Rosenfeld Susan. Encyclopedia of American Historical Documents

Подождите немного. Документ загружается.

Seventh, there shall be non-competitive examinations

in all proper cases before the commission, when compe-

tent persons do not compete, after notice has been given

of the existence of the vacancy, under such rules as may be

prescribed by the commissioners as to the manner of giv-

ing notice.

Eighth, that notice shall be given in writing by the

appointing power to said commission of the persons

selected for appointment or employment from among

those who have been examined, of the place of residence

of such persons, of the rejection of any such persons after

probation, of transfers, resignations, and removals, and of

the date thereof, and a record of the same shall be kept by

said commission. And any necessary exceptions from said

eight fundamental provisions of the rules shall be set forth

in connection with such rules, and the reasons therefor

shall be stated in the annual reports of the commission.

Third. Said commission shall, subject to the rules that

may be made by the President, make regulations for, and

have control of, such examinations, and, through its mem-

bers or the examiners, it shall supervise and preserve the

records of the same; and said commission shall keep min-

utes of its own proceedings.

Fourth, Said commission may make investigations

concerning the facts, and may report upon all matters

touching the enforcement and effects of said rules and reg-

ulations, and concerning the action of any examiner or

board of examiners hereinafter provided for, and its own

subordinates, and those in the public service, in respect to

the execution of this act.

Fifth. Said commission shall make an annual report to

the President for transmission to Congress, showing its

own action, the rules and regulations and the exceptions

thereto in force, the practical effects thereof, and any sug-

gestions it may approve for the more effectual accomplish-

ment of the purposes of this act.

Sec. 3. That said commission is authorized to employ

a chief examiner, a part of whose duty it shall be, under its

direction, to act with the examining boards, so far as prac-

ticable, whether at Washington or elsewhere, and to secure

accuracy, uniformity, and justice in all their proceedings,

which shall be at all times open to him. The chief examiner

shall be entitled to receive a salary at the rate of three

thousand dollars a year, and he shall be paid his necessary

traveling expenses incurred in the discharge of his duty.

The commission shall have a secretary, to be appointed by

the President, who shall receive a salary of one thousand

six hundred dollars per annum. It may, when necessary,

employ a stenographer, and a messenger, who shall be

paid, when employed, the former at the rate of one thou-

sand six hundred dollars a year, and the latter at the rate of

six hundred dollars a year. The commission shall, at Wash-

ington, and in one or more places in each State and Terri-

tory where examinations are to take place, designate and

select a suitable number of persons, not less than three, in

the official service of the United States, residing in said

State or Territory, after consulting the head of the depart-

ment or office in which such persons serve, to be members

of boards of examiners, and may at any time substitute any

other person in said service living in such State or Territory

in the place of any one so selected. Such boards of exam-

iners shall be so located as to make it reasonably conve-

nient and inexpensive for applicants to attend before them;

and where there are persons to be examined in any State

or Territory, examinations shall be held therein at least

twice in each year. It shall be the duty of the collector,

postmaster, and other officers of the United States, at any

place outside of the District of Columbia where examina-

tions are directed by the President or by said board to be

held, to allow the reasonable use of the public buildings for

holding such examinations, and in all proper ways to facil-

itate the same.

Sec. 4. That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the

Interior to cause suitable and convenient rooms and

accommodations to be assigned or provided, and to be fur-

nished, heated, and lighted, at the city of Washington, for

carrying on the work of said commission and said exami-

nations, and to cause the necessary stationery and other

articles to be supplied, and the necessary printing to be

done for said commission.

Sec. 5. That any said commissioner, examiner, copyist,

or messenger, or any person in the public service who shall

willfully and corruptly, by himself or in co-operation with

one or more other persons, defeat, deceive, or obstruct any

person in respect of his or her right of examination accord-

ing to any such rules or regulations, or who shall willfully,

corruptly, and falsely mark, grade, estimate, or report upon

the examination or proper standing of any person exam-

ined hereunder, or aid in so doing, or who shall willfully

and corruptly make any false representations concerning

the same or concerning the person examined, or who shall

willfully and corruptly furnish to any person any special or

secret information for the purpose of either improving or

injuring the prospects or chances of any person so exam-

ined, or to be examined, being appointed, employed, or

promoted, shall for each such offense be deemed guilty of

a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be pun-

ished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars, nor

more than one thousand dollars, or by imprisonment not

less than ten days, nor more than one year, or by both such

fine and imprisonment.

Sec. 6. That within sixty days after the passage of this

act it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury, in

as near conformity as may be to the classification of certain

clerks now existing under the one hundred and sixty-third

section of the Revised Statutes, to arrange in classes the

1102 ERA 6: The Development of the Industrial United States

Politics, Economy, and Society 1103

several clerks and persons employed by the collector, naval

officer, surveyor, and appraisers, or either of them, or

being in the public service, at their respective offices in

each customs district where the whole number of said

clerks and persons shall be all together as many as fifty.

And thereafter, from time to time, on the direction of the

President, said Secretary shall make the like classification

or arrangement of clerks and persons so employed, in con-

nection with any said office or offices, in any other customs

district. And, upon like request, and for the purposes of

this act, said Secretary shall arrange in one or more of said

classes, or of existing classes, any other clerks, agents, or

persons employed under his department in any said dis-

trict not now classified; and every such arrangement and

classification upon being made shall be reported to the

President.

