# History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/3/10

​ THE Twenty-third General Assembly, which met at Des Moines on the 13th of January, 1890, stood politically as follows: Senate, Republicans, twenty-eight; opposition, twenty-two. In the House the Republicans had elected fifty members and the combined opposition had chosen fifty.
The House was called to order by B. B. Lane of Polk County, and an attempt was made to elect a temporary chief clerk. Ben Van Steinburg was nominated by the Republicans and F. W. Lehman by the Democrats and opposition. The members of the House continued to ballot for these candidates without a choice, each receiving an equal number of votes, until the 18th when the name of Van Steinburg was withdrawn by the Republicans and H. S. Wilcox was nominated in his place. The balloting continued without a choice until the 27th, when a compromise was arranged between the parties by which L. D. Hotchkiss, Democrat, was elected temporary Speaker and H. S. Wilcox, Republican, was chosen temporary clerk.
The Republicans nominated Silas Wilson for permanent Speaker and the opposition nominated J. T. Hamilton, Democrat, for the same position. The roll call for the election of Speaker continued from day to day, with frequent attempts at compromise, until the 19th of February, without an election. One hundred and thirty-six ballots had been taken. It was now evident that no election could be accomplished without a compromise. An arrangement was finally agreed upon by which John T. Hamilton, Democrat, was chosen Speaker and H. S. Wilcox, Republican, was elected chief clerk and the remaining offices were divided between the two parties. The ​standing committees were also arranged between the parties by agreement and thus the House was finally organized on the 20th of February. The inauguration of Governor Boies had been delayed, by the failure of the House to organize, and did not take place until the 27th of February when the unusual event of the inauguration of a Democratic Governor and a Republican Lieutenant-Governor took place.
The last message of Governor Larrabee showed a better financial condition of the State than had existed for several years. The public debt, which in January, 1886, had amounted to $817,857.35, had been reduced to $39,388.33. The assessed value of property of the State was now $516,509,409. The Governor strongly recommended the abolition of corporal punishment in the public schools as a relic of barbarism. The permanent fund of the State University at this time was $226,899; and the annual income derived from it the past two years, $31,119. The receipts of the Agricultural College from the endowment fund for the same period were $94,130. The endowment fund at this time amounted to $649,306, most of which was invested in mortgages drawing interest from seven to eight per cent. The total agricultural products of the State for 1889 were stated to be worth $134,060,725.
Governor Larrabee gave an elaborate review of the working of the new railroad laws enacted by the last Legislature in which he said:
“Experience has now demonstrated the wisdom and justice of the measure. The Commissioners proceeded under the law to prepare a schedule of rates for the roads, having in view the general prosperity of the State. The roads have never been so crowded with business as at present, nor has the service ever been more satisfactory to the people. It is now admitted that our present local freight rates are more equitable than any previously in force in the State and it affords me pleasure to say that there is at present but little friction between the railroad companies and the people. The gross earnings of the railroads of the State for the year ending June 30, 1889, were $37,469,276, being an increase of $193,689 over the preceding year. It must be evident to the impartial ​observer that the legislation of the Twenty-second General Assembly has had most gratifying results.
“Railroads have been called into being by the people to promote the common welfare and the State can tolerate neither usurpation of power nor conspiracy on the part of its creatures. We are building for the future and the importance of keeping intact those principles which lie at the foundation of every government of, for and by the people cannot be overestimated.”
This closing message of Governor Larrabee to the General Assembly clearly reviews the lengthened conflict which had been going on between the railroad managers and the people for more than twenty years. Numerous attempts had been made during this period by the representatives of the people, to bring the powerful corporations directly under legislative control but without permanent success. The cooperation of the Governor and the Twenty-second General Assembly had at last brought a remedy for most of the extortions of the railroads which had long oppressed the people. The legislation of that General Assembly, which had been strongly urged by the Governor in devising and applying the control by law to these corporations, has stood the test of time and the courts. It has become the settled policy of the State, has inflicted no wrong upon the railroads and has been of inestimable benefit to the people. The evil effects of attempts to influence public officials with free passes still remains so strongly intrenched that all attempts to eradicate that dangerous form of bribery have failed.
