Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 1.djvu/396



“If these lands can be held in reserve until the improvements are completed and sold for their actual value, the proceeds will pay for the work twice over.”

He adds:

“The Des Moines River improvement is the only public work Iowa has yet undertaken. Build as many railroads as we may the Des Moines River improvement once finished from its mouth to Fort Des Moines, will remain forever Iowa’s greatest work, and will float to the “Father of Waters” the largest portion of the products of her entire valley, probably of the entire State, of which that valley is the great heart and center.”

The Whig State Convention held at Iowa City on the 26th of February, 1852, nominated the following ticket: J. W. Jenkins for Secretary of State; Asbury Porter, Auditor; Hosea B. Horn, Treasurer. The resolutions favored a convention to revise the Constitution, indorsed the administration of President Fillmore and the compromise measures of 1850.

The Democrats held their convention at the Capital on the 28th of May and made the following nominations: for Secretary of State, George W. McCleary; Auditor, Wm. Pattee; Treasurer, M. L. Morris. The resolutions indorsed the compromise of 1850, opposed a national bank and a protective tariff. At the election, McCleary, Democrat, received 16,884 votes, and Jenkins, Whig, 15,027—McCleary’s majority, 1,857.

At the Presidential election in November, the vote of Iowa was as follows: For Franklin Pierce, Democrat, 17,762; General Winfield Scott, Whig, 15,856; John P. Hale, Free Soil, 1,606—plurality for Pierce, 1,906. Pierce’s majority, 300.

On the 21st of December the General Assembly in joint convention proceeded to the election of a United States Senator. James W. Grimes, on behalf of the Whigs, nominated George G. Wright; Freeman Alger, for the Democrats, placed in nomination George W. Jones. Upon the roll call Jones received fifty-nine votes and Wright