# History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/3/11

FRANK D. JACKSON, Governor of Iowa, 1894-1896
​ THE Prohibition party was the first to hold a State Convention in 1893. It assembled at Des Moines on the 31st of May and nominated the following ticket: for Governor, Bennett Mitchell; Lieutenant-Governor, J. C. Reed; Supreme Judge, J. A. Harvey; Superintendent of Public Instruction, Belle H. Mix; Railway Commissioner, G. W. Dutton. The resolutions reiterated the former declarations of the party for rigid prohibition and other reforms.
The Republicans were determined to redeem the State from Democratic rule and the State Convention of that party which assembled at Des Moines on the 16th of August was largely attended. The candidates before the Convention for Governor were Frank B. Jackson, Lafayette Young, F. M. Drake, W. H. Torbett, E. S. Ormsby and B. F. Clayton. The contest was warm and the first ballot stood as follows: Jackson, four hundred and ninety-three; Young, two hundred and forty-one; Drake, one hundred and fifty-four; Lyons, eighty-four; Ormsby, eighty-one; Torbett, sixty-seven. On the second ballot Jackson received eight hundred and forty votes which gave him the nomination. For the other offices the nominations were: Lieutenant-Governor, Col. W. S. Dungan; Supreme Judge, G. S. Robinson; Superintendent of Public Instruction, Henry Sabin; Railway Commissioner, J. W. Luke.
The election of Governor Boies and his reëlection upon a local option platform, had alarmed the Republican leaders and convinced them that the party would have to “take a backward step” on prohibition or lose permanently the saloon voters of the party. Instead of boldly ​declaring for local option license, an adroit resolution was constructed by the committee on platform to enable the party to secure the saloon vote, without openly placing the party on the Democratic platform for local option.
The following is the resolution which was reported and adopted:
“Resolved, That prohibition is no test of Republicanism. The General Assembly has given to the State a prohibitory law as strong as any that has been enacted by any country. Like any other criminal statute, its retention, modification or repeal must be determined by the General Assembly, elected by and in sympathy with the people and to it is relegated the subject, to take such action as they may deem just and best in the matter, maintaining the present law in those portions of the State where it is now or can be made efficient and giving to other localities such methods of controlling and regulating the liquor traffic as will best serve the cause of temperance and morality.”
The Democratic Convention met at Des Moines on the 23d of August and renominated Governor Boies and Lieutenant-Governor Bestow; John Cliggett was nominated for Supreme Judge, J. B. Knoepfler for Superintendent of Public Instruction, and Thomas Bowman for Railway Commissioner. The resolutions favored a local option license law and a Board of Control for the public institutions.
The Populist Convention met in Des Moines on the 5th of September and placed in nomination the following candidates for State officers: Governor, J. M. Joseph; Lieutenant-Governor, J. E. Anderson; Supreme Judge, A. C. Weeks; Superintendent of Public Instruction, Mrs. E. J. Woodrow; Railway Commissioner, John Idle. The resolutions reiterated the former declarations of the party on national issues, favored woman suffrage, and on the liquor question made the following declaration:
“The utter demoralization of the Democratic and Republican parties is again manifest in their attitude towards the liquor question. They are engaged in an attempt to outbid one another for the support of the saloon element in the State and are seeking to drown by their cry for the saloon ​every other important consideration relating to the public welfare. We demand that the present law shall remain until such time as it can be replaced by what is known as a State and National control with all profits eliminated—which we believe to be the true method of dealing with the question.”
Prohibition or local option was no longer the chief issue between the Republican and Democratic parties, as both in this campaign advocated a policy of allowing each locality to determine whether saloons should be tolerated. This position satisfied the Republicans who had heretofore supported Governor Boies and in this election they returned to the support of the Republican ticket, which was elected. It also continued to receive the support of a great majority of the prohibitionists. Thus the “backward step” on prohibition restored the Republican party to power in the State.
Jackson’s plurality over Boies was 32,161; the other Republican candidates were elected by pluralities ranging from 36,904 for Colonel Dungan, to 38,629 for Luke. The Republicans elected candidates in each of the eleven Congressional Districts by large majorities.
The Twenty-fifth General Assembly convened at Des Moines on the 8th of January, 1894, Lieutenant-Governor W. S. Dungan presiding over the Senate. Henry Stone was elected Speaker of the House.
