians expert in insanity disagreed, and Guiteau was executed. Many of those who believed him insane did not regret his partial expiation of the crime, and esteemed it a salutary public warning to criminal malefactors or murderously inclined "cranks" - the latter being a term fittingly applied to Guiteau and to individuals possessing his traits, by the public press of the country.

September 12, 1881, the Council by a rising vote adopted the following resolutions of respect to the memory of the young, brave and popular Major John H. Lannigan, deceased : of Chicago, we desire to place upon the records of this Council a tribute of respect to the memory of Major John H. Lannigan. Major Lannigan was born in 1844 at Detroit, Mich., came to Chicago in 1861, enlisted as Second Lieutenant in the Twentythird Illinois Infantry, Col. Mulligan commanding, and served with bravery, fidelity and distinction in that regiment till it was mustered out at the close of the war, being in the meantime promoted to the rank of First Lieutenant. He was at the battle of Winchester when Col. Mulligan was killed. He returned to Chicago after the war, and in 1874 entered the employ of the city, being connected with the Treasurer's office from that time to the day of his death. For the past two years he has held the position of Assistant Inspector General of the state militia, and was a member of the Second Regiment, holding the position of Major. His sudden death has caused a shock to all who knew him. He was a gentleman, kind, courteous, and ever friendly to all, and possessed in a high degree all that the word gentleman implies. His connection with the City Treasurer's office for over seven years has made him familiar to every person connected with this Council and with the city officers, and to every one having business with the treasury. His courteous and obliging manners have endeared him to all ; his integrity and fidelity in the city's employ calls for respect and honor, and his pleasant and lovable nature has made him the kind friend. On Wednesday, the 7th inst., he left his desk slightly ill. On Saturday, the 10th inst, he sent word that he would be on duty the Monday following. Saturday he became worse, and on Sunday died in the bloom and vigor of manhood, deeply mourned by mother and sisters, in whose midst he passed away, regretted, and his loss deplored by his friends, but with the honor and respect of all for his manly, upright, and blameless life.

Resolved, That these resolutions be published in the regular proceedings of this Council, and that the Clerk cause a copy of the resolutions to be sent to the family of the deceased.

In a message to the Council September 19, Mayor Harrison referred to the bridge nuisance in the following language : "The bridge nuisance has grown to be almost intolerable. Sooner or later the river, at least from the junction of the two branches up to some point near the mouth of the canal, must be closed and a new channel cut thence to the lake. The West side is now half of the city, and it will not long submit to the delays and vexations caused by the opening and closing of the bridges. The change I indicate is one of great magnitude, and cannot be brought about for several years. But in the meantime something must be done. Tunnels do not seem to satisfy the people. Immediate relief can only be brought about by numerous bridges, and those bridges to be as wide as the streets leading to them, so as to admit the passage of teams, as along the streets. In London and Paris the bridges are all now being built of equal width with the streets. But there such bridges do not require to be drawn, as here. Ours must be drawbridges. So few localities require such structures that inventive genius is not called into activity to devise new systems and plans sufficient to enable double rows of teams to cross and yet not narrow the channel of the river when vessels are passing. I have thought much of this, and have come to the conclusion we can get the aid of inventive genius only by offering a generous reward for the best practical plan for a drawbridge suitable to our necessities. I recommend, therefore, that you empower the Mayor to offer a reward of $5,000 for such plan, the same not to be paid unless something valuable be submitted, and to pay such rewards out of moneys not otherwise appropriated."

October 26 the Mayor submitted a communication in reference to a letter from Walker Blaine, Third Assistant Secretary of State, announcing that the representatives of Baron Von Steuben would arrive in Chicago October 30, and requesting that the municipality should receive them. The matter was left in the hands of the Mayor with power to act. The distinguished guests were tendered a public reception by the city officials at the Palmer house upon their arrival.

