The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1879-06-20
wnirSEY.s HErLy.
ALnANr. Inne G. 1R10.

Ny attention bas been ealiel to d
certain ie-trpncnt oe writing which
appeared "a llp Dp oaiaa ii the ith |
inst, adaf..s,,d ). to nlI ~h,an it may
uid sig ed y ". ". 1'hnyer,
Governor, with tAu se4l Of the state
Affixed, which pnrports to be an ap-
pointment Of j. NJ. Thompson as an
attorney for the State, to prosecute ON
its behalf certain actions, suits or pro.
ceedings against Hons. l.. Il. Grover, s.
+. Chadwick, l.. Fleischner and A. II.
Brown, constituting, in different elassi.
dcations, the Board Of School Land
Commissioners, and w. II. Watkinds,
Superintendent Of the Penitentiary,
since 1870, for period Of eight years.
As il is asserted 10y the Governor that
/ have been applied 10 and refused to
prosecute these suits, desire to give Il
brief statement Of what occurred and
Of my relation 30 these matters. On or
about tho 9th day of April last had
conversation with Governor Thayer at
his office, in which informed him that
! would assist in the examination for
tho purpose Of ascertaining whether
thoro was any just cause for suit against
the ex-StRte officials at any time when
not employed in my official duties dur
ing term Of the circuit court. In re-
sponse to this the Governor said that
when the attorneys employed for the
State were ready TO proceed he would
notify INC of the fact. Some time after
this ! received n letter from the Cover,
nor requesting me to be in Salem on
Monday, May 18th. and / informed
him by return mail that The cilcuii
court for Polk county would convene
on that day, and that ii would be nee
,s4ssnry for me To be in attendance al
said court. Being at Salem on the 27ti
Of last month ! called upon the Cover
nor and be showed me the complaints
which had been prepared BY the attor
neys employed 10y him lie said 10 m.
that it was not expected that ! wouls
give these matters much attention, tha
the attorneys who had been employed
would prosecute these cases ia th,
courts, and that lac only wished the us.
Of my name officially. replied, tha
service could not bc had ON these dc
PENDANTS in time for hearing at tb,
June term IN Marion county, and tina
desired 10 examine into these maiter
before instituting those suits. | sug
gested the propriety Of selecting one o
these cases and testing the legal qucs
tions involved before trying the Others
He objected to this said he wanted al
Of the suits commenced that il woul,
be better for the Democratic party I.
have an investigation aud prosecute {,
FINAL determination, whether We wer
able to get any Judgment against thes.
parties or not. lie said that he pre-
sumel that Growers accounts weru al
right and that every dollar had beer
Iapplied TO the right purpose, but tha
he questioned the way or manner tles
funds had been applied by the Board
Two or three days after this he calle,
upon mo at my office in Albany, an,
requested me to give him writer
statement setting forth my reasons foI
not engaging in these suits. declines
to do this, and informed him that has
not examined the matter sufficiently {,
satisfy myself whether these suit
should be brought or not. The aboyl
contains the substance of the conversa
ton between Gov. Thayer and myself
and / have not said to him at any tim,
that I would not take part in the pros
ecution Of these suits, nor have / evel
refused to prosecute any case when sat
islied that the law had been violate,
and where Justice required it.
/ do not agree with the GovernoI
that it will be better for the Dcmocrati,
party, or any party, to press those pros
eeutions whether we shall be able /,
obtain Judgments in favor of the Stat,
or not, nor do / understand it to be Il
the interests or advantage of any polit
ical party or honest people to institut,
suits against anybody unless there is {
just cause Of action against them-a
least / must be satisfied of the justic,
of any cause before giving it ofiicia
sanction. j. j. WHITNEY.