In his message to the General Assembly Governor Boies informed it that the State was now out of debt, except the amount due to the school fund. The total receipts for the last biennial period amounted to $3,706,151.77; the disbursements for the same time amounted to $3,781,229.27; of which $234,498.01 was in payment of school fund bonds. Of the amount received, the General Government had repaid the State the sum it had paid for direct war taxes, $384,274.80. The Governor again urged the establishment of a Board of Control for the management of the State institutions; and a local option license law for the regulation of the liquor traffic. A report was ​made showing the total expenditures for various State institutions, from the beginning of each, up to the 30th of June, 1893, as follows:
| Agricultural College | $612,143.11 |
| Capitol at Iowa City | 110,248.08 |
| Old Capitol and ground at Des Moines | 87,783.21 |
| New State House at Des Moines | 2,997,214.64 |
| Hospitals for the Insane at ||
| Mt. Pleasant | 903,820.63 |
| Independence | 1,055,107.40 |
| Clarinda | 590,673.85 |
| College for the Blind | 1,060,268.85 |
| Industrial Schools | 1,107,531.52 |
| Institute for the Deaf and Dumb | 1,638,014.16 |
| Normal School | 293,026.04 |
| Orphans’ Homes | 1,278,598.32 |
| Penitentiary at Anamosa | 1,349,577.32 |
| Penitentiary at Fort Madison | 1,175,840.41 |
| Soldiers’ Home | 262,853.53 |
| State University | 1,045,733.84 |
| Industrial Home for the Blind | 64,641.51 |
| State Arsenal | 48,902.73 |
This included the cost of buildings, improvements, repairs and support. There had also been appropriated for the State Agricultural Society, including the purchase of the Fair Grounds at Des Moines, $96,309.25. The total amount paid for the aid of County Agricultural Societies was $504,269.72 up to June 30th, 1893. The total expense of the State Railroad Commission was $211,399.31. The assessed value of the railroads of Iowa in 1893, was $44,869,784. The number of miles of railroad in the State at this time was 8,478, the gross earnings of which were, for the previous year, $44,284,053. Up to this date the Iowa railroads had received from grants of public lands 3,724,801 acres. They paid in taxes in 1893, $1,343,305.
​In 1886 the first serious damage was done to the crops of Iowa by a protracted season of drouth. The early part of the season witnessed the ordinary amount of rain. Crops made about the usual growth until July. The small grain was fairly well matured, producing an average yield in most parts of the State. Late in July the rains almost entirely ceased in the central and southern portions of the State and the corn began to suffer seriously. August passed without rain, pastures dried up and entirely failed. The hay crop was seriously injured, thousands of acres of corn were blighted and produced no ears and the stalks were cut for fodder to supply the place of pastures and hay. Wells that had always furnished an abundance of water and creeks that had been considered permanent, went dry early in August and stock suffered greatly for water. Ponds, marshes and sloughs on the unbroken prairies as well as on farms failed, and muskrats perished by the thousands. From this time for seven years came a succession of dry seasons in which most of the ordinary wells failed and farmers were compelled to have new and deep wells bored down to a permanent water reservoir. Creeks, ponds and springs that had never before failed since the first white settlements were made, dried up and hundreds of thousands of dollars were expended by the farmers in search of permanent water supplies. These dry seasons continued with barely enough moisture to mature most of the crops, until 1894. This year came a drouth which for severity and widespread damage to crops, has never been equalled in the State. Hay, pastures and com suffered to a most disastrous extent. Early in July pastures were as dry as though destroyed by fire. Hundreds of thousands of acres of com were withered by the hot winds and continued absence of rain, and no ears were formed on the stalks; hay was less than one-quarter of a crop, and the serious problem that confronted the farmers was how to keep their stock alive.
