Marshall County, Indiana - Chapter 9, 1881

Chapter 9

Po.itTics - First ELECTION AFTER ORGANIZATION--CANDIDATES - ELECTION, WHERE HELD - NAMES OF VOTERS - PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN OF 1810--OFFICIAL VOTE FOR PRESIDENT 1840 To 1880 - ToTAL Vore oF COUNTY 1840 to 1878 - MAJORITIES FOR PREsIDENT 1840 to 1876 - PReSIDENTIAL IssukEs 1840 to 1880 - RuGistry Law--NUMBERING BALLOTS - POLITICAL CHANGES IN THE COUNTY - DISTURBANCES AT THE PoLLS - MANNER OF HOLDING CONVENTIONS - AN ANCIENT PoLiTicaAL DocuMENT - POLITICIANS WHO HAVE OCCUPIED PROMINENT PosiTIONs.

I would be interesting to many, no doubt, to be able to read a complete history of politics in Marshall] County, but it is impossible to find room here for more than a brief sketch of the political parties during the course of incubation, and some of the more prominent events that have since taken place.

The first election after the organization of the county took place on the 5th day of August, 18386. At this election, 138 yotes were cast. The voting precincts, Inspectors, Judges, and names of Clerks will be found at the close of Chapter 4. The result of the election was as follows:

For Senatorial and Representative purposes, Marshall was attached to Kosciusko and St. Joseph Counties. Although Stephon Marsters went out of Marshall County with a handsome Mr. Marsters, as he is remembered, was a man of medium height, put up from the In polities, he was a Whig, and, although deficient in book-learning, was possessed of good common sense, which he put to good use when opportunity offered.

The election in Center Township was held at the court house in Plymouth. The list of voters is partly gone; the following is a portion of those who voted at that election:

But few of those whose names appear above are still living. A. L. Wheeler, Hiram A. Ranck, James O. Parks, James S. Milner, William N. Baily, William G. Pomeroy, William C. Edwards, are all that are now known to survive.

Stark County was yet a territory under the protecting' care of Marshall County, and, a township having been organized adjoining Marshall on the west, extending to the Kankakee"River, early in the campaign of that year, was, as the sequel showed, very appropriately named, at the suggestion of A. L. Wheeler, " Van Buren Township." There were twenty-two votes cast in that township, of which Van Buren received twenty-one, and Harrison one. H. B. Pershing, now a citizen of Plymouth, was a resident of Van Buren Township, and voted at that election.

In Center Township there were 244 votes cast. The last name recorded on the list was Ahijah Hawley, yet a resident of Plymouth, Van Buren received 131 votes, and Harrison 110. The tally-sheet failed to account for the three missing votes. The large number of votes polled in Center Township is accounted for by the fact that in those days resident voters of the county were permitted to vote at any precinct where they happened to be on election day, and many residents of other townships preferred to go to the county seat to vote, which, as the resnlt shows, they did on this oecasion, But few of those who voted at this election still survive; among the living are only noticed the names of D. 8. Conger, Joseph Evans, G. 5. Cleaveland, Ahijah Hawley, J. L. Westervelt, A. L. Wheeler, Joseph Furry, Charles Cook, Pleasant Ferguson, James McElrath, James Moore, James Voreis, James Thompson, W. G. Pomeroy, Elias Dickson, W. C. Edwards, Samuel McDonald, James A. Corse. John Hall was Inspector of the election, and Samuel D. Taber and George Jessup, Judges.

