, 1866-02-16
wa,,. w.,,. Rarand Annexation.

\ annexation camp, have arouseu - -. "a
much abused lawyers from their sss,issirr
caused couple Of them to set about
with more zeal than knowledge, their 10, enaole
| nositiou. Gentlemen, this effort VIII prove
/ ahortives Your camb is In bad posiuon; you
must change your base and mount beaver guns
than ttyerno" and 20. K.' if you wisn 70 sue-
ceed. ~ -
i.Yerno" complains of my article on tne suo-
( iect of annexation, because Il does not contsin
| ARGUMENTS showing the advantages TO oe de-
rived from remaining in Washington IertitoFyi
| and savs il only appears 10 be an argnment'V-
Why il does not even appear 70 oe an argument
| N a man of sense. nor was it intended as such
He proposes 20 annex US to oregon asserts tnat
it will benefit us in Il variety OF ways, ana wnen p
we desire to know some OF .nose way n "nu asA ~
him eigil questions, Suggestive OF the answer 10
he o;ven II there is any reason in his assertions
he becs the question, says 'Dry Creek makes no
efforfto answer his questions. And worse sun,
when he finds himself confronted win oosta-
cles. instead of seizing and grappliGg win them
he crawfshes out of trouble and makes snIy
attempt at regaling your readers with o!r1y an
ecdOtes about jaek-asses and horse-manuie' aS
If be thought his little family frolies had bear
ing upon the question. My formidable oPpo-.
uent also becomes much exercised about my oc-
cupation and cattle, and then guesses have no
cattle He asks whether or not in my opinion
the division of Dugan into three would improFe
a farmers crop of grain2 1 answer, by no
means, unless the farmers soil were a great
deal more susceptible Of Improvement than that
in which his ideas grow.
He persists in denying that three members OF
the Walla Walla Bar are opposed to annexation.
Mr.. Dugan has poken for himself and Mr.. Sharp
stein, and am authorized to speak for Cover
nor Turney So there are three, Mr.. "VernO,"
withoutthe necessity of carving up my friend
Dugan
| have two apologies, Mr. Editor, to offer
your readers for thus cOndeseeuding to notice
'Verno's" butfoonery.
The first is, ''Auswer a fool according to his
folly" The second is
"a little nonsense now and then
Is relished by the wisest men,"
propose now to give some reasons why
Walla Wala County should not be annexed to
Oregon. An important reason is, that it will in
crease our taxes.
| Under present organization the govern
ment of tue United States pays nearly the whole
of our judicial expenses. The Judges salary,
the Prosecuting Attorneys salary aud half the
fees and mileage of jurymen paid for US
| Annexation would p ace this burden upon us.
| 80. K" will tell us what it amounts to. Ac-
cordng to his figures, the Judges salary is
| s., 900. The Prosecuting Attorneys salary is
| $500, add to this half the fees aud mileage of
| jurymen, which for the year 1863 was Sl3S9
land you have the sum of $3.50, which in-
creased by ou15 share of the Governors Secreta-
| rvs, Treasurers aud Legislators salaries-say
Sllll, aud that is small estimate, makes u
sum of S., 600 to be added to our annual tax; an
increase Of 20 per cent. So that in the place of
| paying TAX of $2J, 900 on our $I,5OO 600 of
taxable property we would have to pay $50 600
| Instead of paying II mills on the dollar, we
would have to pay 204 mills. Recollect this
| $50, 600 is currency, and when we become Ore
| gonians it will become coin, equivalent to S43.-
| in on On
cents, which it will cost us per annum to live in
Oregon. The slight difference in favor of Wash
ingtOn Territory is $IS, ,2l4. We now Day II
| mills on the dollar, whereas, by annexation, ta-
| king into account the difference between legal
! tender and coin, we would have to pay over
283 mills. 20. n estimates our taxes at 10
mills. This arises from a misapprrhensiou of
the facts. There is a general TAX Of mus,
4 and nssslas- 4ts~y-rrTIfcfI Is collected or
not at the option OF any particular road district
There are twelve road districts 10 the COUNTY
only three of which have taken any stems IN
wards collecting toeir road tax. Again, he SAYS
we pay mills territorial tax which is a mis-
take. We pay mills territorial taxand 2 mills
school tax; of the latter not one cent leaves the
County. This mistake is made l suppose bv
confounding the territorial and school tax. /
am inclined to think that these Measurements
are not altogether accidental, for similar errors
! are made in speaking of the Oregon tax, though
| starts
out by asserting the State tax of Oregon to be
u mills, and in the next paragraph is forced to
confess that Uma!tlla County pays State tax
| of mills.
He says that it ought not to cost any more 10
administer the affairs of Wala Wala County
than those Of Umatilla, that is to say, that the
legal business of lasge, wealthy and prosper
Gus County can be conducted cheaply as that
Of sparsely inhabited, small, poor County
| Reason, where is thy blush
Haforgets to tell you while making this falla-
ciOuss statement, that the people of Umatilla
County have to foot the bills for the admiuistra:
tOn of her legal affairs, while the people OF
Walla Walla County are relieved of this burden
by the liberal hand of a fostering Government,
yclept Uncle Sam
None so blind as those who will not see.
There is cat in the meal. Some of the annex
ntionists have an axe to grind. Whether it be
| upon a judicial or political stone, is yet to be
developed. Another potent reason why we
should not be attached to Oregon is the great
distance we would be from the seat of Govern
ment. /; has been demonstrated by the arrival
OF the mails during the winter, that we are near
er5o Washington City than Salem. This not
only argues against annexation, but it speaks
! volumes in praise Of our Stage men aud Mail
| contractors. ! cannot better conclude this ar
ticle than By adopting the language of 20. K"
Honest farmer and mechanic (or any other man
Judge Of what IS to your interest in this mat
ter. Investigate the above statements, and il
false show the faIlacy thereof. If you find them
true, believe them and act accordingly"
Feb. IL, 1866. Day CsEEk.
LENT, ETC.-Last Wednesday was what
is known to several Christian denominations
as Ash Wednesday, SO termed from Gus,
tom in the Roman Catholic Church of sprink
ling ashes, that day, on the heads of peni.
tents then admitted to peudnee This day
IS the commencement of "Lent, which last:
forty days, or till easter and its obser,
vance by many Christian Churches is com,
memorative of the fast of our Sayiour-Wbil,
the latter is adopted as the day of His res
direction from the grave. The occasion will
oe Tlgidly observed by the Catholics Of Val