For several years there had been an over production ​of horses and prices had gradually declined to a lower figure than ever before known. When it became apparent that the corn crop was ruined, hay reduced to one-fourth the usual yield and pastures dried up, nearly every farmer found himself short of feed. Thousands of horses were sold at from ten to twenty dollars per head to buyers who came from other States; young cattle were sacrificed at ruinous prices and hogs of all ages were disposed of at any price offered. Hundreds of the poorer horses were killed when they could not be sold, to save them from starvation. Still there were localities in the State where sufficient rain fell to mature the crops, so that in the aggregate the State produced over 128,000,000 bushels of corn and over 107,000,000 bushels of oats. The next year the yield of corn was 285,000,000 bushels and of oats 201,000,000. The hay and forage crops generally suffered in proportion. These dry years were disastrous to the older forest trees which perished in great numbers, especially the oak and black walnut, while the white elms were seriously damaged. The older orchard trees also suffered permanent injury which eventually proved fatal over a large extent of country. As great as was the loss by this unprecedented drouth, by far the most severe that ever existed in the State, there was more than enough food grown and matured to supply its population. The greatest loss was occasioned by the selling off of young stock, which was seriously felt for many years, as stock raising had long been the most profitable branch of farming. This drouth of 1894, however, ended the lengthened dry period; the rains came again from year to year, gradually sending the moisture deep down into the soil and again maturing bountiful crops. But with the bringing of so large a proportion of the great prairies under cultivation, together with surface and tile draining of the wet lands, the water reservoirs are decreased from year to year, the springs dry up, the ponds disappear and the former wet sloughs become dry land. Consequently the ​rivers and creeks are slowly becoming smaller and the source of water supply disappearing with cultivation.
The year 1894 brought a general depression in business, throughout the entire country. Thousands of laboring men in every State of the Union found it difficult and, in many places impossible, to procure work to support themselves and families. Many attributed the cause of the depression to unwise “National legislation.” A movement began among the laboring men to organize what were termed “Commonweal Armies” for the purpose of marching to the National Capitol and demanding of Congress some kind of legislation to furnish work for the enforced idle. It does not clearly appear what remedial legislation was demanded or agreed upon by these armies to bring the relief desired, but the movement gradually assumed considerable proportions. The working-men who joined in this movement chose officers and maintained a good degree of discipline. The largest of these armies began its movements in California and, selecting for its commander General Kelly, began its march toward Washington. Many of the railroads helped the army on its long journey by giving the men free transportation. It finally reached Omaha and as it was about to enter Iowa, Governor Jackson went to Council Bluffs for the purpose of turning it back. The appearance of a peaceful body of men proposing to travel across the State disarmed suspicion, however, and no authority was found for legal interference on the part of the Governor. The army entered the State and the people showed their sympathy along the line of march by contributing food for its subsistence. A stop was made at Des Moines where the people furnished supplies generously and thousands visited the camp and conversed with the men. The ranks were found to contain men of almost every trade and of many of the professions, who had been unable to find employment, most of them had families and were seeking work. They were well behaved and respectable appearing ​persons who seemed to believe that by marching to Washington they could procure some legislation for the relief of those willing to work who could find no one to employ them.
Kelly’s army when in Des Moines numbered 1,118 men, and remained in camp in the eastern part of the city about three weeks. It was unable to procure transportation from any of the railroads and finally, by the aid of the citizens, procured lumber, constructed flatboats and descended the Des Moines River finally reaching Washington. Similar armies were also on the way to the National Capitol, some of which reached the city, while others became discouraged by the difficulties of procuring subsistence and transportation and disbanded. Altogether these armies numbered in the aggregate about 7,500 men. While this unique movement did not bring about any direct legislation by Congress for relief, it called the attention of the entire country to the vast number of unemployed men and the necessity of providing work to enable them to earn a livelihood.
The Prohibition party met in State Convention at Des Moines on the 27th of June, 1894, and made the following nominations: for Secretary of State, B. M. Mitchell; Auditor, C. H. Gordon; Treasurer, Mrs. A. E. McMurray; Supreme Judge, J. W. Rogers; Attorney-General, W. A. Maginnis; Clerk Supreme Court, M. A. Atwood; Reporter, Mrs. M. H. Dunham; Railway Commissioner, Malcom Smith. The resolutions reaffirmed former declarations of the party and condemned the “mulct law” as an outrage upon the moral citizenship of the State.
The Republican State Convention was held at Des Moines on the 25th of July and made the following nominations: Secretary of State, W. M. McFarland; Auditor, C. G. McCarthy; Treasurer, John Herriott; Supreme Judges, C. T. Granger and H. E. Deemer (to fill a vacancy); Attorney-General, Milton Remley; Clerk Supreme Court, C. T. Jones; Reporter, B. I. Salinger; Railway ​Commissioner, C. L. Davidson. No declarations were made as to State issues.