At this election there were 304 yotes polled in the county. Van Buren's majority was thirty-six. Nine years later, in 1849, at the August election, there were 735 yotes cast by residents of Marshall County. Four townships in Stark County appear in the tabulated table, showing the total vote of that county to be sixtysix. Joseph A. Wright, John A. Matson and J. H. Cravens were the candidates for Governor that year. J. H. Lane and our esteomed neighbor over at South Bend, Judge Thomas 5. Stanfield, were candidates for Lieutenant Governor. For Congress - Graham N. Fitch and Williamson Wright; State Senators, Norman Eddy and William Miller; Representatives, Hugh Miller, Timothy Barber and Charles Crocker (now one of the wealthiest men on the Pacifie coast); Associate Judges, John Houghton, Elias Jacoby, William Baily, A. H. Buckman and David Steel; Commissioners, Robert Schroeder, John Snyder, Robert Johnson; Auditors, Thomas Mc- Donald, B. F. Kendall; Clerks, Richard Corbaley, Seth Hussy. At this election, the people were required to vote for or against the proposition to call a Constitutional Convention. The vote stood 545 in favor and 155 against. A vote was also taken on the school Jaw of 1848 and 1849, looking to the adoption of our present magnificent free-school system. The result in the county was 619 in favor and 86 against the proposition.

Table Of Presidents

As is shown by the above table, the increase in the number of votes polled at each Presidential election has been rapid and permanent. The decrease in the vote of 1872 was occasioned by the dislike of the Democracy to the nomination of Horace Greeley; 581 Democrats, who voted at the October election, immediately preceding the Presidential election, refused to go to the polls, and consequently did not vote at ail.

Presidential Issues

In 1840, the Whigs nominated Gen. William H. Harrison, but made no platform of principles; but the party, in conducting the memorable campaign of 1840, assailed the administration of Mr. Van Buren for its general mismanagement of public affairs and its profligacy, and the result was the election of Harrison, Van Buren receiving the electoral vote of only seven States.

The Democrats opposed a general system of internal improvements by the General Government; opposed the chartering of a United States Bank; opposed the interference by the General Government with the domestic institutions of the several States; favored the separation of the moneys of the General Government from banking institutions, as indispensable for the safety of the funds of the Government and the rights of the people.

Resolved, That these principles may be summed as comprising a well regulated National currency, a tariff for revenue, to defray the necessary expenses of the Government, und discriminating with special reference to the protection of the domestic lahor of the country; the distribution of the proceeds from the sale of the public lands; a single term of the Presidency; a reform of executive usurpations, and generally such an administration of the affairs of the country as shall impart to every branch of the public service the greatest practicable efficiency, controlled by a well-regulated anil wise economy.

The Democrats declared that the proceeds of the public lands ought to be saeredly applied to the National objects specified in the Constitution; opposed the taking from the President the qualitied veto power; and declared that our title to the whole of the Territory of Oregon is clear and unquestionable; that no power; and that the reoccupation of Oregon and the re-annexation of Texas, at the earliest practicable period, are great American measures, which this Convention recommends to the cordial support of the Democracy of the Union.

The Liberty party demanded the absolute and unqualified divorcee of the General Government from slavery, and also. the restoration of equality of rights among men in every State where the party exists, or may exist, and a long series of declarations to the same effect.

In 1848, the Whig party adopted no platform. They nominated Gen. Taylor, who made the race on his Mexican war record. The Democrats re-adopted most of their platforms of 1840 and 1844, and unanimously passed the following:

Resolved, That the war with Mexico, provoked on her part by years of insult and injury, was commenced by her army crossing the Rio Grande, attacking the American troops, and invading our sister State of Texas, and that, upon all the principles of patriotism and the laws of nations, itis a just.and necessary war upon our part, in which every American citizen should have shown himself on the side of his country, and neither morally nor physically, by word or by deed, have given ''aid and comfort to the enemy."

In 1852, the Whigs declared in favor of a revenue sufficient for the expenses of the Government, derived, mainly, from duty on imports, and not from direct taxes. They also acquiesced in the act Inown as the Fugitive Slave Law.

The Democrats declared that Congress had no power to charter a National Bank. They believed such an institution one of deadly hostility to the best interests of the country, dangerous to our republican institutions and the liberty of the people, and calculated to place the business of the country within the control of a concentrated money power, and above the law and the will of the people.

