Charles Foster, of Fostoria; Myron T. Herrick, of Cleveland; Joseph P. Smith, of Urbana; Clinton D. Firestone, of Columbus; John Zumstein, of Cincinnati; and George H. Fields, of Toledo.

At this meeting the appended resolutions, offered by William S. Cappellar, of Richland, were adopted by unanimous vote:

Resolved: That the Ohio Republican Central Committee heartily approves the passage of the Federal Elections' Bill to protect the purity of the ballot, and to secure to every citizen of the Republic the right to cast his ballot and have it honestly counted; and further, that it is the sense of this Committee that Congress should not adjourn until said bill becomes a law.

Resolved: That these resolutions be transmitted to our Representatives in Congress and to Hon. JOHN SHERMAN, Our United States Senator.

On Wednesday, August 13th, a Farmers' Congress was held at Columbus. It was well represented by delegates from all agricultural organizations, those belonging to the Grange being almost in the majority. An attempt to make a new political party failed. A set of resolutions were adopted, one of which was denunciatory of the proposed sub-Treasury scheme of the Populists.

The Democratic State Convention was held at Springfield, Tuesday and Wednesday, August 26th and 27th. Charles W. Butler, of Hamilton, and Lawrence T. Neal, of Ross, were respectively Temporary and Permanent Chairmen. The following were. the nominees: Secretary of State, Thadeus E. Cromley, of Pickaway County; Judge of the Supreme Court, George B. Okey, of Franklin, on the first ballot, over Arnold Green, of Cuyahoga; Member of the Board of Public Works, Leopold Keifer, of Miami, on the first ballot over John McNamara, of Summit, William Samsey, of Henry, and Blair Hagerty, of Williams.

The platform began by demanding "the reduction of tariff taxes," declaring: "We will continue the battle for tariff reform until the cause of the people is triumphant. All money taken by law from the people should go into the Public Treasury. Tariff taxes should be for revenue only. All socalled protective tariffs are dishonest, wasteful and corrupting. They plunder the masses to enrich the few. They have crippled agriculture, retarded manufacturing, created trusts, destroyed commerce and corrupted our law-makers. Therefore we are opposed to the McKinley Tariff Bill now. pending in Congress." Also, "We favor the free coinage of silver" and "declare in favor of just, liberal and equitable pension laws and denounce the Republican party for its duplicity to the soldiers in not fulfilling its oft-repeated pledges to them;" declared in favor of a free and untrammeled ballot;" denounced "the Federal the Federal Elections, or Force Bill" and "the present rules of the National House of Representatives;" asserted that the Democratic party was the "steadfast friend of the laboring and producing classes;" and rejoiced at the awakening of the farmers to the evils of Republican legislation," inviting them to join with us to correct those evils and promote legislation which will better their condition. and be just to all classes."

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The Prohibition and Union Labor parties also held State Conventions and placed full tickets in nomination, and adopted platforms similar to those put forward in previous years. Melancthon C. Lockwood headed the former, and Ezekiel T. Curtes, of Trumbull, the latter ticket, as candidates for Secretary of State.

A proclamation by Governor Campbell called the General Assembly to meet in

extraordinary session on October 14th to take action upon a communication that would then be laid before them. Both Houses accordingly convened and received a message from the Governor in which he said the session was called On account of the deplorable condition of public affairs in the city of Cincinnati, which, it is believed, can be partially remedied by enabling the people of that city to choose certain important Boards at the approaching November election." This was a move to get rid of some objectionable Democratic officials of his own selection, whose removal the Governor desired, but could not effect under the existing law. The message recited the action taken at the regular session of the Legislature in creating a Board of Public Improvements, and the Decennial Board of Equalization, and omitting to provide that the people should choose those very important bodies. The Governor never intended that the people should choose them, but the Legislature failed to give the Executive the power of removal. The change from the former method had been that after the first appointment of a full board by the Governor, the members should be elected singly by the people; also that three instead of four members could transact business, thus enabling them to unite and control affairs. The Governor declared that his own appointees were "dishonest and corrupt," and he now asked the General Assembly to abolish both Boards. In compliance with his request the Senate, by a vote of 17 to 19, passed a bill on October 16th providing for the election the following April of a Board of Public Improvements for Cincinnati and giving the Governor power to remove in the meantime any member of the existing Board for "any reason that may to him seem sufficient." The bill