Second. Within said sixty days it shall be the duty of

the Postmaster, to separately arrange in classes the several

clerks and persons employed, or in the public service, at

each post-office, or under any postmaster of the United

States, where the whole number of said clerks and persons

shall together amount to as many as fifty. And thereafter,

from time to time, on the direction of the President, it shall

be the duty of the Postmaster-General to arrange in like

classes the clerks and persons so employed in the postal

service in connection with any other post office; and every

such arrangement and classification upon being made shall

be reported to the President.

Third. That from time to time said Secretary, the Post-

master-General, and each of the heads of departments

mentioned in the one hundred and fifty-eighth section of

the Revised Statutes, and each head of an office, shall, on

the direction of the President, and for facilitating the exe-

cution of this act, respectively revise any then existing clas-

sification or arrangement of those in their respective

departments and offices, and shall, for the purposes of the

examination herein provided for, include in one or more of

such classes, so far as practicable, subordinate places,

clerks, and officers in the public service pertaining to their

respective departments not before classified for examina-

tion.

Sec. 7. That after the expiration of six months from the

passage of this act no officer or clerk shall be appointed,

and no person shall be employed to enter or be promoted

in either of the said classes now existing, or that may be

arranged hereunder pursuant to said rules, until he has

passed an examination, or is shown to be specially

exempted from such examination in conformity herewith.

But nothing herein contained shall be construed to take

from those honorably discharged from the military or naval

service any preference conferred by the seventeen hun-

dred and fifty-fourth section of the Revised Statutes, nor

to take from the President any authority not inconsistent

with this act conferred by the seventeen hundred and fifty-

third section of said statutes; nor shall any officer not in the

executive branch of the government, or any person merely

employed as a laborer or workman, be required to be clas-

sified hereunder; nor, unless by direction of the Senate,

shall any person who has been nominated for confirmation

by the Senate be required to be classified or to pass an

examination.

Sec. 8. That no person habitually using intoxicating

beverages to excess shall be appointed to, or retained in,

any office, appointment, or employment to which the pro-

visions of this act are applicable.

Sec. 9. That whenever there are already two or more

members of a family in the public service in the grades

covered by this act, no other member of such family shall

be eligible to appointment to any of said grades.

Sec. 10. That no recommendation of any person who

shall apply for office or place under the provisions of this

act which may be given by any Senator or member of the

House of Representatives, except as to the character or

residence of the applicant, shall be received or considered

by any person concerned in making any examination or

appointment under this act.

Sec. 11. That no Senator, or Representative, or Terri-

torial Delegate of the Congress, or Senator, Representa-

tive, or Delegate elect, or any officer or employee of either

of said houses, and no executive, judicial, military, or naval

officer of the United States, and no clerk or employee of

any department, branch or bureau of the executive, judi-

cial, or military or naval service of the United States, shall,

directly or indirectly, solicit or receive, or be in any man-

ner concerned in soliciting or receiving, any assessment,

subscription, or contribution for any political purpose

whatever, from any officer, clerk, or employee of the

United States, or any department, branch, or bureau

thereof, or from any person receiving any salary of com-

pensation from moneys derived from the Treasury of the

United States.

Sec. 12. That no person shall, in any room or building

occupied in the discharge of official duties by any officer

or employee of the United States mentioned in this act, or

in any navy-yard, fort, or arsenal, solicit in any manner

whatever, or receive any contribution of money or any

other thing of value for any political purpose whatever.

Sec. 13. No officer or employee of the United States

mentioned in this act shall discharge, or promote, or

degrade, or in manner change the official rank or compen-

sation of any other officer or employee, or promise or

threaten so to do, for giving or withholding or neglecting

to make any contribution of money or other valuable thing

for any political purpose.

Sec. 14. That no officer, clerk, or other person in the

service of the United States shall, directly or indirectly,

give or hand over to any other officer, clerk, or person in

the service of the United States, or to any Senator or Mem-

ber of the House of Representatives, or Territorial Dele-

gate, any money or other valuable thing on account of or to

be applied to the promotion of any political object what-

ever.

Sec. 15. That any person who shall be guilty of violat-

ing any provision of the four foregoing sections shall be

deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, on conviction

thereof, be punished by a fine not exceeding five thousand

dollars, or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding three

years, or by such fine and imprisonment both, in the dis-

cretion of the court.

Source:

Statutes at Large, Vol. 23, pp. 403–407.

Electoral Count Act, 1887

Federal legislation passed in 1887 that was designed to pre-

vent a disputed national election. The act provided that each

state is the final judge over its own electoral returns and that

Congress must accept returns certified by the authorized state

tribunal in accordance with the state’s own laws. Congress

may intervene only if the state itself is unable to decide or has

made an irregular decision. In such cases the two houses of

Congress shall decide concurrently. The act resulted from the

1876 presidential election dispute between Samuel J. Tilden

and Rutherford B. Hayes. It was also relevant for the election

of 2000, when the presidency hung on the Florida vote

count.

________________________

_______________________

An Act

To fix the day for the meeting of the electors of President

and Vice-President, and to provide for and regulate the

counting of the votes for President and Vice-President, and

the decision of questions arising thereon.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-

tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-

bled, That the electors of each State shall meet and give

their votes on the second Monday in January next follow-

ing their appointment, at such place in each State as the

legislature of such State shall direct.

Sec. 2. That if any State shall have provided, by laws

enacted prior to the day fixed for the appointment of the

electors, for its final determination of any controversy or

contest concerning the appointment of all or any of the

electors of such State, by judicial or other methods or pro-

cedures, and such determination shall have been made at

least six days before the time fixed for the meeting of the

electors, such determination made pursuant to such law so

existing on said day, and made at least six days prior to the

said time of meeting of the electors, shall be conclusive,

and shall govern in the counting of the electoral votes as

provided in the Constitution, and as hereinafter regulated,

so far as the ascertainment of the electors appointed by

such State is concerned.