The Free-Soil Democracy went into the campaign on the declaration - " No more slave States, no slave Territory, no nationalized slavery, and no national legislation for the extradition of slaves." In 1856, the Republican party came into existence. They opposed slavery in the Territories, and declared "that the constitution confers upon Congress sovereign power over the Territories of the United States for their government, and that in the exercise of this power it is both the right and the duty of Congress to prohibit in the Territories those 'twin relics of barbarism - polygamy and slavery.'" That Kansas should be admitted as a State of the Union with her free constitution; that a railroad to the Pacific Ocean, by the most central and practical route, is imperatively demanded by the interests of the whole country, and that the Federal Government ought to render immediate and efficient aid in its construction. The Democrats reiterated with renewed energy of purpose the well-defined declarations of former conventions upon the sectional issues of domestic slavery, and concerning the reserved rights of the States; declared in favor of free seas and progressive free trade throughout the world, and favored the sacred principles involved in the "Monroe Doctrine." The Whigs nominated Fillmore, and went into the campaign looking with alarm at the parties in the field in that Presidential campaign - one claiming to represent only sixteen Northern States, and the other appealing, mainly, to the passions and prejudices of the Southern States.

The " American" party declared, " That Americans must rule America; and to this end native-born citizens should be selected for all Federal, State and municipal offices of government employment in preference to all others; that a change in the laws of naturalization, making a continued residence of twenty-one years of all not heretofore provided for an indispensable requisite for citizenship hereafter, and excluding all paupers and persons convicted of crime from landing upon our shores."

The Republican Convention of 1860 favored the admission of Kansas as a State under the constitution formed and adopted by her people; declared that the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the States, and especially the right of each State to order and control its own domestic institutions, according to its own judgment exclusively, is essential to that balance of power on which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric depends; that the normal condition of all the territory of the United States is that of freedom; that the new dogma, that the constitution of its own force carries slavery into any or all of the Territories of the United States is a dangerous political heresy.

. The Democratic Convention met at Charleston, and after fiftyseven ballots for a candidate for President, a division occurred between the representatives of the parties in the Free and Slave States on the question of slavery in the Territories. Douglas was afterward nominated at Baltimore on the Squatter Sovereignty platform,and Breckenridge, of Richmond, on the opposite theory.

In 1864, the rebellion was at its height, and the issues growing out of the war became the issues of the Presidential campaign of that year. The Republicans "Resolved that, as slavery was the cause and now constitutes the strength of the rebellion, and as it must be, always and everywhere, hostile to the principles of Republican Government, justice and the national safety demand its utter and complete extirpation from the soil of the Republic," and also favored a constitutional amendment forever prohibiting the existence of slavery within the limits or jurisdiction of the United States; favored foreign emigration and a railroad to the Pacific.

Resolved, That this convention does explicitly declarc, as the sense of the American people, that, after four years of failure to restore the Union by the experiment of war, during which - under the pretense of a military necessity or war power higher than the constitution - the constitution itself has been disregarded in every part, and public liberty and private right alike trodden down and the material prosperity of the country essentially impaired - justice, humanity, liberty, and the public welfare, demand that immediate efforts be made for a cessation of hostilities, with a view to an ultimate convention of the States, or other peaceable means, to the end | that, at the earliest practicable moment, peace may be restored on the basis |

Resolved, That the direct interference of the military authoritics of the United States in the recent elections held in Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri and Delaware was a shameful violation of the constitution, and a repetition of such acts in the approaching election will be held as revolutionary, and resisted with all the means and power under our control.

In 1868, the issues were mainly the Reconstruction Acts of the Republican party. The Republican party declared that, the "ouarantee by Congress of equal suffrage to all loyal men at the South was demanded by every consideration of public safety, of gratitude and of justice, and must be maintained; while the question of suffrage in all the loyal States properly belongs to the | people of those States." A year later, however, the Fifteenth Amendment to the constitution was passed by a Republican Congress, and submitted to the Legislatures of the several States by which the right of negroes to the exercise of the elective franchise was protected by a constitutional enactment, by their citizens, «nd immediate restoration of all the States to their rights under the constitution and of civil government to the American people. One currency for the Government and the people, the laborer and the officeholder, the pensioner and the soldier, producer and the bondholder. They regarded the Reconstruction Acts (so called) as usurpations and unconstitutional and void.