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failed to pass the House and on October 20th Governor Campbell sent another message, saying "that as the Legislature had failed to accomplish the purpose for which it was called some further suggestions are in order." He called attention to the fact that there was then not sufficient time to prepare for the November election as originally contemplated and therefore recommended the creation of a non-partisan Board of Improvement to be appointed by the Mayor. He concluded the second message with this admonition: Do not swerve a hair's breadth from your purpose to wipe out the Board and eventually submit the whole question to the people. From this time on any and all propositions, other than this, are meant for partisan advantage only. There is no middle ground. lay longer is a question of incapacity; to refuse the passage of the bill is a confession of infidelity." A bill was then introduced "to create and establish an efficient Board of City Affairs" for Cincinnati. This abolished the Board of Improvements, whose members the Governor desired to get rid of and gave the Mayor the power of appointment until the next municipal election in April, 1891. It became a law and the Legislature adjourned on October 24th. A joint committee was also appointed to make investigation of the entire municipal government of Cincinnati, and which subsequently made a report to the Governor, but owing to some peculiar manipulation, this report does not appear in the Executive documents or the Legislative reports of the State or, in fact, in any official publication.

This quarrel between the Governor and members of his own political organization so far from influencing the people against the Democratic party rather had the con

trary effect. It was a general theme of discussion in the party press and but few newspapers had the temerity to condemn the Governor's action in the premises. Generally there is a great falling off in the vote cast at an election immediately following that at which a Governor is chosen; but this year, owing in great measure to this. agitation, the decrease was but a little over 33,000. The campaign was devoid of sensations other than that created by the Governor and was otherwise comparatively uninteresting. The result was the election of all three of the Republican candidates for State office by the following vote:

Democratic majority......

Frank J. McColloch, member of the State Board of Public Works, was born at Bellefontaine, Ohio, May 1, 1848, and still resides in that city. His educational advantages were but limited, as he was compelled to leave school at the age of fourteen to earn his own living. He secured a position in a retail dry-goods establishment in 1862, and three years later became a traveling salesman. Even after he became a public officer he continued "on the road" when not engaged in the business of the State. He was elected in 1890 and again in 1893, retiring in 1896. He is now engaged in mercantile business.

20,300

16,958

3,342

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HE second session of the Fifty-first Congress began on December 11, 1890. President Harrison's message was very voluminous, as he referred to every subject which had during the previous six months occupied or would in all probability engage the attention of Congress at this session. A brief summary of the measures considered by Congress upon which party lines were drawn, or which had a bearing upon the general politics of the day, particularly because the platforms of the Republican and Democratic parties in Ohio each contained clauses alluding to one or more of these subjects, is here given. The much discussed Direct Tax Refunding Bill was finally disposed of. It had passed the Senate at the first session of this Congress, and the House took it up and passed it on February 24, 1891. This appropriated $15,227,632.03, amount of taxes paid directly to the United States Government by the Northern States during the Civil War, of which Ohio's share. was $1,332,025.93. This was a great relief to the State, as a Democratic State Administration and Legislature had practically bankrupted the Treasury. The vote on the passage of the act in the Senate was: Yeas 44-Republicans 27, Democrats 17; Nays 7-Republicans 2. Democrats 5. House: House: Yeas 172-Republicans 142, Democrats 30; Nays 101 Republicans 10, Democrats 91.

Of the remaining representatives 56 refused to go on record. The bill for the apportionment of members of the Fifty-third and subsequent Congresses in accordance with. the population as ascertained by the census of 1890 was introduced in the House by Mark H. Dunnell, of Minnesota, on December 16, 1890. It provided for 356 members

an increase of 24. The House agreed to the apportionment the following day, and on January 29, 1891, the measure passed the Senate, and the President approved it on February 10th. The representation for Ohio was the same as by the apportionment of 1881. The Immigration Bill which greatly increased the classes of persons who should be excluded from admission into the United States, including "the importation of aliens under contract or agreement to perform labor," passed the House on February 25th without division. The Senate also agreed to this measure, February 27th, its opponents fearing to call for a division, and was approved by President Harrison on March 3d. The Postal Subsidy Bill authorizing the Postmaster General to enter into contracts for not less than five nor more than ten years, with American citizens for carrying the mail in American steamships at certain fixed rates of compensation, passed the House on February 27th. The opposition of the Democrats to this bill was very