Sec. 3. That it shall be the duty of the executive of

each State, as soon as practicable after the conclusion of

the appointment of electors in such State, by the final

ascertainment under and in pursuance of the laws of such

State providing for such ascertainment, to communicate,

under the seal of the State, to the Secretary of State of the

United States, a certificate of such ascertainment of the

electors appointed, setting forth the names of such elec-

tors and the canvass or other ascertainment under the laws

of such State of the number of votes given or cast for each

person for whose appointment any and all votes have been

given or cast; and it shall also thereupon be the duty of the

executive of each State to deliver to the electors of such

State, on or before the day on which they are required by

the preceding section to meet the same certificate, in trip-

licate, under the seal of the State; and such certificate shall

be inclosed and transmitted by the electors at the same

time and in the same manner as is provided by law for

transmitting by such electors to the seat of Government

the lists of all persons voted for as President and of all per-

sons voted for as Vice-President; and section one hundred

and thirty-six of the Revised Statutes is hereby repealed;

and if there shall have been any final determination in a

State of a controversy or contest as provided for in section

two of this act, it shall be the duty of the executive of such

State, as soon as practicable after such determination, to

communicate, under the seal of the State, to the Secretary

of State of the United States, a certificate of such determi-

nation, in form and manner as the same shall have been

made; and the Secretary of State of the United States, as

soon as practicable after the receipt at the State Depart-

ment of each of the certificates hereinbefore directed to

be transmitted to the Secretary of State, shall publish, in

such public newspaper as he shall designate, such certifi-

cates in full; and at the first meeting of Congress thereafter

he shall transmit to the two Houses of Congress copies in

full of each and every such certificate so received thereto-

fore at the State Department.

Sec. 4. That Congress shall be in session on the second

Wednesday in February succeeding every meeting of the

electors. The Senate and House of Representatives shall

meet in the Hall of the House of Representatives at the

hour of one o’clock in the afternoon on that day, and the

President of the Senate shall be their presiding officer.

Two tellers shall be previously appointed on the part of the

Senate and two on the part of the House of Representa-

tives, to whom shall be handed, as they are opened by the

1104 ERA 6: The Development of the Industrial United States

Politics, Economy, and Society 1105

President of the Senate, all the certificates and papers pur-

porting to be certificates of the electoral votes, which cer-

tificates and papers shall be opened, presented, and acted

upon in the alphabetical order of the States, beginning

with the letter A; and said tellers, having then read the

same in the presence and hearing of the two Houses, shall

make a list of the votes as they shall appear from the said

certificates; and the votes having been ascertained and

counted in the manner and according to the rules in this

act provided, the result of the same shall be delivered to

the President of the Senate, who shall thereupon

announce the state of the vote, which announcement shall

be deemed a sufficient declaration of the persons, if any,

elected President and Vice-President of the United States,

and, together with a list of the votes, be entered on the

Journals of the two Houses. Upon such reading of any such

certificate or paper, the President of the Senate shall call

for objections, if any. Every objection shall be made in

writing, and shall state clearly and concisely, and without

argument, the ground thereof, and shall be signed by at

least one Senator and one Member of the House of Rep-

resentatives before the same shall be received. When all

objections so made to any vote or paper from a State shall

have been received and read, the Senate shall thereupon

withdraw, and such objections shall be submitted to the

Senate for its decision; and the Speaker of the House of

Representatives shall, in like manner, submit such objec-

tions to the House of Representatives for its decision; and

no electoral vote or votes from any State which shall have

been regularly given by electors whose appointment has

been lawfully certified to according to section three of this

act from which but one return has been received shall be

rejected, but the two Houses concurrently may reject the

vote or votes when they agree that such vote or votes have

not been so regularly given by electors whose appointment

has been so certified. If more than one return or paper

purporting to be a return from a State shall have been

received by the President of the Senate, those votes, and

those only, shall be counted which shall have been regu-

larly given by the electors who are shown by the determi-

nation mentioned in section two of this act to have been

appointed, if the determination in said section provided

for shall have been made, or by such successors or substi-

tutes, in case of a vacancy in the board of electors so ascer-

tained, as have been appointed to fill such vacancy in the

mode provided by the laws of the State; but in case there

shall arise the question which of two or more of such State

authorities determining what electors have been

appointed, as mentioned in section two of this act, is the

lawful tribunal of such State, the votes regularly given of

those electors, and those only, of such State shall be

counted whose title as electors the two Houses, acting sep-

arately, shall concurrently decide is supported by the deci-

sion of such State so authorized by its laws; and in such

case of more than one return or paper purporting to be a

return from a State, if there shall have been no such deter-

mination of the question in the State aforesaid, then those

votes, and those only, shall be counted which the two

Houses shall concurrently decide were cast by lawful elec-

tors appointed in accordance with the laws of the State,

unless the two Houses, acting separately, shall concur-

rently decide such votes not to be the lawful votes of the

legally appointed electors of such State. But if the two

Houses shall disagree in respect of the counting of such

votes, then, and in that case, the votes of the electors

whose appointment shall have been certified by the Exec-

utive of the State, under the seal thereof, shall be counted.

When the two Houses have voted, they shall immediately

again meet, and the presiding officer shall then announce

the decision of the questions submitted. No votes or

papers from any other State shall be acted upon until the

objections previously made to the votes or papers from any

State shall have been finally disposed of.

Sec. 5. That while the two Houses shall be in meeting

as provided in this act the President of the Senate shall

have power to preserve order; and no debate shall be

allowed and no question shall be put by the presiding offi-

cer except to either House on a motion to withdraw.