The Democratic party held its Convention at Des Moines on the 1st of August and nominated the following ticket: Secretary of State, H. F. Dale; Auditor, B. C. Benham; Treasurer, L. W. White; Judges Supreme Court, John Cliggett and W. E. Mitchell; Attorney-General, J. D. F. Smith; Clerk Supreme Court, T. F. Ward; Reporter, J. J. Shea; Railway Commissioner, J. C. Cole. The administration of President Cleveland was indorsed, the mulct law condemned, the repeal of the prohibitory liquor law demanded, local option and a State Board of Control favored.
The State Convention of the People’s party was held at Des Moines on the 5th of September at which the following candidates were nominated: Secretary of State, S. B. Crane; Auditor, J. Bellangee; Treasurer, Aaron Brown; Judges Supreme Court, John Cliggitt and J. E. Anderson; Attorney-General, A. W. C. Weeks; Clerk Supreme Court, C. A. Farber; Reporter, J. J. Shea; Railway Commissioner, W. W. Pattee. The resolutions endorsed former declarations of the party on National issues and a two cent passenger rate on railroads.
The Republicans elected the entire ticket by an average plurality of about 79,000. The vote for Secretary of State shows the relative strength of the four parties at this election.
| McFarland, Republican | 229,376 |
| Dale, Democrat | 149,980 |
| Crane, Populist | 34,907 |
| Mitchell, Prohibition | 7,457 |
Cliggitt for Supreme Judge, nominated by the Democrats and Populists received 183,148 votes.
The Republican candidates for Congress were elected in each of the eleven districts.
​The Twenty-fifth General Assembly convened at Des Moines on the 8th of January, 1894. The House was organized by the election of Henry Stone, Speaker. Lieutenant-Governor Warren S. Dungan was President of the Senate. Frank D. Jackson was inaugurated Governor. The most important act of the Twenty-fifth General Assembly was the enactment of a law taxing the liquor traffic and, under certain conditions, protecting saloons from the enforcement of the penalties of the prohibitory liquor law. This act, while not repealing the prohibitory liquor law in terms, provides that the penalties for the violation of the same should be suspended, if the saloon keepers procure the written consent of a majority of the voters in the city for the establishment of saloons and pay an annual tax of six hundred dollars for the privilege of keeping a saloon. This act was devised and enacted by the Republican members of the Legislature to comply with a virtual agreement made by the managers of that party at the late Republican State Convention, with that element of the party which was opposed to the prohibitory liquor law and had united with the Democrats in demanding local option. The enactment of the “Mulct Law,” as this was called, satisfied the license Republicans as will be seen by the elections held since the compromise was agreed upon. The license Republicans in the two former elections for Governor had supported Horace Boies as the champion of local option and had been numerous enough to defeat the Republican candidates. The Prohibition party, instead of uniting with the Republicans, had put a ticket in the field and thus far had aided in dividing the prohibition vote and indirectly contributed to the overthrow of prohibition. The Republican prohibitionists remained in the party but were completely shorn of their influence in its councils, in the selection of candidates and in shaping of policy. Thus a small minority of the party, the license Republicans, became the leaders of the organization and the prohibition Republicans surrendered
MONUMENT TO THE VICTIMS OF THE MASSACRE OF 1857, By Sioux Indians, at the Dickinson County Lakes.
​without a determined effort to save the prohibitory law. Their devotion to the party was stronger than their hostility to saloons and for the first time in the history of the State saloons were established wherever a majority of the voters could be induced to consent.
An act was passed providing for the appointment of commissioners to revise and codify the laws of the State. The Commission consisted of John Y. Stone, Charles Baker, Emil McClain, H. S. Wilson and H. F. Dale.
The year 1895 brought bountiful crops throughout the State but prices were very low, leaving no profit to farmers and consequent business depression to almost every branch of industry except money loaning.
