"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.

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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."

CHAPTER LIX.

OUR STATE BANKS.

What the People Lost when they went into Liquidation.

Next in importance to the change which took place in the political status of the negro on the advent of the Republican party into power in the State and Nation, was the overthrow of our State banking system. At the time the war ensued there were one hundred and ten of these institutions in operation, with eleven suspended.

The more remote the banks were from the commercial centers the better they were supposed to be. But when the financial crash of 1861 came, but few of them stood the test of honesty and fair dealing. The officers closed their doors with impunity, leaving the bill-holders to help themselves as best they could. Even in the best days of

their existence business men were compelled to keep in their possession all the known counterfeit detectives then printed, and they were legion. First, for the purpose of judging as to the genuineness of the notes, and, secondly, to learn their commercial value, which varied in amount from nothing to par. During the war all these banks went into liquidation. Their circulation, November 30, 1860, as shown by the biennial report of the Auditor of Public Accounts, was $12,320,694. The records of the Auditor's office show that in closing up these banks there was a loss of 35 per cent. on the dollar, amounting in the aggregate to $4,312,242.

The older citizens will fully attest the truth of our remarks regarding the character of these banks, and we imagine they would as soon think of the re-enslavement of the colored man as to consider the question of returning to the State banking system.

CHAPTER LX,

PATRONS OF HUSBANDRY.

In 1867, a society was organized in Washington City, which was known as the Patrons of Husbandry, and in 1873, the organization gained a strong foot-hold in Illinois. Its object was to do away with what were termed "middle men," which it claimed would enable the people to buy their supplies of first hands and at greatly reduced rates; and to compel railroads to carry a single bushel of grain or a single hog to market at the same rate of a car load. Political demagogues took hold of the organization and it became widespread, and the excitement which

followed resulted in the election of a General Assembly which passed laws relating to the business traffic of railroads, which came near bankrupting every railroad company in the State; and an attempt was made to dictate the election of the Judiciary. Judge C. B. Lawrence was defeated in his candidacy for re-election to the supreme bench in the Fifth district, by A. M. Craig, through the influence of the Patrons of Husbandry, and a vigorous effort was made in the Second district to defeat the reelection of Judge John Scholfield, but it signally failed. In reply to a general letter addressed to all the candidates for Judge, by the Patrons of Husbandry, requiring them to define their position upon questions relating to the control of corporations, Mr. Scholfield closed a manly letter in these words: "I will never be a Judge to record the pre-determined decrees of either corporations or individuals." But fortunately the sober second thought came over the people, and these mischievous and unjust laws were so modified by legislation, and the courts, as not to operate injuriously upon our railroad system; and the Patrons of Husbandry is remembered only as one of the follies of the age.

CHAPTER LXI.

TEMPERANCE LEGISLATION.

The control of the traffic of spirituous liquors has ever been a source of great concern to a very large portion of our law-abiding citizens, and the question has been presented to our law-makers in many ways; sometimes in

the form of an application for a prohibitory law; sometimes for a low-license law; sometimes for a high-license law; sometimes for an amendment to the constitution, allowing women the right to vote upon the question of license, and sometimes for an amendment to the constitution prohibiting the manufacture and sale of spirituous or malt liquors as a beverage; and hence there has been, from first to last, much legislation upon the subject.

In 1851, the General Assembly passed what is known as the "quart law," the purpose of which was to do away with what were termed "dram shops." This did not meet the demands of the people, and in 1855 the General Assembly passed a prohibitory act. It was submitted to a vote of the people of the State, and rejected. Since then we have had the license system and local option; but all the while there has been more or less agitation in favor of prohibition; but no General Assembly has seemed willing to allow the people to vote upon an amendment to the constitution giving women the right to vote upon the question of license or of amendment to the constitution, so as to prohibit the manufacture and sale of spirituous liquors as a beverage.

In March, 1879, a committee of ladies, representing the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, waited upon the General Assembly with the view of securing the passage of a law allowing women to vote in matters relating to the sale of spirituous or malt liquors as a beverage. The following persons composed that committee:

Miss Francis E. Willard, president of W. C. T. U. of Illinois; Mrs. T. B. Corse, president of Chicago W. C. T. U.; Mrs. L. A. Hagans, Mrs. Willis A. Barnes, Mrs. C. H. Case, Mrs. D. J. True, Chicago; Mrs. Prof. Fry and Mrs. A. R. Riggs, of Bloomington; Mrs. C. H. St. John, of Eureka; Mrs. M. H. Villars, of Pana; Miss Mary A. West, of Galesburg; Mrs. E. W. Kirkpatrick, of Monmouth;

Mrs. H. A. Calkins and Mrs. E. G. Hibben, of Peoria; Mrs. M. L. Wells, Mrs. R. Beach and Mrs. H. A. Allyn, of Springfield; Mrs. R. Greenlee, Mrs. M. A. Cummings, Mrs. J. B. Hobbs and Miss Lucia Kimball, of Chicago; Mrs. G. H. Read, of Bloomington; Mrs. H. W. Harwood and Mrs. H. C. Cullom, of Joliet; Mrs. S. B. Mooney, of Pana; Mrs. S. M. I. Henry, of Rockford; and Mrs. M. A. Taliafero, of Keithsburg.

The committee was armed with a petition which contained the signatures of 80,000 voters and 100,000 women. On the 6th of March, on behalf of the ladies, the petition was presented to the House of Representatives by Andrew Hinds, of Stephenson, in an address of some length, and on motion of Solomon P. Hopkins, of Cook, Miss Willard and Mrs. Foster, a lawyer, of Clinton, Iowa, were invited to address the House. This was the first time a woman was ever permitted to speak in an Illinois legislative body.

Subsequently, a bill was prepared and introduced into the House, providing an amendment to the constitution to allow women over 21 years to be registered the same as voters, and further providing that before a saloonkeeper could open a saloon he should be able to prove to the municipal authorities that he had secured the signatures of a majority of both men and women, over 21 years of age, in the community in which he proposed to do business. Mr. Hinds presented the bill, and was manfully supported by many of the members. On the 30th of May it reached a third reading, when it was lost, by a vote of 53 yeas to 55 nays.

On the 10th of April, the same petition was presented to the Senate by the same committee, through Mr. Taliafero. An objection being made to allowing the ladies to speak while the Senate was in session, on motion, a recess was taken for thirty minutes, 24 Senators voting