Sec. 6. That when the two Houses separate to decide

upon an objection that may have been made to the count-

ing of any electoral vote or votes from any State, or other

question arising in the matter, each Senator and Repre-

sentative may speak to such objection or question five min-

utes, and not more than once; but after such debate shall

have lasted two hours it shall be the duty of the presiding

officer of each House to put the main question without

further debate.

Sec. 7. That at such joint meeting of the two Houses

seats shall be provided as follows: For the President of the

Senate, the Speaker’s chair; for the Speaker, immediately

upon his left; the Senators, in the body of the Hall upon

the right of the presiding officer; for the Representatives,

in the body of the Hall not provided for the Senators; for

the tellers, Secretary of the Senate, and Clerk of the House

of Representatives, at the Clerk’s desk; for the other offi-

cers of the two Houses, in front of the Clerk’s desk and

upon each side of the Speaker’s platform. Such joint meet-

ing shall not be dissolved until the count of electoral votes

shall be completed and the result declared; and no recess

shall be taken unless a question shall have arisen in regard

to counting any such votes, or otherwise under this act, in

which case it shall be competent for either House, acting

separately, in the manner hereinbefore provided, to direct

a recess of such House not beyond the next calendar day,

Sunday excepted, at the hour of ten o’clock in the

forenoon. But if the counting of the electoral votes and the

declaration of the result shall not have been completed

before the fifth calendar day next after such first meeting

of the two Houses, no further or other recess shall be

taken by either House.

Source:

Statutes at Large, Vol. 25, pp. 373–375.

Sherman Silver Purchase Act, 1890

Federal legislation enacted on July 14, 1890, requiring the fed-

eral government to purchase 4.5 million ounces of silver per

month at the prevailing market price. It also required the U.S.

Treasury to issue, in payment, legal tender notes redeemable

in gold or silver coin. The bill was a compromise between

free-silver advocates and gold supporters; both groups had

been dissatisfied with the Bland-Allison Act. The act, named

for Republican senator John Sherman, failed to raise the price

of silver and seriously weakened the federal gold reserve by

increasing the circulation of redeemable paper currency. In

1893 President Grover Cleveland called a special session of

Congress to repeal the act.

________________________

_______________________

An Act

Directing the purchase of silver bullion and the issue of

Treasury notes thereon, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-

tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-

bled, That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby

directed to purchase, from time to time, silver bullion to

the aggregate amount of four million five hundred thou-

sand ounces, or so much thereof as may be offered in

each month, at the market price thereof, not exceeding

one dollar for three hundred and seventy-one and twenty-

five hundredths grains of pure silver, and to issue in pay-

ment for such purchases of silver bullion Treasury notes

of the United States to be prepared by the Secretary of

the Treasury, in such form and of such denominations,

not less than one dollar nor more than one thousand dol-

lars, as he may prescribe, and a sum sufficient to carry

into effect the provisions of this act is hereby appropri-

ated out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise

appropriated.

Sec. 2. That the Treasury notes issued in accordance

with the provisions of this act shall be redeemable on

demand, in coin, at the Treasury of the United States, or

at the office of any assistant treasurer of the United

States, and when so redeemed may be reissued; but no

greater or less amount of such notes shall be outstanding

at any time than the cost of the silver bullion and the stan-

dard silver dollars coined therefrom, then held in the

Treasury purchased by such notes; and such Treasury

notes shall be a legal tender in payment of all debts, pub-

lic and private, except where otherwise expressly stipu-

lated in the contract, and shall be receivable for customs,

taxes, and all public dues, and when so received may be

reissued; and such notes, when held by any national bank-

ing association, may be counted as a part of its lawful

reserve. That upon demand of the holder of any of the

Treasury notes herein provided for the Secretary of the

Treasury shall, under such regulations as he may pre-

scribe, redeem such notes in gold or silver coin, at his dis-

cretion, it being the established policy of the United

States to maintain the two metals on a parity with each

other upon the present legal ratio, or such ratio as may be

provided by law.

Sec. 3. That the Secretary of the Treasury shall each

month coin two million ounces of the silver bullion pur-

chased under the provisions of this act into standard silver

dollars until the first day of July eighteen hundred and

ninety-one, and after that time he shall coin of the silver

bullion purchased under the provisions of this act as much

as may be necessary to provide for the redemption of the

Treasury notes herein provided for, and any gain or

seigniorage arising from such coinage shall be accounted

for and paid into the Treasury.

Sec. 4. That the silver bullion purchased under the

provisions of this act shall be subject to the requirements

of existing law and the regulations of the mint service gov-

erning the methods of determining the amount of pure sil-

ver contained, and the amount of charges or deductions, if

any, to be made.

Sec. 5. That so much of the act of February twenty-

eighth, eighteen hundred and seventy-eight, entitled “An

act to authorize the coinage of the standard silver dollar

and to re tore its legal-tender character,” as requires the

monthly purchase and coinage of the same into silver dol-

lars of not less than two million dollars, nor more than four

million dollars’ worth of silver bullion, is hereby repealed.