In 1872, the Republican party prided itself on the suppression of a gigantic rebellion; the emancipation of four millions of slaves; the establishment of universal suffrage; favored Civil Service Reform; opposed the further grants of public lands to corporations and monopolies; favored the abolition of the franking privilege; and denounced repudiation of the public debt in any form.

The Liberal Republican Convention met in Cincinnati in 1872, and nominated Horace Greeley for President. His party recognized the equality of all men before the law; pledged themselves to maintain the Union of these States, emancipation and enfranchisement; demanded the removal of all disabilities imposed on account of the rebellion; favored local self-government with impartial suffrage; Civil Service Reform; a speedy return to specie payments; opposed further grants of lands to railroads or other corporations. Mr. Greeley, in accepting the nomination, said: "North and South are eager to clasp hands across the bloody chasm which has too long divided them, forgetting that they have been enemies, in the joyful consciousness that they are and must henceforth remain brethren." The Democratic Convention which assembled at Baltimore some time afterward, indorsed the signed by President Grant solemnly pledged the faith of the Government to make provision, at the earliest possible moment, for the redemption of United States Notes in coin; declared that the public school system of the several States is the bulwark of the American Republic; opposed polygamy and deprecated all sectional feeling and tendencies. The Democratic party, which met at St. Louis, went into the campaign on the general principles of retrenchment and reform; favored speedy preparations for the resumption of specie payments; denounced the present tariff levied upon nearly four thousand articles as a masterpiece of injustice; favored free schools; Civil Service Reform: and demanded a change of system, a change of administration, a change of parties, that they might have a change of measures and of men. The Greenbackers held a convention and nominated Peter Cooper for President. They favored the repeal of the Resumption Act; the issuing of United States Notes, convertible on demand into United States obligations, bearing a rate of interest not exceeding one cent a day; protested against the issue of any more gold bonds for sale in foreign markets. The political issues during the campaign of 1880 are so fresh in the public mind, that it is unnecessary to mention them only as a matter for historical reference. The Republican party asked for a further lease of power on what it had accomplished in the past years of its existence. It took the ground for the second time, that the United States forms a "Nation," and embodied this idea in the following:

The Constitution of the United States is a supreme law and not a mere contract; out of confederate States it made a sovereign Nation. Some powers are denied to the Nation while others are denicd to the States, but the boundary between the powers delegated and those reserved is to be determined by the National and not by the State tribunals.

The work of popular education is one left to the care of the several States, but it is the duty of the National Government to aid that work to the extent of its constitutional duty, The intelligence of the nation is but the aggregate of the intelligence in the several States, and the destiny of the nation must be guided, not by the genius of any one State, but by the average genius of all.

The constitution wisely forbids Congress to make any law respecting an establishment of religion, but it is idle to hope that the nation can be protected against the influence of sectarianism while each State is exposed to its domination, We therefore recommend that the constitution he so wmended as to lay the same prohibition upon the Levislature of each State. and to forbid the appropriation of public funds to the support of sectarian schools.

The Democratic party announced asits platform: Opposition to centralization ; in favor of home rule; honest money; the strict maintenance of the public faith, State and National, and a tariff for revenue only; subornation of the military to the civil power and a genuine and thorough reform of the Civil Service; the right to a free ballot, which must and shall be preserved in every part of the United States; free ships and a living chance for American commerce on the seas, and on the land no discrimination in favor of transportation lines, corporations or monopolies; amendment of the Burlingame treaty; no more Chinese immigration, except for travel, education and foreign commerce, and it even carefully guarded; public money and publie eredit for public purposes solely, and public lands for actual settlers. The Democratic party is the friend of labor and the laboring man, and pledges itself to protect him alike against the cormorants and the Commune.