The Governor made a powerful argument in his retiring message for the maintenance and enforcement of the prohibitory laws and against the establishment of legalized saloons in Iowa by any kind of license. He states the following facts in support of his position:
“While the number of convicts in the country at large rose from one in every 3,442 of population in 1850 to one in every eight hundred sixty in 1880, the ratio in Iowa is at present only one to every 3,130. The jails of many counties are now empty a good portion of the year and the number of convicts in our penitentiaries has been reduced from seven ​hundred fifty in March, 1886, to six hundred four, July 1, 1889. It is the testimony of the judges of our courts that criminal expenses have diminished in like proportion. We have fewer paupers and tramps in our State in proportion to its population than ever before. The poorer classes have better fare, better clothing, better schooling and better houses. … It is safe to say that not one-tenth and probably not one-twentieth as much liquor is consumed in the State as was five years ago. The standard of temperance has been greatly raised, even in those cities where the law has not yet been enforced. The present law was enacted in response to a popular demand, as evidenced by a majority of nearly 30,000 votes cast in favor of the prohibitory amendment. Had the women of lawful age been permitted to vote, the majority would probably have been more than 200,000. It is the duty of the legislative power to respect the rights of all citizens of the commonwealth, of non-voters as well as of voters. If provision were made for suspending for gross negligence such officers as are charged with the enforcement of the law and ample funds were placed at the command of the Governor to aid prosecutions, the saloon would soon be a thing of the past in Iowa.”
In his inaugural address, following the retiring Governor’s message, Governor Boies made a strong plea for a license law to be adopted by such localities as preferred it to prohibition. He believed that the people in the recent election had by a considerable majority declared for such a change in the liquor laws and that the Legislature was bound to respect this verdict. The Governor said:
“The people have not undertaken to deprive any locality in the State where public sentiment upholds it, of our present prohibitory law or its equivalent. They have simply declared that each city, town or township shall have the right to determine for itself whether it will be governed by the prohibitory law or by a carefully guarded license law. Those who believe in this decision and feel it their duty to respect it cannot rightfully depart from the letter of that decision as it was made. * * * The license law which is to supersede prohibition must be all that has been promised. We are bound in honor to furnish for localities adopting it a most carefully guarded license law. * * * The greatest care should be exercised to take the traffic out of the hands of immoral and irresponsible parties. Every safeguard should be thrown about those who are in this respect legitimate subjects of legal control. A wilful sale to a minor or drunkard should be cause for revoking a license. What Iowa needs is practical legislation on this subject, legislation that is broad enough to meet the views of more than a single class, that is liberal enough to command the respect of all her people, ​that is generous enough to invite to her borders every class of respectable persons, that is just enough to protect the person and property of every one of her citizens and wise enough to exercise a practical control over a traffic that to-day is unrestrained in most of her centers of population.”
HORACE BOIES, Governor of Iowa, 1890-94.
​All attempts to enact a local option license law in accord with the recommendation of Governor Boies, were defeated.
Acts were passed to prevent the formation of trusts; to regulate the sale of intoxicating liquors for lawful purposes; to reduce the legal rate of interest from ten to eight per cent.; to provide for State bank examiners; to establish a State Historical Department; to provide for an exhibit at the Columbian Exposition to be held at Chicago in 1893; to provide for the erection of a soldiers’ monument. Additional powers were conferred upon the Railway Commissioners. A United States Senator was to be elected at this session and there was a strong element which desired the election of Governor Larrabee to that important position. The great service he had rendered the people in bringing the railroads under the control of law rendered him the most popular public official in Iowa and a large majority of the citizens strongly desired to have him retained in the public service. He declined, however, to enter the contest for United States Senator against Mr. Allison who was nominated by the Republican caucus for reëlection; notwithstanding which many of the members of the General Assembly cast their votes for Larrabee for Senator. Allison was reëlected for another term of six years; most of the Democrats voting for S. L. Bestow.
The Republican State Convention met at Sioux City on the 25th of June, 1890, and nominated the following candidates for the various offices: Secretary of State, W. M. McFarland; Auditor, J. A, Lyon; Treasurer, B. A. Beeson; Judge of Supreme Court, J. H. Rothrock; Attorney-General, J. Y. Stone; Clerk of Supreme Court, G. B. Pray; Reporter Supreme Court, N. B. Raymond; ​Railway Commissioner, J. W. Luke. The resolutions declared against any compromise with the saloons and supported the people in their hostility to their existence and spread of the liquor traffic.
The Democratic State Convention assembled at Cedar Rapids on the 6th of August and placed the following candidates in nomination: Secretary of State, W. H. Chamberlin; Auditor, G. S. Witters; Treasurer, W. L. White; Attorney-General, C. H. Mackey; Judge Supreme Court, P. B. Wolfe; Clerk of Supreme Court, E. J. Sankey; Reporter Supreme Court, T. W. Ivory; Railway Commissioner, P. A. Dey. The resolutions reaffirmed the position of the party in favor of a license law for the control of the liquor traffic.
