The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1874-10-09
LETTER FROM WASHINGTON TER
RITORY,

RIT0RY.
To THE EDITOR OF THE NEW NORTHWEST:
The political pot is boiling fiercely in
this Territory just now, and we are soon
to have an election The Republican
and Democratic parties have placed men
or things upon their respective tickets,
asking other men and things to vote for
them. As usual there has been a great
amount of wire-pulling and packing of
conventions to secure some particular
object.
My liege lord has been somewhat
mixed up with the public affairs of this
county, and have taken some pains
to read some of our pure statutes, and by
your leave will quote some of them.
and would further ask some of our past,
present or prospective lawmakers to
rise and explain.
Page S3, statute 8, approved 1862,
reads as follows Be It enacted by the
Legislative Assembly Of the Territory Of
Washington, That from and after the
passage of this act and for the term of
ten years thereafter, all licenses which
by law are are required for doing any
act or transaction of any business in the
county of Clarke shall be paid In money;
and the same for the term of years afore-
said, is hereby granted to the corporate
authorities of the city of Vancouver, and
their successors in Office in a manner
and for tbss uses herein specified -to-wit,
to build wharf to keep the naughty
ships from going to Portland to load and
unload
After wasting several thousand dol
lars, the wiseacres concluded to again
appeal 10 the Legislature with the fol-
lowing result:
Be IL enacted, etc., ETC., That the pro-
ceeds of the licenses granted to the CO.
operate authorities Of the city of Van
couver by virtue of an act entitled, "An
Act in relation to licenses in Clarke
county," passed January Sth, 1864, and
an act amendatory thereto approved
January 3lst, 1865, may be applied by
the corporate authorities for general
city improvement. This certainly
makes said law a general law, and does
away with the right of the original
law, the opinions of the sOlons to the
contrary Notwithstanding.
Section u, of the general license law,
approved January 31st, 1867, reads as fol-
lows: "All money paid into the County
Treasury for license, shall go to school
or county purposes as local law de-
cides." The repeating clause of the
above law reads as follows: All acts
and parts of acts conflicting with this
act are hereby repealed"
With the law squarely repealed, Civ
ing said moneys to the city of Van
couver, the city still retained the same
until the year 1869, amounting in that
time to about $1,000. The Legislature
was again appealed to, and two-thirds
of said moneys were given to the county
and the remaining third to the city.
Now to fix things up so that the
county could not enforce judgment
against the city, the Legislature passed
an act covering twenty-six pages of the
statutes, granting Vancouver a new
charter, which was approved January
29th, 1864. This charter came in con-
flict with a United States law, which
reads as follows: BE It enacted, etc., etc.,
That the Legislative Assemblies of the
several Territories of the United States
shall not after the passage of this act
grant private or special privileges, but
they may by general incorporate acts,
permit persons to associate themselves
together as bodies corporate for mining,
manufacturing aud other industrial pur-
suits" Approved March, 1867. Now,
with the above laws and frauds staring
them in the face, the struggle seems to
be to elect a Prosecuting Attorney that
will compound these felonies ; also to
elect a Councilman to cover up these
frauds, with some new law at the next
session of the Legislature.
/, This county is almost exclusively
dairy county, and the making of the
butter and cheese falls largely upon the
women. 1t seems that the men are con-
spring to defraud the women out of
their labor to support them IN ldleness.
Many a poor toiling mother has sunk
under her burdens in the last ten years.
The money that should have gone to the
school fund has been squandered by idle
men, leaving her orphans almost with
out chance of getting a common school
education, unless they should happen to
reside in a town or city.
Now, in the name of all womanhood,
we enter our protest against such felon-
les. We enter our protest against many
Of our man-made laws, knowing them to
be frauds. We are looking anxiously for
ward to the time when woman's vote
and voice may have an opportunity to
| remedy the defects, which will ALWAYS
surely follow where but one sex have
their say.
MYRA WAGGONER HENRY.
Pioneer, Clarke county, W.T..