, 1866-02-02
THE ANNEXATION PROJECT.

EDIroR SrArEsMAN; II was Somewhat sur
7rised on learning through your COLUMNS, last
week, that the members Of the Walla Wslla
Bari had addressed 4 note Of thanks to .he
Speaker Of the House Of Representatives of Ore.
! gon for his efforts Ia crowding a memorial
| through asking Congress to annex this county
to Oregon. If you had said q portion, orzeIen
a majority of said & Bar, }" sheuldhave held my
| peace, but my name is attempted to be coupled
with a scheme which have denounced since its
inception | consider it my duty, as one Of the
: Bar A of this city, to disaVow any feeling or
expression of thanks on nay part towards the
! few Individuals who have perhaps successfully
| engineered the annexation movement. As | in
timated to yea personally, should have troubled
you for space last week had your space not been
required ia the publicatioH of the excellent
message of the President, which was of much
| more Importance to your readers than auy efu-
sion emauatiug from me could possibly be. Your
correspondent, "Dry Creek" however, pro-
! pounded few inquiries to the few friends of di-
vision and auuexation which | am glad you
found space to publish, but regret that you
could not tas you have been clSss6d as an annex
ationist) fud time and space to answer, as the
people of the county appeAr pretty generally to
manifest an anxiety to learn how and wherein
th cir condition is to be bettered by the change
which we are told has ere this been effected.
We, who are opposed to the movement, think
that we have right to know, and as the Walla
Walla Bar appear to have the whole matter ju
their hands, they or their ageHt, A. Cox, ought
to condescend to give their reasons for TAX
ing US out of the Territory uamed after the
"Father of his Country" where taxes are low and
payable in greenbacks, and putting US in State
burthened by a heavy debt and where taxes are
high and payable in coin. To satisfy the tax.
payers, who are the parties interested, there
ought to be some advantage corresponding Or
oVerbalsncing the disadvantage above alluded
to- before they will become recouciled to the
change. Who are clamoring for annexation, and
who is to be benefited by it2 Shortly after
Senator Nesmith visited this city, last Fall, GER
tain individuals, styling themselves the g Naia
Walla Bar" held meeting, and passed reSolu-
tions denOuncing Judge Wyche and faVOring the
annexation of the county to Oregon, The gen
eral toue and tenor of the resolutions Indicated
that the said " Bar" held the material aud pO-
litical interests of the county in their breeches
pocket, to be disposed of as they saw proper.
In order to ascertain whether such was really
the fact, prepared ca44, which was sigped in
the course of two hours by over one hundred
citizens, for mass meeting to consider and pro-
test against the proposed scheme. Over one
week IS notice given, and the meeting, when
it assembled, was composed of citizens from
nearly every portion of the county, aud on test
posed annexation. The proceedings were pub
lished in your columns and you in the same
issue took occasion to remark (having in view
the emphatic rebuke administered by that meet |
ing to the agi.ators) that the question was set
tied, public opinion being aYerse to the prof ct.
few days afterward, A. Cox called meeting
near Waits mill, oStensIbly for the purpose OF
settling neighborh0od quarrel After the an
nOuncement to the meeting by the parties that |
hud eett thair Iva
the congregation into an annexation meeting, |
and after portraying to them the adYautagcs,l
which the people of the county would reap by |
being made part Of the WebfOOt nation, the |
vote vas taken. Cox had his right bower there |
ard be and his Wkicums-in ALL fUe-Yoted for |
and the the balance of the meeting against the |
scheme On reporting his defeat at headqua:-
ters, petition was gotten up, and somebody, it |
appears, signed it, butIEho, or where it was
circulated, have not been able to learn. That |
paper and the proceedings of the " Bar" was
the basis TpOn which the members of the Legis-
lature Of Oregon, including the Speaker who re.
ceived all the thanks, formed their opinions of
the wants and desires of this county. DRY
Creek very properly inquired who sent A. Cox
to Salem to mIsrepresent tue wishes of the
county as expressed in the mass meeting of which .
Cox had notice. Whether be had a right to rep.
resent this county at Olympia, was question |
which | proposed to try with him before the,
Council, and went far as Portland on my 7
way, but finding that Cox had gone to Salem |
and feared tc face the contest, and believing |
that the Council would delay action in the mat
ter unless Cox was there, | returned home, and |
can truly say to those who favored me with their |
sutfrages,in this district, if have not repre- |
seuted you in your own Legislature, this Winter, |
have not Misrepresentation wishes before any |
other body of wise w-makerS assembled, rs |
% Dry Creek well says, " for nobody knows |
what" But to return to the question, what are
we to gain by annexation2 Our taxes last year |
were about seventeen mills for all purposes, and
were higher than usual on account of the sDe-
ciaI tax levied for the purpose of paying off the
county Indebtedness isbut Notwithstanding the
heavy debt of the county which had to be pro-
vIded for, our taxes were much lower even last |
year than those Of our neighbors over the line
the taxes Of Umatilla county, State, county and T
school, footing up fast assessment, twenty three
mills, coin, against seventeen mills, greeubacks,
here The last assessment in Wasco fOots up
twenty five mills coin so thatyOu who favor the
scheme cannot make the people believe that pc
cuniarily annexation is good thing. If you
tell US that we have no certainty in judicial mat
ters, for the reason that judges fail to do
their duty iu attending at regular terms, au-
swer that can point you to instances where
judges have failed to fulfill their obligations
more frequently in the States than you can point
|
evil we complain of, bill has just passed the
Uuited States Senate, and l presume has by
this time become a law, prohibiting Territorial
officers, under adequate penalties, from absent
ing themselves from their official duties But
you come back on US and tell US that in u State
we can elect our own judges. +" All, there the
rub i" " Thereby hangs a tale" By that con-
fession you completely unravel the secret Of the
energy displayed by the members of the ''Walla
Walla Bar With Walla WAlla annexed to
Oregon, Judge Wilson's district, now perhaps
the largest judicial district in the United States,
would requires division, and Walla Walla couu.
ty would be Topped off and formed into a new
district, requiring, of course, judge to preside;
and then when it comes to the selection of
that judge, who so competent to fill the digni-
fed "pOssh as one of the members of the
" Walla Wala Barr" Then again, there would
be prosecuting attorney TO elect, AS who so
well calculated or who else could fulfill the du-
ties of the Office well as a member of the
20 Walla Walla Barr" Aud of course one of
" US fellers > that worked SO diligently and sac
rifced sn much mot our own) tO create the ne
cessity, ought to have the profit of the office,
and the people would certainly not be SO nn-