The Labor Union party held its State Convention at Des Moines on the 14th of August and nominated the following candidates: Secretary of State, E. P. Brown; Auditor, C. F. Davis; Treasurer, A. J. Blakely; Attorney-General, T. F. Willis; Judge Supreme Court, G. D. Potter; Clerk, A. Wooster; Reporter, D. J. Morris; Railway Commissioner, J. M. Joseph. No declarations were made on State issues.
The Prohibition party held its Convention at Des Moines on the 4th of September and made the following nominations: Secretary, C. R. McFarlin; Auditor, Ira Dorcas; Treasurer, J. C. Reed; Attorney General, J. L. Warren; Supreme Judge, D. B. Tourney; Clerk, S. F. Spurrier; Reporter, O. P. Crawford; Railway Commissioner, Cabel Dailey. The resolutions declared for prohibition and woman suffrage.
The entire Republican ticket was elected by pluralities ranging from three hundred ten for J. W. Luke, Railway Commissioner, to 3,993 for John Y. Stone for Attorney-General.
For the first time since the organization of the Republican party the Democrats elected a majority of the Representatives in Congress for Iowa, and the political ​revolution swept the entire country. In the new Congress the Republicans had but eighty-seven members while the Democrats elected two hundred and thirty-seven. In the last House the Republicans had one hundred and seventy-six members and the Democrats one hundred and fifty-five.
The first State Convention of the People’s party assembled at Des Moines on the 3d of June, 1891, and indorsed the platform of the Cincinnati National Conference of May 19th, 1891.
On State issues it demanded an increase in the assessment of railroads in Iowa to $80,000,000; the enactment of the Australian ballot law; the taxation of mortgages; a two-cent railroad fare; uniform school books; condemned the action of the Republican and Democratic parties in making the main issue on the temperance question; legislation for the suppression of private corporations. The following nominations were made for State officers: for Governor, A. J. Westfall; Lieutenant-Governor, W. S. Scott; Judge of Supreme Court, H. Chrisman; Superintendent of Public Instruction, C. W. Bean; Railway Commissioner, T. F. Willis.
The Prohibitionists held their State Convention at Des Moines on the 10th of June and nominated the following ticket: for Governor, Isaac Gibson; Lieutenant-Governor, J. G. Little; Judge Supreme Court, D. B. Turney; Superintendent of Public Instruction, Mrs. M. H. Dunham; Railway Commissioner, C. D. Hart. On State issues declarations were made in favor of absolute prohibition of the liquor traffic, the Australian ballot, arbitration in place of strikes, the payment of wage earners in cash.
The Democratic State Convention was held at Ottumwa on the 24th of June and placed the following candidates in nomination: for Governor, Horace Boies; Lieutenant-Governor, S. L. Bestow; Supreme Judge, L. G. Kinne; Superintendent of Public Instruction, J. B. Knoepfler; ​Railway Commissioner, P. A. Dey. The platform on State issues made the following declarations:
“We favor a license law, where desired by a majority of the electors; equal taxation of every species of property; the Australian ballot; the control of railroads by legislation; legislation to secure to laboring men a fair share of income derived from a union of capital and labor; and oppose all pools, trusts or combines.”
The convention warmly indorsed the administration of Governor Boies.
The Republican State Convention met at Cedar Rapids on the 1st of July and nominated the following ticket: for Governor, H. C. Wheeler; Lieutenant-Governor, George Van Houten; Supreme Judge, S. M. Weaver; Railway Commissioner, F. T. Campbell; Superintendent of Public Instruction, Henry Sabin.
On State issues the party declared in favor of equal taxation for all classes of property; the saloon to be made an outlaw in the State, the issue to be between true temperance and free traffic in intoxicating liquors; that the success of the Democrats means breaking down of the temperance legislation in the State, while the success of the Republicans means opposition to the saloon power and enforcement of the laws.
The campaign following was conducted with great vigor by Governor Boies largely on the issue of local option as against prohibition. The Republican candidate was no match for him in public discussion and avoided debate on the main issue of the campaign. The result of the election was the success of the entire Democratic ticket and an increased majority for Governor Boies.
The Twenty-fourth General Assembly convened at Des Moines on the 11th of January, 1892; Lieutenant-Governor S. L. Bestow presiding over the Senate. This was the first time since the creation of the office, that a Democrat had been chosen to the position of Lieutenant-Governor and the first time since the extra session of 1856 ​that the presiding officer of the Senate had been a Democrat, a period of thirty-six years. Judge L. G. Kinne was the first and only Democrat ever elected by the people to a seat on the Supreme bench. In the House, W. O. Mitchell was elected Speaker.