Sec. 6. That upon the passage of this act the balances

standing with the Treasurer of the United States to the

respective credits of national banks for deposits made to

redeem the circulating notes of such banks, and all

deposits thereafter received for like purpose, shall be cov-

ered into the Treasury as a miscellaneous receipt, and the

Treasury of the United States shall redeem from the gen-

eral cash in the Treasury the circulating notes of said banks

which may come into his possession subject to redemp-

tion; and upon the certificate of the Comptroller of the

Currency that such notes have been received by him and

that they have been destroyed and that no new notes will

be issued in their place, reimbursement of their amount

shall be made to the Treasurer, under such regulations as

the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe, from an

1106 ERA 6: The Development of the Industrial United States

Politics, Economy, and Society 1107

appropriation hereby, created, to be known as ‘National

bank notes: Redemption account, but the provisions of this

act shall not apply to the deposits received under section

three of the act of June twentieth, eighteen hundred and

seventy-four, requiring every National bank to keep in law-

ful money with the Treasurer of the United States a sum

equal to five percentum of its circulation, to be held and

used for the redemption of its circulating notes; and the

balance remaining of the deposits so covered shall, at the

close of each month, be reported on the monthly public

debt statement as debt of the United States bearing no

interest.

Sec. 7. That this act shall take effect thirty days from

and after its passage.

Source:

Statutes at Large, Vol. 26, pp. 289–290.

“Pitchfork” Ben Tillman,

“Shell Manifesto,” 1890

American address written by Benjamin Tillman, a Democrat

and leader of the agrarian movement in South Carolina; pub-

lished over the signature of G. W. Shell, president of the Farm-

ers’ Association of South Carolina, during Tillman’s successful

campaign for the governorship in 1890. The document com-

bined disdain for the “aristocratic coterie” governing the state

and elements of agrarian reform with a call for the preserva-

tion of white supremacy. The manifesto demanded greater

economy and efficiency in government, cheaper and more

practical education for farmers and mechanics, and protection

of agricultural interests from greedy phosphate miners and fer-

tilizer companies. Tillman went on to perfect race-baiting as a

political technique and to become one of the leading racists in

congress.

________________________

_______________________

To the Democracy of South Carolina: For four years the

Democratic party in the State has been deeply agitated,

and efforts have been made at the primaries and conven-

tions to secure retrenchment and reform, and a recogni-

tion of the needs and rights of the masses. The first

Farmers’ Convention met in April, 1886. Another in

November of the same year perfected a permanent orga-

nization under the name of the “Farmers’ Association of

South Carolina.” This association, representing the reform

element in the party, has held two annual sessions since,

and at each of these four conventions, largely attended by

representative farmers from nearly all the counties, the

demands of the people for greater economy in the Gov-

ernment, greater efficiency in its officials, and a fuller

recognition of the necessity for cheaper and mere practical

education have been pressed upon the attention of our

Legislators.

In each of the two last Democratic State Conventions

the “Farmers’ Movement” has had a large following, and

we only failed of controlling the Convention of 1888 by a

small vote-less than twenty-five—and that, too, in the face

of the active opposition of nearly every trained politician in

the State. We claim that we have always had a majority of

the people on our side, and have only failed by reason of

the superior political tactics of our opponents and our lack

of organization. In proof of this we point to Abbeville and

Chester, the only counties except Charleston which had

not already appointed delegates to the State Convention

before the campaign meetings two years ago, at which

Governor Richardson spoke. Both of those counties, after

hearing the Governor defend his policy and that of his fac-

tion, repudiated defend him and it, and he received only

two votes from them.

The executive committee of the Farmers Association

did not deem it worth while to hold any convention last

November, but we have watched closely every move of the

enemies of economy—the enemies of agricultural educa-

tion, the enemies of true Jefferson in Democracy—and we

think the time has come to show the people what it is they

need and how to accomplish their desires. We will draw up

the indictment against those who have been and are still

governing our State, because it is at once the cause and

justification of the course we intend to pursue.

South Carolina has never had a real Republican gov-

ernment. Since the days of the “Lords Proprietors” it has

been an aristocracy under the forms of Democracy, and

whenever a champion of the people has attempted to show

them their rights and advocate those rights as aristocratic

oligarchy has bought him with an office, or falling in that

turned loose the floodgates of misrepresentation and slan-

der in order to destroy his influence.

The peculiar situation now existing in the State,

requiring the united efforts of every true white man to pre-

serve white supremacy and our very civilization even, has

intensified and tended to make permanent the conditions

which existed before the war. Fear of a division among us

and consequent return of negro rule has kept the people

quiet, and they have submitted to many grievances

imposed by the ruling faction because they dreaded to risk

such a division.

The “Farmers’ Movement” has been hampered and

retarded in this work by this condition of the public

mind, but we have shown our realty to race by submitting

to the edicts of the party, and we intend, as heretofore, to

make our fight inside the party lines, fooling assured that

truth and justice must finally prevail. The results of the

agitation thus far are altogether encouraging. Inch by

inch and step by step true Democracy the rule of the

people—has won its way. We have carried all the out-

posts. Only two strongholds remain to be taken, and with

the issues fairly made up and plainly put the people we

have no fear of the result. The House of Representatives

has been carried twice, and at last held after a desperate

struggle.

The advocates of reform and economy are no longer

sneered at as “Three for a quarter statesmen.” They pass

measures of economy which four years ago would have

excited only decision, and with the Farmers’ Movement to

strengthen their backbone have withstood the cajo’ery,

threats and impotent rage of the old “ring losses.” The

Senate is now the main reliance of the enemies of

retrenchment and reform, who oppose giving the people

their rights. The Senate is the stronghold of “existing insti-

tutions,” and the main dependence of those who are antag-

onistic to all progress. As we captured the House we can

capture the Senate; but we must control the Democratic

State Convention before we can hope to make economy

popular in Columbia, or be assured of no more pocket

vetoes.