The National Greenback Labor party declared that the right to make and issue money is a sovereign power, to be maintained by the people, for the common benefit; that all money, whether metallic or paper, should be issued and its volume controlled by the Government, and not by or through banking corporations, and when so issued should be a full legal tender for all debts, public and private; that the bonds of the United States should not be refunded, but paid as rapidly as is practicable, accordiny to eontract; to enable the Government to meet these obligations, legal tender currency should be substituted for the notes of the National banks, the National banking system abolished, and the unlimited coinage of silver as well as gold, established by law. They also favored the protection of labor by National and State authority; the eight-hour law passed by Congress; the abrogation of the Burlingame Treaty; and demanded a government of the people, by the people, for the people, instead of a government of the bondholder, by the bondholder, for the bondholder. The Republicans conducted the early part of the campaign, denouncing the Southern States for being " solid,' and declared if the Democracy should be successful, they would pay the rebel debt and pension rebel soldiers. Later in the campaign they abandoned this line of argument, and took up the Democratic declaration - *a tariff for revenue only," and made good use of it in demonstrating to manufacturers that the policy of the Democratic party ou this question would be the rnination of American industry. The Democratic speakers met and defended these charges bravely. A few days before the campaign closed, a letter supposed to have been written by the Republican candidate for President, favoring Chinese cheap labor, came into the hands of the Democratic National Committee, whereupon all the issues of the campaign were dropped and the Chinese question occupied the entire time of the statesmen of both parties until the close of the polls on election day.

From a copy of the La Porte Whig, and Porter, Lake and Marshall Counties Advertiser of Sannary 18, 1840, is extracted the following report of a Whig meeting held in Plymouth in 1840:

Wuie Meetina. - At a mecting of the Whigs of Marshall County convened at the court house in Plymouth, pursuant to public notice, on Wednesday, the ist day of January, 1840, on motion, Timothy Barber, Esq., was called to preside, and J. 8. Harvey was appointed Secretary. The object of the meeting having been stated by the Chair, Mr. Jeremiah Grover introduced the following resolutions, which were unanimously adopted:

Resolved, That we most heartily approve of the people's nomination of candidates of President and Vice President, as expressed through their delegates recently assembled at Harrisburg, Penn.

Resolved, That, with the name of Gen. William H. Harrison, of Ohio. as the candidate for President, und John Tyler, of Virginia, for Vice President, we know we are right, and will ** go ahead."

Resoloed, That six delegates be appointed to represent Marshall County in the Whig State Convention, to be holden at Indianapolis on the 16th inst., for the purpose of nominating Electors for Presideut aud Vice President, and also candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor of this State.

On motion, Messrs. Jeremiah Grover, Grove Pomeroy, John Westervelt, Peter Schroeder, Daniel C. Hultz and Timothy Barber, be appointed said delegates.

Politics Forty Years Ago

Among the private papers of the late Thomas McDonald was found the following document, which shows the manner of conducting political campaigns in this region forty years ago. The circular is written on foolseap paper, with the historic goose quill, in a "good round hand," and, as there were no printing presses in this.section of the State at that time, it was undoubtedly intended to be circulated " by hand:"

Fellow-Citizens: We, the undersigned citizens of the town of Warsaw and vicinity, in the county of Kosciusko and State of Indiana, would beg leave to represent to you that, viewing with much anxiety and feeling the importance of the approaching election, and the course that has been and now is pursued by some - iesigning men - in this county to insure the election of their favorite (candidate), whose views, interest and feelings are hostile and in direct opposition to what we conceive to be the true interest of the people of the western and southern portions of this Representative District, in support of the expression we have made in relation to the unfriendly feelings manifested by the friends of some of the candidates, we would represent that all the internal improvements made on the north part of this county, and those that shall be hereafter constructed, would, as a matter of course, be supported by a man whose residence and interests are in the northern part of the county, to the entire exclusion of and benefit of the middle, southern and western portions. Anattempt, no doubt, will be made to cut off a portion from the south end of our county, and, should that be effected, it will be to the manifest injury of Marshall and Kosciusko Counties,

Judge Perine is decidedly a northern man, and will use his influence and interests to advance the improvements and promote the interests of all that may be considered hostile and in opposition to the middle, western and southern feelings and interests, and if we give our support to a man entertaining such views and feclings, we operate against the true interest and spirit that we cherish and maintain toward this and our fellow-counties, A man from the central part of the county would be most likely to advocate and promote the interests and policy that would contribute to the advancement and improvement of this - Marshall and Stark - Counties.

