Governor of Oregon

“ It is on interesting record of the formation and growth of Oregon. Governor Geer was a pioneer and came from a-noted pioneer family, his parents and many of his relatives taking part in the pioneer settlement of this common- wealth. In his political career he was untiring in his efforts to accomplish for the people every possible good. He was sincere and honest in demanding what was right and just for the welfare of our citizens. No governor of our state discharged the responsible duties of his office better than Governor Geer. ”

“ The transition from a territorial existence to that of a state sovereignty is always attended with more or less disorder and delay; but when we consider the change that Oregon has passed through, the people when but a handful organized and success
fully maintained a provisional government, which government was superseded by an organic act, and General Lane sent here as our first governor, the people readily accommodated themselves to the governor and his authority, and' now they declare they are ready for another change and assume state sovereignty. ”

“ Few men have filled so prominent a place in Oregon for so long a period as Lafayette Grover, the fourth Governor of the State. He was born in Bethel, Maine, on November 29, 1823, and journeying to California in 1850, came to Oregon the next year and located in Douglas County. Later he served in the legislature from Marion County, and was a member of the state constitutional convention that met in Salem in August, 185 7. ”

“ In fact, no king, president, governor other important officer has much influence with his administration. They are hedged in with so many circumstances over which they have no control, and which must be controlled by other human power or by the Supreme Power of the Universe, that they are seldom free to do as they wish. President Johnson could have said truthfully that he had no influence with his admin- istration. Nesmith of Oregon said when he got into the Senate he wondered how he got there. ”

“ Even in the legislative body itself there was a certain minority who protested against the acts of the majority, not on the subject of the location act alone, or the change in the judicial districts, leaving the chief justice one county only for his district, but also on account of the memorial to congress, prepared by the joint committee from both houses, setting forth the condition of affairs in the territory, and asking that the people of Oregon might be permitted to elect their governor, secretary, and judges. ”

“ The traditional administration of Oregon's state institutions has left much to be desired. It has never been standardized. Such men of talent, system and conscience as have been connected with them have had to work under such deterring handicaps that they failed to elevate conditions to a higher plane. The report of the Investigating Commission of 1870 goes into details of slipshod practices and petty grafting. These institutions have been in the care of a board composed of the governor, secretary of state and state treasurer. ”

“ The people then took up the matter, public meetings being held in the different counties to approve or condemn the course of the legislature, a large majority expressing approbation of the assembly and censuring the whig judges. A bill was finally passed calling for a constitutional convention in the event of congress refusing to entertain their petition to permit Oregon to elect her governor and judges. This important business having been disposed of, the legislators addressed themselves to other matters. Lane was instructed to ask for an amendment to the land law ”

“ The failure of the legislature to make an appropriation compelled the commissioners appointed by the governor to solicit subscriptions in Portland. Considerable money was collected from business firms, and an agent was sent to San Francisco. Upon recommendation of the state board, consisting of W. S. Ladd, H. W. Corbett, B. Goldsmith, A. Lienenweber and William Reid, the governor appointed twenty-four special agents, ten in the United States, ten in Europe, two in New Zealand, and two in Canada. ”

“ Nevertheless to the relegated despite the
the returns of the census of 1860 are interesting, for it appeared that Oregon had a population of 52,465 while that of Kansas
was 107,206. With statehood Oregon felt herself in a position to remedy some of the evils which had beset her no longer was it necessary to tolerate a governor and other administrative officers
who were not elected by Oregonians the long-standing grievance against the Federal Government over Indian war expenses might stand a chance of redress. ”

“ When the King of Spain was anxious to found a state in the new world, of which Oregon was then an unknown fraction, he dispatched a royal decree in 1778 to his governor, Don Pedro Pierns, at old St. Louis, as follows :
"The source and origin of all empires has been the refuge and kind usage which men find in the gentleness of the laws. The evil administration of them is the greatest impediment to the building of a government ”

“ In 1845 George Abernethy, who resided in Oregon City, was chosen to serve as governor of Oregon. He was a man of sterling qualities and well qualified for the office, and was a pioneer of 1840. In the fall of 1851 the academy on Seventh and Jefferson streets was opened 67 with C. S. Kingsley, teacher. The school was surrounded by large trees and was a long distance from the village. No streets were improved near the school. ”

“ Hayes and Wheeler carried the state over Tilden and Hendricks, and W. H. Odell, John C. Cartwright, and J. W. Watts, republicans, were chosen presidential electors. A question, however, was raised as to the eligibility of Mr. Watts, and Governor Grover awarded the certificate to Eugene Cronin, democrat, who had received nearly one thousand two hundred less votes. The after events are a part of the history of the nation. On February 1, 1877, Governor Grover resigned to accept a seat in the United States senate, and Secretary of State S. F. Chadwick became acting governor of Oregon. ”

“ This message, which had left Washington before the president had signed the bill, was confirmed on the arrival at Portland, March 22, 1859, of the steamship Northerner, Captain W. L . Dall, which brought the news that the Oregon bill was approved February 14, 1859. Governor Whiteaker called a special session of the state legislature, which was the third attempt of that body to assemble and transact legislative business, al though it is officially designated as the "first extra session." It convened at Salem May 16, and remained at work until June 4, 1859. ”

“ In the matter of the swamp-lands, nothing was done to secure them during a period of ten years, [30] it being held that the right to them had lapsed through neglect, and Gibbs having had enough to do to secure the other state lands. George L. Woods, who in 1866 succeeded Gibbs as governor, made some further selections for school purposes. Not all of his selections had been approved when, in 1870, L. F. Grover was elected governor. ”

