Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 2.djvu/372

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356
W. D. Fenton.

Clackamas; R. B. Cochran, of Lane; Lansing Stout, of Multnomah, and T. R. Cornelius, of Washington; R. S: 8 trah an contested the seat of A. M. Witham from Benton. The seat of Binger Hermann, sitting member elected from Douglas, 1868, was contested by L. F. Mosher. It was claimed that Mr. Hermann held the office of deputy collector of internal revenue, and thereby the office of senator had become vacated. The seat of J. W. Watts, senator from Yamhill, was contested by W. T. Newby. On Wednesday, October 26, 1870, Victor Trevitt offered in the senate Joint Resolution No. 30, declaring that the so-called Fifteenth Amendment is an infringement of popular right and a direct falsification of the pledges made to the State of Oregon by the federal government, and that the same be rejected. This resolution was adopted by a vote of sixteen to five; Brown, Cornelius, Moores, Powell, and Thompson voting in the negative. The house concurred by a party vote on the same day. On October 26, Trevitt introduced Senate Joint Resolution No. 32, consisting of nine sections, professing unswerving fidelity to the Union and the constitution, and declaring that each state is an independent sovereign political community, except in certain particulars, declaring that the dominant party had repeatedly ignored and violated the constitution. This resolution was also adopted by a vote of twelve to five; four being absent. The minority candidate for speaker of the house against Mr. Hayden was W. D. Hare, of Washington. Governor Woods, in his message of September 13, 1870, called the attention of the legisislative assembly to the fact that the session of 1868 had failed to pass the general appropriation bill, in consequence of which the business of the state had been done upon credit, while the money of the state was accumulating in the vaults of the treasury. It will be remembered that L. F. Grover was elected governor