The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1883-12-28
LEGISLATOR


LEGISLATOR
1t is not our purpose or desire to
intimate that members elected to diff
ferent State legislatures neglected or
purposely omitted to do anything de
sired by the people, because it need
no argument to demonstrate that mem
bers elected to the legislature from a
county can not always accomplish
everything desired by their constitu-
ents because the final passage of any
measure before that body requires the
vote Of a majority of its members a,
least But we do know that certain
measures have not heretofore passed
the legislature, which in justice to an
outraged and downtrodden people
should have passed-the repeal of that
piece of infamy, the school book law,
gotten up in the interests of monopo-
lists and so called school teachers who
are too lazy to qualify themselves
sufficiently to teach from any kind Of
a text book. This law was inaugu-
rated by democratic administration
and yet remains on our statute books
as monument of the plunder and
highway robbery Of the peoples pockets
inaugurated by the Grover admins
tration. The Flavel monopoly at the
mouth of the Columbia river has not
been removed by legislation, which has
the effect of making expensive the
prices of freights and charters from
this State which convey away the ag
ricultural products of this valley, thus
depriving the people of their hard
bought earnings by reducing the price
Of produce to mere nothing when it
should bring fair price. The people
can not expect to get this class of
frauds and impositions upon their
rights wiped out of existence unless
the people themselves will exercise
such care and foresight in selecting
such candidates for the legislature as
have the moral force and intellectual
power to go forward to duty and
cause to be blotted out by legislation
these robberies of their purse and
rights. In the nomination of candi-
dates at each succeeding election the
people spend all Of their energy anl
power in nominating candidates in the
various counties for sherifs and clerks
and loose sight OF all other candidates
until about the time of making the
When generally there is
much less danger in getting poor MI
terial nominated for clerk and sheriff
than almost any other Office, for the
reason that the clerks and sherinfs
Offices of the various counties pay we'll
for all services rendered, and therefore
there are generally plenty Of good
material seeking the Office of clerk
and sheriff simply because they pay
well. Each candidate generally sue
ceeds in exciting their respective
friends in their behalf and in such ex-
citing contests the Office of legislator
who hardly receives pay enough to
meet his actual expenses while at the
capitol is forgotten, and the result is
that any stick presented for the posi-
ton is nominated for the important
position of making laws by which the
property, rights, the lives and liberties
of free people are to Ibe governe'.
The Office of legislator is the most
important of all and yet it receives
the least attention. Any man is gen
orally regarded as sufficiently qualified
for legislator, and this is one of the
main reasons why the administration
of our laws are SO expensive and un-
certain.
"In a case of emergency" means to
do something so hurriedly that no
of intallioanca can fell yvharhar