“ November
1910
"Oregon is rich in countless resources. Upon them depend the wealth and growth of her people.
"The fullest use of all these resources, now and always, is what every citizen wants, or ought to want.
"Anything else means arrested development, depressed prosperity, harder conditions of life for all.
"And, to reduce theory to practice, we must lose no time in knowing what we have and in protecting it from destruction and waste. To be sincere we must accomplish. Let who will be critical, but let Oregon be constructive." ”

“ In 1878 the republicans again lost their choice for governor by division, and C. C. Beekman was defeated by W. W. Thayer, [75] who was followed by Z. F. Moody [76] in 1882. The U. S. senator elected in 1882, after a severe and prolonged contest between the friends of J. H. Mitchell and the democracy, uniting with the independents, was Joseph N. Dolph, [77] Mitchell's former partner and friend.
The time has not yet come, though it is close at hand, when Oregon-born men shall fill the offices of state, and represent their country in the halls of the national legislature. ”

“ The gold standard candidate for Governor and a lot of imported hired orators from the East made a whirlwind cam- paign throughout Oregon in 1898. They whooped up the war against Spain, and made it clear to themselves and to a majority of the voters that if any nominee on the Union ticket should be elected, the volunteers who were being marched around through Oregon, at large expense, for political effect, would be without food and clothing in the Philippine Islands or wherever they should be. ”

“ The immediate cause of his return was peculiar, inasmuch as it was destined that the man who had practically been the means of driving him out of the country in disgrace should involuntarily be the means of bringing him back in honor. It will be remembered that when Lee wrote to Cushing in January 1839, he urged that the settlers and Indians in Oregon sadly needed the protection of the laws of the United States, and suggested that if a suitable person should be sent out as civil magistrate and governor of the territory, the settlers would sustain his authority. ”

“ Such was the end of a pioneer of 1843, whose life action in nearly every respect was the very opposite to that of Peter H. Burnett, who wielded the largest influence as leader of immigrants of 1843-44, and was the most complete representative of the motive of the enterprise of Americanization of Oregon and California, of which latter State he was the first elective Governor.
It should not be understood leadership is claimed for Mr. Burnett over all his brother pioneers in every respect. ”

“ Every governor and senator of Oregon has claimed the welcome extended, unless it be the present incumbents, and though the master and his gentle wife have passed out for the last time, those, too, would be kindly greeted beneath the old roof. ”

“ Nor have the Oregon springs had a similar function in the early economic conditions of the state. It was not strange that Governor Whiteaker under the peculiar circumstances existing in Oregon should have anxiously sought instructions before making selections. And it may be possible that Governor Grover's zeal in finding a basis for Oregon's right to the salt springs grant was due more to his laudable ambition to get a full share of the public lands for the state rather than to carry out the purpose for the public welfare under which the custom of the grant originated. ”

“ It was preposterous, incredible. 2 The Statesman went into one continued paroxysm of frenzy, equal to that which had affected it a few months previous in the anti-Know Nothing campaign. The intractable Bush did not hesitate to threaten the governor : "Mark these words : henceforth in Oregon it is the doctrine of the Democratic party that public offices of no kind shall be conferred upon members of the Know Nothing order or its sympathizers and upholders. And no man who vio- lates that doctrine will be sustained by the Democracy." ”

“ Very likely he knew that he would be beaten, but the habit and inspiration of freedom defies consequences and puts the human soul at one with the universe. A great council was held in the Walla Walla Valley in May, 1855, at which were gathered all the principal tribes of Eastern Oregon and Washington, the federal government be- ing represented by two very able men, Governor Isaac I. Stevens and Joel Palmer, Commissioner from Oregon. ”

“ Applegate, it was
“Resolved, That the secretary be requested to forward to the United States government, through the American consul at the Sandwich Islands, a copy of the articles of compact, as adopted by the people of [Pg 435] Oregon Territory, on the last Saturday of July, A. D. 1845; and that the same be signed by the governor, and attested by the secretary; also, all resolutions adopted by this house relative to sending said documents by E. White, late Indian agent of this Territory; also, a copy of the letter of E. White, directed to this house.” ”

“ Party spirit was intense, and the democrat majority at Salem showed a rancor that through the ten-year period of the Territory and afterward in the early years of statehood, was always characteristic of the political relations of the times. The democrats objected to the whig president appointing executive and judicial officers for the Territory and demanded the right of local self-government. They believed that if the state could be organized under a constitution of its own, the unsatisfactory condition of dependence upon distant Washington would come to an end. ”

“ As to mere numbers and wealth, we have doubtless sufficient of both to maintain a state government; but a people in my opinion, require age and maturity, as well as wealth and numbers to make them competent to carry on a government successfully. As in the growth of the child and the oak so with a people. Thrown together as we have been, upon this coast, it requires time to knit together in one harmonious whole our diversified elements of population.” [19]
The Constitutional Convention met in August of 1857, at Salem, and was in session for four weeks. ”

“ To prevent a calamity so much to be dreaded, the well-disposed inhabitants of this territory have found it absolutely necessary to establish a provisional and temporary government, embracing all free male citizens, and whose executive, legislative, and judicial powers should be equal to all the exigencies that may arise among themselves, not provided for by the governments to which they owe allegiance ”

“ There were influences pulling toward the creation of a state government, with its senatorial representation, outside of the community most directly interested. There are always interests to be found in the general drift of political affairs that seek re-enforcement through the admission of new states.
So great, however, was the opposition among the people of the territory, that the calling of a constitutional convention was three times submitted to the people before it was sanctioned. ”