The General Assembly is largely influenced by the

idea and policy of the State officers, and we must elect

those before we can say the Farmers’ Movement has

accomplished its mission. It is true that we have wrenched

from the aristocratic coterie who were educated at and

sought to monopolize everything for the South Carolina

College, the right to control the land scrip and Hatch fund

and a part of the privilege tax on fertilizers for one year,

and we have $10,000 with which to commence building a

separate agricultural college, where the sons of poor farm-

ers can get a practical education at small expense.

But we dare not relax our efforts or rely upon the loud

professions of our opponents as to their willingness now to

build and equip this agricultural school. Senator McMas-

ter, a trustee of the South Carolina College, gave voice to

the sentiments and wishes which are prevalent at the Uni-

versity and Military Academy when he “hoped to see the

infernal Clemeon College sink out of sight next year.” They

all want to sink the “internal” Agricultural College out of

sight, and if its friends do not rally once more to its support

it will either be destroyed or starved, so that it cannot do

the great work it is expected to accomplish.

All the cry about “existing institutions” which must

remain inviolate shows that the ring—the South Carolina

University, Citadel, Agricultural Bureau, Columbia Club,

Greenfield building ring—intend in the future, as in the

past, to get all they can, and keep all they get. These pets

of the aristocracy and its nurseries are only hoping that the

people will again sink into their accustomed apathy. The

mechanical department of the University was given an

increased appropriation, and there is no thought of trans-

ferring it to Fort Hill, although the land scrip fund, which

is sent there, was expressly donated for the purpose of

mechanical as well as agricultural education, and so with

experiment stations. The Hatch fund is given to the

Clemeon College, but the stations are left at Columbia and

Spartanburg, under the control of the South Carolina Col-

lege.

Is it not plain that these people intend to yield obedi-

ence to the law only when they are made to do it? The

Farmers’ Association demands that the land scrip and

Hatch funds and the fertilizer tax shall be consolidated and

used for the building and maintenance of a first class

industrial school, with experiment stations attached, for

farmers and mechanics. We hold that the experimental

work, the educational work and the inspection and analy-

sis of fertilizers can all be more efficiently and economi-

cally carried on under one board, mostly at one place, and

much of it by the same corps of men and who teach.

We have never and do not now want any increase of

taxes to accomplish those ends. But our opponents having

seized the opportunity afforded by our agitation to double

the income of the South Carolina College and call it a uni-

versity, and in addition, obtained the Hatch fund of

$15,000, donated for experiment stations, cry out: “Take

your Clemson College. We will give you $98,000 or

$198,000, if you want it raised by taxation, but you don’t

touch existing institutions.” They have built with our bricks

but say we must not take them, but that we can build if we

make others. Was there ever such impudence?

They seized first the land scrip fund. Then they mis-

appropriated the Hatch fund: they increased the taxes

$65,000 a year to equip and maintain the different depart-

ments of the grand University: they voted $60,000 in one

jump without even a division to rebuild, repair and equip

the Citadel Academy, and then say to taxpaying farmers.

“Leave our existing institutions” alone. Let the agricultural

bureau with its board—who are our chosen sons every

man of them belonging to or aspiring to belong to our aris-

tocratic ring—let this bureau waste $30,000 a year more.

Leave our experiment stations at Darlington, Columbia

and Spartanburg alone. We expect to control votes with

them and they must not be touched.

Put your hands in your pockets and pay for your Clem-

son College if you will have it, and we will vote the taxes.

An analysis of the vote in the House and Senate which

defeated the consolidations of all our agricultural work

shows that the board and department of agriculture are

sustained by the fertilizer manufacturers, the phosphate

miners and the University and Citadel. If a farmer voted

for its continuance it is because he felt that the South Car-

olina University would lose something by abolition. The

support of the fertilizer companies is easy to understand.

This bureau has been their best friend. Year after year we

have been told by Commissioner Butter, that the guanos

1108 ERA 6: The Development of the Industrial United States

Politics, Economy, and Society 1109

inspected were below the guarantees, but nobody has

been punished, in fact there is no adequate punishment

for selling fraudulent guanos in this State.

The bill prepared by the committee of the Farmers’

Association for the reorganization or the board of agricul-

ture would have secured our farmers against swindling fer-

tilizer dealers, but it was amended to death by the lawyers

in the Senate, who are attorneys for the phosphate miners

and fertilizer companies, and the men who were elected

on the board over the nominees of the Farmers’ Conven-

tion were chosen not because they are more loyal to the

agricultural interests, or better fitted for the position, but

because they are friends of the University and belong or

are subservient to our aristocracy—”so called”—and the

phosphate miners are too well satisfied with the system of

collecting the state royalty to permit a change if they can

help it.

How wonderfully perfect or defective this system is, is

shown by the fact that during ten years under the same

officials not a single indictment has been brought against

any one for attempting to swindle the State out of its dues.

No wonder Charleston is in love with the agricultural

bureau, and cannot bear to see that “existing institution”

disturbed.

The recent proposal to sell the State’s interest in the

phosphate beds is fortunate, because thereby the attention

of taxpayers is attracted to this most important matter. The

Farmers’ Association proposed in 1880 to increase the roy-

alty as a means of lowering taxes, and we believe this can

be safely done to the extent of $100,000.

A legislative committee was appointed to “investigate”

and report on the subject. This was only done to give

time—waiting ten months until the market had been

manipulated, etc. This committee proceeded to show how

well it had been chosen “not to do it.” There was no hon-

est effort made to get at the real facts as to the profits of

the business and its ability to stand an increase of royalty,

and after it had been “wined and dined” and brought into

a suitable frame of mind that committee came to

Columbia and actually proposed to give the six largest

companies a monopoly for a less annual rental than the

State was then receiving. Only one Senator, to whom all

honor is due, dissented from this outrageous proposal.