In his inaugural address Governor Boies again strongly urged the enactment of a local option license liquor law, but the General Assembly again refused to enact such a law.
The most important acts of the session were the following: the adoption of what is known as the “Australian ballot” system of voting at elections; an act to provide for Historical Collections at the State Capitol; an act to provide for a Geological Survey of the State; an act making an appropriation of $125,000 for an exhibit for the State of Iowa at the World’s Columbian Exposition; an act to provide a Commission to examine the revenue laws of the State and report such changes as were desirable to the next General Assembly. A joint resolution was passed urging our members of Congress to secure indemnity to settlers on the Des Moines River lands, where their titles had failed.
The Republican State Convention of 1892, was held at Des Moines on the 29th of June and nominated the following ticket for State officers: Secretary, W. M. McFarland; Auditor, C. G. McCarthy; Treasurer, B. A. Beeson; Attorney-General, J. Y. Stone; Railway Commissioner, G. W. Perkins. The resolutions simply indorsed the platform adopted by the late National Convention.
The Democrats met in State Convention on the 18th of August at Davenport and nominated the following candidates: Secretary of State, J. H. McConlogue; Auditor, S. P. Vandike; Treasurer, Charles Reugnitz; Attorney-General, Ezra Willard; Railway Commissioner, W. G. Kent. The resolutions indorsed the administration of Governor Boies and again declared for a local option ​license law. They also proposed a non-partisan Board of Control for the government of the State institutions.
A Convention of the People’s party was held at Des Moines on the 11th of August at which the following nominations were made: Secretary of State, E. H. Gillette; Auditor, A. J. Blakeley; Treasurer, Justin Wells; Attorney-General, C. McKenzie; Railway Commissioner, J. H. Barnett. The resolutions indorsed the policy on State and National issues as declared in former conventions.
The Convention of the Prohibition party was held at Des Moines on the 17th of June at which the following ticket was placed in nomination: Secretary of State, S. H. Taft; Auditor, F. E. Whitmore; Treasurer, R. M. Dihel; Attorney-General, William Orr; Railway Commissioner, Malcom Smith. The resolutions reiterated former declarations of the party.
The National Conventions of the various parties made the following nominations: Republicans, Benjamin Harrison, for reëlection, and Whitelaw Reid for Vice-President. The Democrats for the third time nominated Grover Cleveland for President and Adlai Stevenson for Vice-President. The People’s party nominated Gen. James B. Weaver of Iowa for President and J. G. Field, Vice-President; the Prohibitionists nominated John Bidwell for President and J. B. Cranfill, Vice-President.
The result of the election in Iowa was as follows:
| Harrison | 219,795 |
| Cleveland | 196,367 |
| Weaver | 20,595 |
| Bidwell | 6,402 |
Plurality for Harrison, 23,428.
The average plurality for the Republican candidates for State officers was about the same as that for Harrison, all being elected.
Governor Boies was a candidate for President before
IOWA STATE BUILDING AT THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION, 1893
​the National Democratic Convention and received one hundred and three votes.
The Presidential election resulted in the success of the Democrats: Cleveland receiving two hundred and seventy-seven electoral votes, Harrison one hundred and forty-five, and Weaver twenty-two.
The Republicans elected ten of the eleven Representatives in Iowa and the Democrats but one, while in the previous Congress the Democrats had six of the eleven members.
During this year the people of Iowa became deeply interested in the World’s Columbian Exposition to be opened at Chicago in 1893, in commemoration of the anniversary of the discovery of America. In 1890, Congress recognized the enterprise by an act making an appropriation for a National exhibit. The same year the Legislature made an appropriation of $50,000 and provided for the appointment of a commission to consist of eleven members, one from each Congressional District, to have charge of the Iowa exhibit and devise and execute plans for making such exhibit. The members of the Commission met at Des Moines in September, 1890, and organized by the election of the following officers: president, Edward Johnston of Lee County; vice-president, James Wilson of Tama; secretary, F. N. Chase, Black Hawk; treasurer, W. H. Dent of Plymouth; executive committee, S. H. Mallory, J. W. Jarnigin and John F. Duncombe. The next General Assembly increased the appropriation so that the Commissioners had at their command $130,000. In agriculture, horticulture, live stock, dairy, machinery, manufactures, schools, woman’s work, minerals and various arts, the display from our State was highly creditable. The attendance from Iowa was very large during the entire season of the exhibition. Owing to the death of Edward Johnston and the resignation of James Wilson in 1891, J. O. Crosby was chosen president and J. F. Duncombe vice-president. They ​served until the close of the exposition in these positions. Up to the 1st of January, 1894, the Commissioners had expended $132,500, including the sum of $12,500 paid to the Iowa State Band which was employed at the exposition.