Now, gentlemen, permit us to suggest to you the advantage and propricty in supporting Col. Ludlow Nye. He is a central man, and will use his industry, time and talents in advocating, advancing and bringing forward such measures as will conduce to the rise and progress of a system of internal improvements that shall benefit this Representative District, and forward the agricultural and commercial interests of the counties of Kosciusko, Marshall and Stark, and redound to the honor of himself and his fellow-citizens. These, gentlemen, are the sentiments we entertain in relation to the matters set forth in this circular, and in support of this candidate and these measures, we ardently ask your aid and hearty co-operation, and we pledge our united and undivided interest and exertions to promote and forward his election, and to support the measures by all honorable means in our power. We are respectfully, Your fellow-citizens,

Samuel Porenger

I do hereby certify that the statements made in the within circular are unfounded, and that I have not heard the subject mentioned in the county

I, Peter L. Runyan, a candidate for the State Legislature in this district, do hereby certify that the written statements as it regards myself are wholly unfounded, as I hold an interest in the county seat of Kosciusko County worth $500 and it would be to the manifest injury of myself if it was moved from its present location. I therefore declare to all those who may be favored with the opportunity of perusing the within that it is unfounded and false and a plan laid by a few to insure the election of their favorite candidate.

Concerning The Constitutional Convention

_The following letter, written to a friend (now deceased) by A. L. Wheeler, then a member of the Constitutional Convention, contains so much of historical interest that it is worthy of a place

Dear Mac: (have thought it my duty for some time to advise you of the doings of this grave body. You have doubtless kept yourself posted up to the present time by reading the newspapers, but to realize it fully you must be present; for I assure you, in all sincerity, that some of the speeches you read in the papers are made by the in this convention and are then revised and improved by some one having a little more brains,

We are now six wecks in the session and if we make a calculation by the rule of three, we will not be able to complete the labor for which we were sent here before the 4th of July, 1851. Indeed, I think that would be too early.

The following section is now under consideration, and, judging from the feeling manifested, it can be carried through without much of any alteration: tution, shall pass laws prohibiting negroes and mulattoes from coming into or settling in this State; and prohibit any negro or mulatto from purchasing, or otherwise acquiring, real estate, hereafter."

This section has only been under debate half a day, yet, during that short debate, we have had a foretaste of what may be expected before it is closed. It may become necessary, and [ shall be very much mistaken if it does not become necessary, to read the riot act every morning, instead of calling in a minister of the Gospel to pray for us!

The section above I look upon as an outrage, because the negro would never have been here if we had not stolen his father and brought him here, but the words ''otherwise acquiring" I regard as the climax of this outrage and unworthy of its distinguished author, Robert Dale Owen. If that is ingrafted in our constitution, you will observe that negro children could not hold the real estate their father died possessed of.

A portion of this convention (respectable in point of numbers as well as talent) do certainly entertain sentiments on this subject that would make a South Carolinian blush. I hope it will be made more acceptable, but I doubt it.

The State Bank party are more numerous than I expected to find it - only about twenty-five or thirty who will vote the true Democratic doctrine - no bank at all.

The cholera is again in this city, and two deaths have already occurred in one house, and one of our members - Vanbenthusen, from Shelby - is not expected to survive another day. The citizens generally deny that it is the cholera, but physicians who are not interested in the prosperity of this wooden-legged city declare that it is.

I am homesick as a dog, and I am not certain but I may take it into my head to leave this mob and go home. From thirty to fifty are gone all the time, and I am not certain that we would not be just as well off if they would stay away till we adjourn. If I could be certain that the vote would not be taken on any very important measure, such as the bank or grand jury, I would certainly go home.

I have had the pleasure of listening to two sermons of the distinguished divine, Alexander Campbell. He is certainly a great man, and understands his trade, possessing as much vigor, but not quite as much fire, as Texpected. He disappointed a great many, however, because most people, in such cases, anticipate too much.

