CHAPTER XI
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