What was the result?

Of course the General Assembly did not act favorably

upon it, but all thought of an increase of royalty was also

abandoned, and this was what the corporation attorneys

who were there in the interest of their clients and not of

their constituents had been working for. “The goose that

lays the golden egg” was not killed—”existing institutions”

were not disturbed. Phosphate rock, which had been

manipulated down to $3.40 per ton, advanced in two

months after the Legislature adjourned to $6, and has

since ruled between $5.50 and $7.50 per ton. The golden

eggs are still being laid, but not in the State’s neat—

whether some of them have not gone into pockets which

they ought not to an open question.

Now we want to warn the people that the charter of

the Coosaw Company obtained by bribery, it is said, of a

Radical Legislature—expires in 1891. This company,

which has grown fabulously rich, claims to have a perpet-

ual contract, with exclusive right to mine in Coosaw River

and pay only one dollar a ten for the privilege. The next

Legislature must act on this question, and the next Attor-

ney General may have to test those claims in Court. The

whole question of phosphate management, or mismanage-

ment, must be settled. Can the taxpayers afford to allow

any but true men to go to the Senate, or elect a corpora-

tions lawyer as Attorney General? Shall the politicians

choose him, or shall we, casting about among the many

honorable, patriotic lawyers of the State, make the selec-

tion ourselves?

The Legislature which has just adjourned has other

sins to answer for, or rather the Senate must be held

responsible. The people demanded that the railroad com-

missioners should have something to do besides draw their

salaries and spend them. We want protection against the

greed of the gigantic corporations owned at the North,

which regard South Carolina as a lemon to be squeezed

and care nothing for the welfare of our towns, our State,

our people.

The railroad laws of 18—made the commission a

power to defend the people against imposition. The same

Legislature which enacted it, having been Bamboozled or

debauched, at the very next session left it only as a sinecure

with fat salaries and no power. We have just seen the same

disgraceful farce repeated. This law was vastly improved at

the session of 1888, but after a year which has shown the

weakness and unfitness of the press it incumbents, for they

have done very little, the Senate peremptorily refused to

make any changes.

The railroad commissioners now in office have been

“tamed,” so to speak, by the railroads, and men who have

not been so long under their wing might have done some-

thing in the interest of the people; but that same Senate

which has again and again thwarted the people, which

refuses to reduce salaries, which fought the Clemson

College and yielded at last to necessity only, which is the

strong-hold of aristocracy with its non-progressive, im-

practicable ideas, which, in a word, is dominated by

Charleston’s a rich politicians—that Senate resolved to

maintain this “existing institution,” too, status quo.

Of all the taxes we pay, the pensions to Confederate

veterans are submitted to most willingly, and we regret

that we cannot increase the pittance they receive. But the

continuance of men in office as political pensioners, after

their ability or willingness to serve the people is gone—

when the interests and even rights of the people are

thereby sacrificed, this pandering to sentiment, this

favoritism—is a crime, nothing more and nothing less.

Rotation in office is a cardinal Democratic principle, and

the neglect to practice it is the cause of many of the ills we

suffer.

We cannot elaborate the other counts in this indict-

ment. We can only point briefly to the mismanagement of

the Penitentiary, which is a burden on the taxpayers, even

while engaged in no public works which might benefit the

State. To this wrong committed against the people of many

counties (strongholds of Democracy) by the failure to

reapportion representation according to population,

whereby Charleston has five votes in the House and ten

votes in the State Convention, which choose our State offi-

cers, to which it is not entitled.

To the zeal and extravagance of this aristocratic oli-

garchy, whose sins we are pointing out, in promising higher

education for every class except farmers, while it neglects

the free schools which are the only chance for an educa-

tion to thousands of poor children, whose fathers bore the

brunt in the struggle for our redemption in 1876. To the

continued recurrence of horrible lynchings—which we can

but attribute to bad laws and their inefficient administra-

tion. To the impotence of justice to punish criminals who

have money. To the failure to call a constitutional conven-

tion that we may have an organic law framed by South Car-

olinians for South Carolinians, and suited to our wants,

thereby lessening the burdens of taxation and giving us

better government.

Fellow Democrats, do not all these things cry out for

a change? Is it not opportune, when there is no national

election, for the common people who redeemed the State

from Radical rule to take charge of it? Can we afford to

leave it longer in the hands of those who, wedded to ante-

bellum ideas, but possessing little of ante-bellum patrio-

tism and honor, are running it in the interest of a few

families and for the benefit of a selfish ring of politicians?

As real Democrats and white men, those who here renew

our pledge to make the fight inside the Democratic party

and abide the result, we call upon every true Carolinian, of

all classes and callings, to help us purify and reform the

Democratic party and give us a government of the people,

by the people and for the people.

If we control the State Democratic Convention, a

Legislature in sympathy will naturally follow; failing to do

this, we risk losing all we have gained, and have no hope of

any change for the better. The logic of events and pass

experience show that we must nominate candidates and

put them in the field early, so that the masses will under-

stand what they must do to bring about the change we so

desire. Such course will cause an active canvas, wide dis-

cussion of the issues presented, and the people thus learn-

ing the truth can show whether, they are in favor of the

Farmers” Movement or not, by electing or rejecting our

nominees.

We therefore issue this call for a Convention of those

Democrats who sympathize with our views and purposes,

as herein set forth, to meet in Columbia, in the House of

Representatives, on Thursday, the 27th day of March prox-

imo, at 12 o’clock M, to nominate a ticket for every State

office, from Governor down, to be put in the field for rat-

ification or rejection by the next Democratic State Con-

vention, and we pledge ourselves to abide the remit,

whether that is for or against us.