Through the efforts of Mrs. Abbie Gardner Sharp and Senator A. B. Funk of Dickinson County, the General Assembly of 1894 appropriated $5,000 to be used in the erection of a monument to the memory of the victims of the Spirit Lake massacre of 1857, and the members of the Relief Expedition under Major Williams who marched to the scene of the tragedy to rescue the survivors and bury the dead. The Commissioners appointed by Governor Jackson to superintend the erection of the monument were Ex-Governor Cyrus C. Carpenter, Hon. John F. Duncombe and Hon. Roderick A. Smith who were members of the Relief Expedition; Abbie Gardner Sharp, the sole surviving woman captive; and Hon. Charles Aldrich, Curator of the Historical Department. The monument is of Minnesota granite with bronze tablets bearing a brief history of the affair and the names of the victims of the massacre, the captives, the two men who perished from hardships and exposure on the Relief Expedition, as well as a complete roll of the officers and men of the command.
The monument stands upon ground formerly belonging to Rowland Gardner, one of the victims of the massacre, and near his cabin, which has been preserved. It was dedicated July 25th, 1895, when Ex-Governor Cyrus C. Carpenter, chairman of the Commission, presented the ​memorial to the State in an address, giving a brief recital of the tragic events which the monument commemorates. The gathering was one of unusual historic interest; among those present being several actors in the darkest tragedy ever enacted on Iowa soil.
The first State Convention was held by the People’s party at Des Moines on the 11th of June, 1895, at which the following nominations were made for the various State officers: Governor, S. B. Crane; Lieutenant-Governor, A. R. Starrett; Supreme Judge, T. W. Ivory; Superintendent Public Instruction, L. S. Tabor; Railway Commissioner, E. J. Stason. The platform favored additional security for depositors of banks; inspection of workshops; a general reduction of salaries of officers and a State tax on gold contracts.
On the 18th of June the Prohibition State Convention was held at Des Moines which nominated the following ticket: Governor, Francis Bacon; Lieutenant-Governor, M. W. Atwood; Supreme Judge, J. W. Rogers; Superintendent Public Instruction, Mrs. L. D. Carhart; Railway Commissioner, H. F. Jones. The resolutions denounced the mulct law; favored arbitration, the reduction of official salaries and of legal interest.
The Republican State Convention was held at Des Moines on the 10th of July and, as Governor Jackson had declined a reëlection and it was altogether probable that the Republican candidates would be elected, an animated contest arose in the party over the selection of the candidate for Governor. One of the candidates before the convention was James Harlan, the old time United States Senator and Secretary of the Interior, who had always had the confidence and admiration of the Republicans of Iowa and the Nation, for his unsurpassed services in the great conflict over slavery during the most critical period of our country’s history. There was a strong feeling that his services should have been retained by the State he had so ably and loyally represented for a quarter of a century ​and upon which he had brought honor by his superb leadership in the Senate in the defense of President Grant when be was viciously assailed by a faction of Republican Senators. But when the movement of the people became strong in the determination to call Senator Harlan back into public life by tendering him the position of chief Executive, the political managers of a quarter of a century, fearing the influence of the great statesman in that office, sent forth the decree that he must not be nominated. When the first ballot came the vote stood as follows: F. M. Drake, three hundred and sixty-six; James Harlan, two hundred and forty-eight; with the remainder of the votes divided between Matt Parrott, W. M. McFarland, J. B. Harsh, E. S. Ormsby and J. L. Kamrer. On the third ballot the vote for Harlan had reached three hundred and eighty-four, when the opposition rallied and threw its strength as far as possible for General Francis M. Drake and gave him the nomination on the sixth ballot with eight hundred and sixty-four votes. The other nominations were: for Lieutenant-Governor, Matt Parrott; Supreme Judge, Josiah Given; Railway Commissioner, George W. Perkins. The resolutions were devoted exclusively to National affairs.
The Democratic party held its Convention at Marshalltown on the 8th of August and nominated the following candidates: Governor, W. I. Babb; Lieutenant-Governor, S. L. Bestow; Supreme Judge, T. G. Harper; Superintendent Public Instruction, L. B. Pearshall; Railway Commissioner, George Perkins. The resolutions denounced the mulct law and favored local option and a non-partisan Board of Control for State institutions.
The election resulted in the choice of the Republican candidates by an average plurality of about 65,000 for all of the Republican candidates except General Drake, whose plurality was 59,286, majority 16,083.
The General Assembly convened at Des Moines on the 13th of January, 1896. H. W. Byers was chosen Speaker ​of the House; Matt Parrott was President of the Senate. F. M. Drake was inaugurated Governor.