What great changes have taken place since the foregoing letter was written! Marshall County has increased her population five times, and has erected 140 public school buildings; three railroads have been built within her borders, along which fifteen telegraph wires have been stretched. Then, Indianapolis, according to the writer, was a "wooden-legged city" of a few thousand inhabitants; now it has a population of more than 100,000, and is the greatest inland city in the United States.

Banks have been organized, flonrished for a number of years, went out of existence, and are now almost forgotten, From nothing, the public school fund has increased to about $10,000,000 - the largest fund of the kind, according to population, in the world; and 10,000 publie school buildings haye been erected.

From a few hundred miles of inferior railroads, there are now over five thousand miles, crossing and penetrating almost every county in the State, connected with which are not less than 25,000 miles of telegraph wire. The rate of postage has been reduced from 5 to 3 cents, payable in advance.

The great founder of the sect known as " Campbellites" has played his part upon the stage of action, and gone to that bourne whence no traveler returns.

Sewing machines have found their way all over the world during this period, as has also nearly all the labor-saving machinery now in general use.

The Atlantic and other telegraphic cables have been put down, bringing us within speaking distance with Europe and different parts of the world beyond the sea. The telephone, the microphone, the phonograph and electric light are discoveries of this period.

In fact, it would require a volume to enumerate all that has oceurred during this comparatively brief period of our country's history, and, dropping the curtain here, who shall tell what the "world's to-morrow" may bring forth?

In 1874, an independent movement, rowing out of an organization known as the Patrons of Husbandry, was organized for the purpose of putting in nomination a county ficket.

It is not necessary to inform you that there is an organization in the land known as the Patrons of Husbandry, and that it has grown in numbers and influence until it has become a power in the land, because the fact is patent to all, and especially to every reading man, The principles of the order are ably set forth in the declaration of principles promulgated by the National Grange, which met at St. Louis, Mo., in February last. According to the laws governing the organization, its members are not allowed to discuss the question of politics in the granges, As an outgrowth of the order, there has been formed in almost every county in the State of Indiana an organization known as the County Council, composed of delegates from each subordinate grange in the county. There are no restrictions on that organization. Any question can there be brought up, discussed and acted upon, and from that body in this county comes the following call.

Waereas, It is patent to the mind of every tax-payer in the county that our taxes, both State and county, have become a grievous burden, and there seems to be a tendency on the part of our rulers of either political party to corruption and extravagance in the management of our affairs; now, therefore, we in council assembled do a

Resolve, That we will no longer be controlled by old party ties, but will bury the dead issues of the past and unite for self-preservation, and we appeal to the farmers and industrial classes, to all friends of retrenchment, reform and economy, to all who are opposed to monopolies; and corrupt rings, without regard to former party affiliations, to unite with us and aid in bringing about the ends so much to be desired. And, in pursuance of the above, we call a labor reform, or people's, convention, to be held in the court house in Plymouth, on Monday, August 3, 1874, At such time, there will be such candidates placed in nomination as shall receive our support for the various county offices, to be filled at the next October election. The matter of delegates to the convention will be attended to hereafter. By order of council. SC. Oona, J. W. Jacony, James A, CorsR, Committee.

The convention was beld as indicated in the eall, and a ticket put in nomination. The Republican party, being in the minority in the county, made no nominations, but, by resolution, indorsed the " people's ticket" asa whole. A considerable number of Democrats joined the movement, and, with the united support of the Republican party, a determined effort was made to defeat the Democratic nominees. The entire Democratic ticket was olected, however, but by decreased majorities ranging from 6 to 350. Before the next election was held, the movement had entirely died out, and has not since given apy signs of political life.

The Greenbackers

became sufficiently numerous to justify the leaders of the movement to form a new party. Candidates for all the offices to be tilled were nominated, and a bitter fight made against both the old political parties, which they declared in general terms were extraordinarily corrupt. 'They developed considerable strength,

They gathered their strength from the two old parties as follows: 28 per cent from the Democratic party, and 31 per cent from the Republican party. At this writing, the party still has an existence, and whether it will survive is a matter for the future to develop.