Each county will sent as many delegates as it sends to

the State Convention, and we suggest that a mass meeting

or convention be called in each county to elect delegates

on salesday in March.

By order of the executive committee of the Farmers’

Association of South Carolina.

Source:

Benjamin R. Tillman. The Coming Campaign: A Contest Pro-

posed Within the Democratic Party. Columbia, S.C.: 1961.

(Courtesy of University of South Carolina. South Carolini-

ana Library, Columbia, South Carolina.)

Ocala Platform, 1890

Set of demands adopted by the National Farmers’ Alliance and

Industrial Union, meeting at Ocala, Florida, in December

1890. The platform demanded the abolition of national banks,

the establishment of subtreasuries to provide low interest

loans, an increase in circulating money, the prohibition of

futures dealings on agricultural and mechanical production,

free and unlimited coinage of silver, a graduated income tax,

elimination of tax on the necessities of life, government con-

trol and supervision of public communication and transporta-

tion, and the direct election of U.S. senators. The meeting,

drawing agrarian leaders from across the United States, repre-

sented a landmark in the formation of a national farmers’

movement.

________________________

_______________________

1. a. We demand the abolition of national banks.

b. We demand that the government shall establish

sub-treasuries or depositories in the several states, which

shall loan money direct to the people at a low rate of inter-

est, not to exceed two per cent per annum, on non-perish-

able farm products, and also upon real estate, with proper

1110 ERA 6: The Development of the Industrial United States

Politics, Economy, and Society 1111

limitations upon the quantity of land and amount of

money.

c. We demand that the amount of the circulating

medium be speedily increased to not less than $50 per

capita.

2. We demand that Congress shall pass such laws as

will effectually prevent the dealing in futures of all agri-

cultural and mechanical productions; providing a stringent

system of procedure in trials that will secure the prompt

conviction, and imposing such penalties as shall secure the

most perfect compliance with the law.

3. We condemn the silver ill recently passed by

Congress, and demand in lieu thereof the free and unlim-

ited coinage of silver.

4. We demand the passage of laws prohibiting alien

ownership of land, and that Congress take prompt action

to devise some plan to obtain all lands now owned by aliens

and foreign syndicates; and that all lands now held by rail-

roads and other corporations in excess of such as is actually

used and needed by them be reclaimed by the government

and held for actual settlers only.

5. Believing in the doctrine of equal rights to all and

special privileges to none, we demand—

a. That our national legislation shall be so framed in

the future as not to build up one industry at the expense of

another.

b. We further demand a removal of the existing heavy

tariff tax from the necessities of life, that the poor of our

land must have.

c. We further demand a just and equitable system of

graduated tax on incomes.

d. We believe that the money of the county should be

kept as much as possible in the hands of the people, and

hence we demand that all national and state revenues shall

be limited to the necessary expenses of the government

economically and honestly administered.

6. We demand the most rigid, honest and just state

and national government control and supervision of

the means of public communication and transportation,

and if this control and supervision does not remove

0the abuse now existing, we demand the government

ownership of such means of communication and trans-

portation.

7. We demand that the Congress of the United States

submit an amendment to the Constitution providing for

the election of United States Senators by direct vote of the

people of each state.

Source:

John D. Hicks, The Populist Revolt: A History of the Farmers’

Alliance and the People’s Party, Lincoln: University of

Nebraska Press, 1966, pp. 430–431.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton,

“The Solitude of Self,” 1892

Valedictory statement of feminism delivered by radical social

reformer and suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton on January 18,

1892, upon resigning the presidency of the National Woman

Suffrage Association (NWSA). In the speech, Stanton

expounded the feminist philosophy by which women, she

suggested, must approach their lives to secure the safety and

happiness to which individual sovereignty entitled them. Soli-

tude of self, she asserted, was fundamental to the human expe-

rience, regardless of gender. The solitude at the heart of the

human condition made imperative the development of self-

reliance, independence, and self-responsibility. Because life

placed the same material and psychological demands on men

and women, Stanton argued, the genders should enjoy the

same individual rights and be guaranteed the same opportu-

nity to become independent, resourceful beings equipped to

deal with the tragedies and triumphs of life.

________________________

_______________________

Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee: We have

been speaking before Committees of the Judiciary for the

last twenty years, and we have gone over all the arguments

in favor of a sixteenth amendment which are familiar to all

you gentlemen; therefore, it will not be necessary that I

should repeat them.

The point I wish plainly to bring before you on this

occasion is the individuality of each human soul; our

Protestant idea, the right of individual conscience and

judgment—our republican idea, individual citizenship. In

discussing the rights of woman, we are to consider, first,

what belongs to her as an individual, in a world of her own,

the arbiter of her own destiny, an imaginary Robinson Cru-

soe with her woman Friday on a solitary island. Her rights

under such circumstances are to use all her faculties for

her own safety and happiness.

Secondly, if we consider her as a citizen, as a member

of a great nation, she must have the same rights as all other

members, according to the fundamental principles of our

Government.

Thirdly, viewed as a woman, an equal factor in civi-

lization, her rights and duties are still the same—individual

happiness and development.

Fourthly, it is only the incidental relations of life, such

as mother, wife, sister, daughter, that may involve some

special duties and training. In the usual discussion in

regard to woman’s sphere, such men as Herbert Spencer,

Frederic Harrison, and Grant Allen uniformly subordinate

her rights and duties as an individual, as a citizen, as a

woman, to the necessities of these incidental relations,