Whereas, The reception tendered by the municipality of New Orleans last spring to the Mayor, Chief of Police, Firemen and Aldermen of Chicago who visited the Crescent City, was spontaneous and generous ; and

Whereas, Aid. Fitzpatrick, Administrator of Finance, Aid. Meally and Fagan, Sheriff Duffy, and other city officials, are now on their way here ; therefore, be it

Resolved, That the freedom of the city of Chicago be tendered these gentlemen during their visit, and that a committee of three be appointed by His Honor the Mayor, to receive the guests and make such arrangements as may conduce to their comfort during their stay in our city

To the City Council of the City of Chicago, - Gentlemen : The time for the presentation of the Mayor's annual message has been established by custom on the inauguration of a new Council. The fiscal year ends with the 31st of December, and as the new Council does not take its seat until the first week in May, it has occurred to me that the proper time for laying before you statements and suggestions in regard to the conduct of municipal affairs ought to be made as soon as possible after the end of the year, instead of four months thereafter, I have, therefore, decided to take a new departure on this occasion, and with your kind indulgence, will set forth the operations of the city government for the year just closed. * * * What I now desire to call your attention to at the outset, is the fact that for the first time in several years, the city has not been obliged during 1881 to issue any "city scrip." In my last message I said I would earnestly endeavor to so manage the municipal affairs as to evade any necessity for issuing the paper. The city, I hope, will never again be compelled to resort to the cumbersome system. This can be done only by properly* guarding the general fund so that we may pay cash as we go. * * * The exhibits I herewith give have been prepared by Comptroller Gurney, and show what has been done in the finance department for the last year.

Amount in treasury at close of year, $755,479.26. Amount expended by Department of Public Works, $684,445.69; for maintenance of the Fire Department, $568,760.87. Police Department, $576,815.52. Amount expended by the School Department for construction, janitors and office employes, $678,- 180.23. Amount paid for superintendent and teachers, $663,- 972.49. Savings from appropriation of 18S1, approximated $100,000.00. Income for the year 1882, approximated 350,- 000.00. Water bonds due July 1, 1882, $333,000. These figures forcibly demonstrate the desirability of this city for residence and business purposes. Merchants and manufacturers elsewhere are beginning to appreciate the fact, and our population is being rapidly increased by accessions from their ranks. * * * I have reliable information that during this year there will be a very large increase of manufacturing interests in the city, by reason of heavy establishments locating- branches, or entirelymoving here. * * * A little over a year ago the Health Department was authorized to establish a system of inspectors -of manufactories ; although the system is but partially perfected, -enough statistics have been gathered to establish the fact that there are over 135,000 operatives employed in manufacturing 'establishments in this city. This is a startling fact, when one remembers that forty-five years ago Chicago was a village, and that twenty years since, excepting agricultural machinery, we had virtually no manufactures. * * * Our police department is at present in a most active and efficient condition. I can see no possible means of increasing the force, unless you will use your chartered rights to raise money by a judicious, and at the same time, comprehensive system of license. * * * Without such system we can do no more than to strengthen and improve what is already at our command.

The message recommended that in addition to $40,000 already expended on the police telephone, or patrol system, the system be carried out and perfected at an additional cost of $60,000, and the running expenses of the system were estimated at $49,380 per annum. The total number of arrests during the year was given at 31,713; the fines assessed amounted to $163,937, and the value of stolen property of all kinds recovered, $108,802.56. The work of the Fire Department for the year was shown to have been fully up to its standard of excellence. The department responded to 1,104 alarms, eight of which were outside the city limits, 89 false alarms, and 112 false and still alarms. The valuation of the property involved was $19,738,508 ; amount of insurance, $9,662,326 ; estimated loss by fire, $921,495, or an average loss for each fire in the city of $1,029. In connection with the operations of the Health Department reference was had to an epidemic of small-pox, and general and thorough vaccination was urged as a safeguard. The origin of the disease was attributed to the large number of immigrants who had come to the city or had passed through on their way to the West. The mortality of the city during the year was 13, 830, or at the rate of 25.61 in each 1,000 of population. In connection with the schools it was shown that the increase of children of school age had been 20,000, or about the same average as for nine years previous. Seven new school buildings, with accommodations for -6,237 pupils. The number attending half-day sessions on account of lack of accommodations, was 9,594 during the month of November. There had been a very decided increase in the funds from water collections, the receipts being $936,639.24, while for the previous year they were $865,618.35. The earnings of the House of Correction were placed at $32,865.43 above all expenses, which were $72,800. The message also made reference to the old lake tunnel, which had been closed fifteen years before, and it was set forth that in obedience to the order of the Council the water had been pumped out, and it had been found in an admirable condition. While the new tunnel was seven feet in diameter, there was no doubt but that in the near future the demand for water would exceed the capacity of both tunnels, and the message recommended the enlargement of the old tunnel from five feet to seven or eight feet in diameter. The message set forth that there had been 459 transfers of saloon licenses during the license year, and recommending action by the Council that would prevent loss to the city in the collection of license fees growing out of the privilege of transfer, which many saloonkeepers had abused. The message continued :