In all the Presidential contests, with one exception, the Democracy have been successful, either by majorities or pluralities, over the highest candidates, as follows:

A registry law was in force in 1868, by which every voter was required to register his name before the day of election, otherwise he could not vote. This law proved to be unsatisfactory, and

It shall be the duty of the Inspector of any election held in this State, on receiving the ballotof any voter, to have the same numbered with figures on the outside or back thereof, to correspond with the number placed opposite the name of such voter on the poll lists, kept by the Clerks of said election.

Between 1854 and 1862, the opposition obtained complete control of the political affairs of the county, having succeeded in electing their candidates for Clerk, Anditor, Treasurer, Sheriff, Recorder and Surveyor. Beginning in 1862, the Democracy sueceeded, by 1866, in displacing all the Republican office-holders, and again had entire control of the county, which they have retained to the present time, except as to the Treasurer and Sheriff. Frederick Tescher, Republican, was elected Treasurer in 1878, over Dr. G. R. Reynolds, Demoerat, by a majority of 186. John Y. Astley, Republican, was also elected at the same time to tho office of Sheriff, over Adam Vinnedge, Democrat, by a majority of 292. The defeat of the Democratic nominees was occasioned by dissatisfaction arising in the nominating convention.

Election days in the county have usually been very quiet. But two or three disturbances worth naming have ever occurred. During the exciting Congressional and Presidential contest of 1856, a general row oceurred at a political meeting at Bourbon. Schuyler Colfax and Judge Stewart, of Logansport, were opposing candidates for Congress, and were holding a joint discussion in the grove southwest of town. The political excitement was at fever heat, and it took but little to start the fighting elements always hanging around the outskirts of large assemblages of people. The firing of a pistol on this occasion was the signal for a general disturbance, but, beyond a regular fisticuff fight between some railroad employes and others, nothing serious came of it.

At the Presidential election in Green Township in 1860, a civil disturbance occurred between the two political parties, occasioned by the Democrats challenging the vote of a young man who had been attending commercial college at Pittsburgh. This was the signal for challenges on the part of the Republicans, and from that out, almost every man's vote was challenged, and much bitterness of feeling was engendered, but, beyond a unanimous "mad" all round, nothing serious resulted from this exhibition of political malice. The old Whig party, the American party and later the Republican party have always conducted their conventions on the "mass convention" plan - that is, those in attendance decided the number of votes each township should be entitled to in voting for the nomination of candidates, ete. The Democracy have uniformly held their conventions on the delegate plan - that is, the County Central Committee usually apportioned the delegates each township would be entitled to, on the basis of so many votes for each 100 Democratic votes cast at a general election held immediately prior. Of late years, they adopted the plan of instructing the delegates in what proportion to cast their votes in the county convention on the first ballot. This was called giving each candidate his "relative strength." In 1878, a resolution was adopted looking to giving the nomination to the candidate having the highest nwmber of votes at an election for that purpose, to be held in each township. It reads as follows:

Resolved, That it is the sense of this convention that future nominations for county offices shall be made by the primary election system, and that the person having the highest number of votes shall be declared the nominee for the office for which he is a candidate, and the County Central Committee is hereby authorized and required to arrange the details necessary to successfully carry into effect the provisions of this resolution.

Those recognized as active politicians in both political parties have never put themselves forward for position in high places, and as a natural consequence have never been greatly honored in that respect.

M. A. O. Packard was the Democratic candidate for Reporter of the Supreme Court in 1868, but, with the remainder of the State ticket, was defeated.

Henry G. Thayer was Chairman of the Republican Central Committee of the Thirteenth Congressional District for two years; also a member of the State Central Committee during the same time, and elected Presidential Elector for the Thirteenth District at the election in November, 1880.

John S. Bender was a delegate to the Greenback National Convention at Chicago in 1878, and a member cf the Committee - on Resolutions, and was also a delegate to the St. Louis Greenback Convention in 1880.