On the afternoon of July 6, 1893, on the west side of the Little Sioux River, Cherokee County, the people observed a dark cloud lying low in the western horizon. When first seen it presented no unusual appearance but as it slowly arose, with varying currents of air frequently shifting suddenly, angry clouds were seen in the southwest rapidly approaching another swiftly moving cloud from the northwest which seemed to be driven by a strong wind. The distant roar of thunder and sharp flashes of lightning indicated the gathering of a severe storm. The two light colored swiftly moving clouds soon came together and a great commotion was observed. Soon the funnel shape indicating a tornado descended towards the earth and a distant roar was heard. The storm did its first damage in Rock township where two women were killed. The iron bridge over the Sioux, a one hundred twenty feet span, was hurled from its piers into the river. As the storm neared the Buena Vista County line the cloud lifted for several miles and no damage was done, when it again descended to the earth and destruction again began. It crossed the county about half a mile south of the town of Storm Lake, plowing through the waters of the lake, raising a waterspout nearly a hundred feet in height and wrecking a steamboat. The tornado kept nearly parallel with the Illinois Central Railroad and far enough south of it to miss the villages along its line until Pomeroy, in Calhoun County was reached. Several miles west of the town it is described as presenting an appearance quite similar to that observed when first discovered in Cherokee County. A steady roar was heard and great masses of white clouds were still rushing swiftly together from the northwest and southwest. ​Where they seemed to come in violent collision, a dense mass of inky black vapor in violent commotion was forming into elongated trunks dropping down towards the earth, one of which reached and trailed upon the ground swaying back and forth, while the others bounded up and down as they swung along like the trunk of an elephant. The one reaching the ground seemed to be sweeping everything in its path—trees, fences, buildings and animals were raised into the vortex and hurled with terrific force to the earth. Cattle and horses crouched to the ground in terror and the hogs tried to bury themselves in straw stacks. Within and along the surface of the storm cloud there was an incessant play of electricity and fearful jagged bolts shot out of the white clouds on either side of the black mass from which the tongues depended. As seen from Pomeroy the sky was a fearful sight to behold. Clouds of inky blackness filled the entire west rolling and swaying in wild commotion. One cloud came from the northwest and united with another moving from the southwest and trailing beneath the place of collision was the black whirling column dragging upon the earth, from which came a continuous discharge of electricity.
The heavy and incessant roar of the approaching storm seemed to make the earth tremble. Persons just outside of its track, described the tornado as it struck the town as a rolling, writhing mass of a greenish blackness through which thousands of tongues of electric flame were darting. There was one wild crash and all was blackness and desolation where but a moment before Pomeroy stood. For a few moments every survivor seemed dazed and not a living form or a building could be seen in the ruins. The shrieks of the wounded and cries for help were heard on every side. Roused to a realization of the calamity that had suddenly come upon the town, the survivors hastened to rescue the wounded from the wrecks of their homes. For four hours they worked with the ​energy of despair amid rain, hail and gathering darkness, guided by the cries and groans of the sufferers imprisoned by fallen timbers and crippled by ghastly wounds, not ceasing until all were cared for. All through the night search among the ruins for the dead went on as assistance from the surrounding country and neighboring towns came.
Dr. D. J. Townsend, one of the physicians who was prominent in attending upon the wounded, gives a vivid description of the peculiar character of the injuries that came under his observation. He says:
“The wounds were not of a class that were met with in any other calamity than a tornado. The tissues were bruised, punctured, incised, lacerated with the addition of having foreign matter of every conceivable kind literally ground into the flesh and broken off in such a manner that no matter how proficient the surgeon, they would escape his notice. Inflammation and pain in a certain region did not always justify exploratory incisions, as many were contused from one end of the body to the other. The dirt and sand were plastered upon and into the skin in such a manner that it was extremely difficult to remove them.”
Such was the terrible nature of the injuries that had suddenly come upon more than a hundred people. From a population of more than a thousand but twenty-one families were left with no dead or wounded of their own to care for. The dead in the village numbered forty-two the day after the tornado.
Governor Boies issued an appeal for aid and the people of the State responded generously, not only furnishing all the temporary assistance needed but sufficient to rebuild the homes destroyed and to supply furniture, clothing and food. Besides providing a large amount of lumber, provisions and clothing, nearly $70,000 in money was contributed for relief of the sufferers. The total number of deaths from the tornado along its entire path of about one hundred miles, was seventy-one in all, of which there were in Cherokee County twelve, in Buena Vista six, in Pocahontas four, in and around Pomeroy in Calhoun County, forty-nine.