arwell of Illinois; Richard W. Thompson of Indiana; Judge Harlan,
later of the Supreme Court, and Ex-Attorney-General Speed of Kentucky;
Governor Packard and Senator Kellogg of Louisiana; Henry P. Baldwin and
William A. Howard of Michigan; William J. Sewell, George A. Halsey,
Garrett A. Hobart, and Frederick Potts of New Jersey; Alexander Ramsey
and Dwight M. Sabin of Minnesota; John P. Jones of Nevada; Nathan Goff,
jun., of West Virginia; Philetus Sawyer of Wisconsin; Jerome B. Chaffee
and Henry M. Teller of Colorado,--all of whom were then or at a later
period prominent in the public councils. Theodore M. Pomeroy of New
York was made temporary chairman of the Convention, and Edward
McPherson of Pennsylvania permanent president. The first day was
chiefly occupied with political addresses.

The report of the committee on resolutions was looked for with especial
interest. The exigent political issue of the hour was the Currency
question. Congress had the year before passed the Resumption Act
providing for a return to specie payments in 1879. While there was no
serious conflict among Republicans over the general policy, there were
differences of opinion as to the wisdom of explicitly indorsing the act
with its designation of time and its obligation of immediate
preparatory measures. A long struggle took place in the committee on
these points and on cognate questions. After a protracted debate the
whole subject of framing the platform was entrusted to a sub-committee,
composed of General Hawley, Ex-Attorney-General Speed, Governor Dingley
of Maine, Governor Chamberlain of South Carolina, James H. Howe of
Wisconsin, Governor C. C. Waters of Arkansas, and Charles Emory Smith
of New York. Several of these gentlemen possessed experience in the
line of duty to which they were assigned. The youngest man of the
list, Mr. Emory Smith, then editor of the _Albany Journal_, had for
years taken part in preparing the platforms for Republican conventions
in New York, and had become distinguished for the skill and felicity
of his language, the aptness with which he embodied the popular
thought, and the precision with which he described the issue at stake.

The platform reported to the Convention was clear and emphatic upon
the leading issues. It improved the occasion of the Centennial year
to repeat the cardinal truths and principles of the Declaration of
Independence; it recognized the pacification of the South and the
protec