The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1891-03-02
ECHOES or THE LEGIsLATURE

the character of the substitute bill which
Mr.. Johnston palmed off on the COM
mittee on public buildings and falsely
pretended to be the bill ''the people of
The Dalles wanted This may become
n proper subject for discussion, at
another time. and we shall not shirk the
responsibility. We are dealing with the
fact that Mr.. Johnston deceived his COM
mittee and misrepresented his constitu
ents. The people of The Dalles did not
'want" the substitute bill, unless his
honor the mayor, the ex-governor and
Senator Hilton are ''the people of The
Dalles." Messrs. johnson and Mccoy
surely are not. On the contrary when
the ''people OF The Dalles'' heard the
treachery of Mr.. Johnston, ten of them,
chiefly members of the board of
trade and common council, representing
in themselves an easy million dollars
worth of property, without delay put for
Salem, and demanded conference with
Messrs. Johnston, Mccoy and Hilton, in
the library of the state building. Before
this conference, however, was held, two
copies of a paper were printed by type
writer, which it was intended as last
resource, to have sent to the speaker
and have publicly read in the house.
One of these papers is now before us,
and after the usual preamble it submits
the following allegations:
ga petition is presented urging the
passage of the bill, without amendment,
signed by the representatives of fully
nine-tenths of all the real estate in
Dalles City.
ga memorial is also presented from
the Dalles City board of trade, urging
the passage of the bill without amend
ment.
GA resolution is also submitted of the
Dalles City common council, which,
without a dissenting vote, approved the
passage of the bill, with amendment
A substitute bill was presented to the
committee on public buildings, to which
the bill was referred, and of which Mr..
G. w. Johnston is chairman, but no
member of said committee, except the
chairman, ever saw the bill introduced
in the house, nor the petition of Dalles
City taxpayers, nor the memorial of
Dalles City board of trade, nor the reso-
luton of the common council of Dalles
City, although said petition, memorial
and resolution were in the hands of said
chairman, before said committee took
any action on the BILL
This document was read to the two
other members of Mr.. Johnston's COM
mittee. Both declared every word of it
was true, protested against the decep-
ton of Mr.. Johnston, and expressed
their perfect willingness to expose his
duplicity on the floor of the house.
But 1.-The people of The Dalles'' were
unwilling to adopt this dernier resort un-
til a conference was had with Mr..
Johnston. Hence the meeting in the
library, already referred to. The full
delegation of representatives was present
and about fifteen persons from this
.saity. The people from The Dalles were
intensely in earnest, but we think it
cannot be justly said they were discour'
teous. We speak this, of course from
the plane of a common citizen. We can
not possibly conceive what great men
so much above us, might consider an
insult. We only meant to be earnest.
They, perhaps thought us impertinent.
VI SO, we're sorry-uery. In our ignor-
ance of the ways of representatives, we
thought that we honored one of them,
by voting for him. We don't think SO
any more. He honors us by accepting
our vote. We used to think that repre-
sentatiyes were elected to represent their
constituents. Well never think SO
again-at least of Wasco county repre-
sentatiyes, till we get chance to elect a
new batch. But this is a depression. The
story of the conference is soon told. Mr..
Johnston was pressed to tell us why he
changed the bill. The question was put
In different forms. He had one answer
and only one. He thought his bill was
a "good one,,' and of course it was, for
Mr.. Johnson thought so, and that was
enough. The ''people of The Dalles''
had no right to think anything. He
was asked again if any persons from this
city supported his bill. He said he had
letters ssFrom whom?'' one person
was named Any "more?' eyes others -
but their names he refused to give at
that time. At last Mr. johnson told
us he would confer with Mr.. Mccoy,
and tell us what he proposed to do in
the course of an hour. cat this stage Sem
ator Hilton left the conference. Mark
this, gentle reader. You may see the
reason anon.)
Soon after the conference scattered: /:
the representatives to an exgubernator-
ial council, and we to lunch. Less than