Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 13.djvu/56

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48 W. C. WOODWARD all their rights, as the most competent administrators of their domestic concerns and the surest breastwork against anti- republican tendencies ; and preserve the General Government in its whole constitutional vigor." Another vivid reminder here of Democratic platform building in ante-bellum days. The Satesman manifested ill-concealed signs of disgust over the platform while the Democratic view was pungently expressed by the Oregon Daily Herald, April 5, which caustically ar- raigned the resolutions for their glittering generalities, double- dealing, misrepresentation and evasion. At the end of a long string of questions which it claimed had been totally ignored by "the Corvallis wire-pullers," the Herald asked "Shall President Johnson be supported in his praiseworthy attempts to restore the Constitution to its pristine vigor? Or shall the Radicals the Jacobins of America assume power and over- ride the Constitution?" In selecting the ticket, the policy which Oregon had adopted of electing a new man for Congressman for each succeeding term was followed and Rufus Mallory of Marion was named to succeed Henderson. He had been a Douglas Democrat and was one of the directors of the Oregon Printing and Pub- lishing Company, which published the Statesman. He was characterized by Judge Deady 62 as a man of very fair natural abilities a practical politician with his ear to the ground to catch the drift. Eastern Oregon was recognized in the nomi- nation of Geo. L. Woods, of The Dalles, for governor, a man of eloquence and prepossessing appearance. S. E. May and E. N. Cooke were renominated for state secretary and treasurer, respectively, and W. A. McPherson of the Albany Journal was named for printer. The platform adopted by the Democrats in state convention at Portland, April 5, was a lengthy one, treating the various issues in some detail. 63 However, it was by no means free from those "glittering generalities" with which the Herald had charged the Union resolutions such as an expression for 62 Deady, April 6, to Bulletin. 63 Statesman, April 23.