Page:Kansas A Cyclopedia of State History vol 1.djvu/86

 for auditor; John Francis, for treasurer; Willard Davis, for attorney-general; Allen B. Lemon, for superintendent of public instruction; Albert H. Horton, for chief justice; and James R. Hallowell, for Congressman at large. The Republican candidates for Congress in the districts were John A. Anderson in the first, Dudley C. Haskell in the second, and Thomas Ryan in the third.

The Democratic state convention was held at Leavenworth on Sept. 4. John R. Goodin headed the ticket as the candidate for governor; George Ummethum was nominated for lieutenant-governor; L. W. Barton, for secretary of state; Osbun Shannon, for auditor; C. C. Black, for treasurer; J. F. Cox, for attorney-general; O. F. McKim, for superintendent of public instruction; R. M. Ruggles, for chief justice; and Samuel J. Crawford, for Congressman at large. J. R. McClure was the Democratic nominee for Congress in the first district; Charles W. Blair, in the second, and Joseph B. Fugate in the third.

There were no especially exciting features of the campaign, though a fairly heavy vote was polled at the election on Nov. 5, when St. John received 74,020 votes for governor; Goodin, 37,208; and Mitchell, 27,057. The Republican candidate for Congress in each of the three districts was elected by a substantial majority, and Mr. Hallowell carried the state as the candidate for Congressman at large. It developed, however, that the state was not authorized to elect a Congressman at large, and Hallowell was not permitted to take his seat.

In Sept., 1878, the Indians on the western frontier began making hostile demonstrations. When Gov. Anthony received the information that some of the Cheyennes had left their reservation and were moving against the settlements in western Kansas, he placed himself in telegraphic communication with the Federal authorities. Ten days later the Indians were reported to be in the vicinity of Fort Dodge, and, as the general government refused to act, the governor sent Adjt.-Gen. Noble with arms and ammunition to the menaced districts, with instructions to arm and organize the people for their own defense. (See Indian Wars.)

If Gov. Anthony had introduced an innovation at the commencement of his administration, in requesting a joint session to hear his message, he introduced no less an innovation at its close, in submitting a retiring message, partly a review of his official acts and partly suggestions for the future. This message bears the date of Jan. 13, 1879, and in a prefatory note to the incoming governor, Gov. Anthony says: “Sir: Impelled by a sense of duty, I have prepared, and herewith hand you, a communication to the legislature. This innovation will, I trust, meet with sufficient approval on your part to justify you in its transmittal to the separate branches of that body, which favor I respectfully ask at your hands.”

In the message itself, he thus gives his reasons for its preparation: “Believing it better to establish a good precedent than to follow a bad one, and holding duty to the public paramount to custom and usage,