The Industrial Reform Party was a small reform group that intended to run a national ticket in 1888, but once other reform groups nominated their own tickets, the IRP campaign collapsed.
Organizing the party
The Industrial Reform Party held its organizational convention in Springfield IL on 10/13-15/1887. S.E. Booth, chairman of a group named the American Reform Party, issued the call to meet in Chicago (Chicago Tribune, 9/29/1887). He invited members of various reform organizations including the Union Labor and the United Labor Parties, each of which would bring ideas for a national reform party. Throughout the history of the IRP, little of its platform actually related to industrial policy. Alson J. Streeter managed to arrange for the organizational convention to meet in the state senate chamber in Springfield IL, so the expected 600 delegates were informed to travel there. However, only 15 delegates appeared for the opening session, drawn from IL, KS, CA, LA, PA, NJ, and DC. Belva Lockwood was the sole DC delegate. The organizational convention was consumed by the delegates presenting their various platform ideas (St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 10/14/1887). The convention adopted a platform that included federal ownership of transportation and telegraph lines as well as women's suffrage. It also called a national nominating convention to meet on 2/22/1888 (Philadelphia Times, 10/16/1887).
National Convention of 1888
The IRP held its 1888 national conven
[More...]The Industrial Reform Party was a small reform group that intended to run a national ticket in 1888, but once other reform groups nominated their own tickets, the IRP campaign collapsed.
Organizing the party
The Industrial Reform Party held its organizational convention in Springfield IL on 10/13-15/1887. S.E. Booth, chairman of a group named the American Reform Party, issued the call to meet in Chicago (Chicago Tribune, 9/29/1887). He invited members of various reform organizations including the Union Labor and the United Labor Parties, each of which would bring ideas for a national reform party. Throughout the history of the IRP, little of its platform actually related to industrial policy. Alson J. Streeter managed to arrange for the organizational convention to meet in the state senate chamber in Springfield IL, so the expected 600 delegates were informed to travel there. However, only 15 delegates appeared for the opening session, drawn from IL, KS, CA, LA, PA, NJ, and DC. Belva Lockwood was the sole DC delegate. The organizational convention was consumed by the delegates presenting their various platform ideas (St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 10/14/1887). The convention adopted a platform that included federal ownership of transportation and telegraph lines as well as women's suffrage. It also called a national nominating convention to meet on 2/22/1888 (Philadelphia Times, 10/16/1887).
National Convention of 1888
The IRP held its 1888 national convention in the Grand Army Hall at the intersection of 7th and L Streets, Washington DC. The opening session included 70 men and 4 women. Among the delegates were Shohachi Matsumota, of Japanese descent, and Belva Lockwood. Albert E. Redstone called the meeting to order, and J.W. Ethridge NC served as the temporary chairman. A woman named E.M. Jacobs was appointed secretary, which was thought to have been the first time in history that a female was so appointed. Charles Pelham AL was appointed chairman of the convention. The gavel provided by Redstone had a wooden head made from the U.S.S. Kearsarge, which had destroyed the C.S.S. Alabama. A brief platform was proposed on the first day, after which the delegates proposed a multitude of additional planks (Washington Evening Star, 2/22/1888).
Dissension among the delegates spread as the convention progressed. The various reforms proposed were sometimes contradictory, particularly issues around banking. A delegate even proposed that the group adopt the more appropriate name of the National Reform Party. Some delegates were unaware that a national ticket was to be proposed and opposed the move. When the time came for nominations, Albert E. Redstone and R.S. Tharin were proposed; Redstone was selected. John A. Colvin was chosen for vice president unanimously. Redstone and Lockwood addressed the convention on the final day; Lockwood misunderstood something Redstone had said, leading to an argument between them, and Lockwood said she was more interested in success of reform than furthering Redstone's political career. Finally, a national committee was appointed (Washington Critic, 2/23/1888; Chicago Tribune, 2/24/1888).
Campaign of 1888
The IRP was hampered soon after the convention. Three months later, separate conventions nominated national tickets for the Equal Rights Party, the Union Labor Party, the United Labor Party, and the Prohibition Party. Redstone was particularly interested in avoiding a Greenback ticket, so he attended local Greenback events such as the San Francisco Greenback meeting (San Francisco Examiner, 7/4/1888). The California state affiliate of the IRP held its convention afterwards. Redstone presented an idea for irrigation of desert areas using water elevators during the discussion of a state platform (San Francisco Chronicle, 7/13/1888).
The party seems to have dissolved by August 1888. It is unclear what happened. Redstone's activities had been covered in newspapers in the months after his nomination, but after the California state convention he disappears from the newspapers.com database other than appearing in lists of presidential candidates. Both Redstone and Colvin apparently suffered from mental disorders. Redstone believed multiple conspiracy theories, and after the election he lived in isolation from society and other people for many years. Colvin was placed in an insane asylum soon after the election. It is possible that the declining mental state of the nominees led to a disagreement between them or possibly the dissolution of the national committee. In any case, the party ran no slates of Presidential Electors in any state in 1888.
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