The following were the most important acts of this session of the Legislature: an act imposing a collateral inheritance tax and providing for its collection; an act to define express companies and to provide for taxing the same. Also one declaring such companies common carriers and placing them under control of the Railway Commissioners. An act for the regulation and control of loan and saving associations; an act to prohibit the sale and manufacture of cigarettes in the State; an act authorizing the Executive Council to purchase a site and procure plans for the erection of a State Historical Building; an act to provide for the semi-centennial of the admission of Iowa into the Union; an act providing for the payment of the Commission selected to locate and mark the positions held by Iowa regiments at the Battle of Shiloh.
Much feeling had been aroused among the soldiers of Iowa over the action of the Commission appointed to superintend the erection of the Iowa Soldiers’ Monument, in selecting certain names and medallion portraits to be placed upon the monument, and the Legislature passed a joint resolution of instruction for the Commission which directed that no medallion portrait of any person living or dead should be placed upon the monument to exalt one soldier over another of equal or more deserving record, “that the Commission in place thereof shall have inscribed on the monument the name of each regiment and organization, the number of men enlisted and date of muster into service.”
The Legislature made an appropriation of $10,000 to enable Iowa to make preparations for participating in the Trans-Mississippi International Exposition to be held at Omaha in 1898. It was provided that the Executive Council should appoint a Commission of one from each Congressional District to collect and superintend the material for an Iowa exhibit. The Commission consisted of the ​following persons: J. H. Wallbank, S. D. Cook, F. N. Chase, J. E. E. Markley, S. B. Packard, R. H. Moore, Allan Dawson, S. H. Mallory, G. W. McCoid, Owen Lovejoy and A. W. Irwin; who proceeded to organize by the election of the following officers: S. H. Mallory, president; Allan Dawson, vice-president; F. N. Chase, secretary; G. W. McCoid, treasurer.
A Semi-Centennial Celebration of the admission of Iowa into the Union was held at Burlington in the month of October, 1896. The Governor appointed a Commission consisting of P. M. Crapo, George F. Henry and John Scott to make arrangements for this celebration. It was largely attended by the pioneers of the State and many valuable historical addresses and papers were contributed.
On the 28th of March, 1896, the battleship “Iowa,” which had been built by the Government and named in honor of our State, was launched at Philadelphia. The Governor and Staff and most of the Iowa members of Congress were present and participated in the exercises. The ship was christened by Miss Mary Lord Drake, daughter of the Governor. By authority of the General Assembly a silver plate service was procured and presented to the commander of the “Iowa.”
During the latter part of the year a terrible famine prevailed in India and appeals were made to the people of the United States for aid. Governor Drake appointed a commission consisting of Hoyt Sherman, E. H. Conger, Rev. Leon A. Harvey, Colonel G. L. Godfry, W. L. Carpenter and J. D. McGarraugh to collect and forward provisions to the sufferers in India. The people of Iowa contributed liberally and the Commissioners were enabled to furnish generous aid.
On the 11th of July, 1896, there occurred a collision of trains on the main line of the Chicago and Northwestern Railway near Logan in Harrison County, the most destructive to human life that has ever been known within the State.
​From an investigation made by the Railway Commissioners the following facts were gathered: the Society of Union Pacific Pioneers of Nebraska had arranged for a special train to carry the members and their families, to the number of 1,200 on an excursion to Logan. There were sixteen passenger coaches filled with men, women and children. When the party was ready to return the train was on a side track at Logan about 6.40 p. m. awaiting the regular east bound passenger train to pass that point, as it does not stop at Logan. This train came on time and carried a signal that another train was following it. Disregarding this danger signal the engineer and conductor of the excursion train started out on the main track and at a curve about a quarter of a mile west of Logan collided with the east bound fast mail train running at a speed of thirty-five miles an hour. The shock was terrible as the heavy engines struck each other and a moment later cries and groans of the mutilated passengers arose from the wreck of the crowded cars of the excursion train. Men, women and children were crushed and mangled beneath the broken and twisted fragments of wood and iron in an awful scene of confusion, terror and agony that defies description. Twenty-seven persons were killed and thirty-two injured, some of them fatally. The citizens of Logan rendered every assistance in their power and were untiring in their efforts to relieve the suffering. The Railway Commissioners made an investigation of the affair and found the facts as here stated.