The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1900-02-02
PETITION is
"AUSGUSPIEL"
Three Roads" Matter Probably
a Lost Cause.
----
FINAL ACTION TO COME TODAY
.-----------
Not Enough Legal Signatures to the
Petition More Bad Law
Than Good Sense.
ACTION TO COME TODAY

question
There was a world Of talk at the SEES
zion u the county court yesterday
afternoon Commissioners talked. de.
putics talked and attorneys argued.
rhis is about all the proceedings
amounted 10. however. except that the
colloquys succeeded In establishing a
weli-deaned impression. aud that in.
preston is that all the labor OF tine
friends Of the proposed roads, all the
arguments OF the enemy and all the
deliberations Of the county court Will
amount 10 naught. aA FAR as any bear
lng u mny have on the petition and It's
prayer Is concerned. II. after all, any
thing tangible has been accomplished,
Il IL that the promoters Of the enter
prls. have been defeated. While the
result car not be Interpreted as a direct
Victory for the opposition. tie desired
end has been accomplished. although
the favorile means may have been un-
availing.
rhe essence of the situation Is that
enough acceptable rames do not APP
pear on the petition. However. there
Il contrary contention On this point
and dispute exists as to It's merits.
Indeed. the opinion may b, ventured
that the proceedings throughout have
been characterized by more bad law
than good sense, although the commits
sloners are In no way TO blame Tor this
condition.
A focus was drawn yesterday when
the petition came up Tor nnal dispos.-
ton. Deputy sherin Prael. who has
had charge OF checking OF the sigma
lures by the election poll list. informed
the commissioners that the petition
lacked thirteen names OF the required
number. He explained. however. that
there were several names on the peti.
ton which were totally illegible and
that these had been omitted from the
report. There were several. too. who
had signed the petition whose names
did not appear on the election rolls.
These had been dlsregarded entirely.
With these illlminations the list OF
names on the petition, which originally
exceeded 1000, had been cut down TO
1919. Another difficulty involving the
elimination Of names rested upon the
fact that many OF the. petition sigma
lures are spelled differently from those
on the books Of election clerks While
II would naturally be presumed that q
nlan knows more about his own sigma
ture than does the average election
clerk. II Is understood that there is n
disposition on the part OF one or two
members OF the county court TO dis
regard this fact and throw out the
names which do not correspond, thus
deciding the question In favor Of the
election clerks.
All these matters were brought out
In the arguments which preceded Dep
uty Praels explanation.
Commissioner Lewis gave positive
evidence that he was not fay, rable 4
granting the prayer OF the petition un-
der the circumstances.
Harrison Allen, who appeared as at
torney for the petitioners. Informed
the commissioners that there was no
INIT as TO the amount of investlga-
ton they might chose to make. If
they believed that the required num-
Der OF names would develope from a
nor thorough scrutiny OF the sigma
lures there was no reason. he said, why |
such investigation could not he made, |
II the petition is thrown out 1t viii /
be upon II mere technicalty. and a
weak one at that, There Is no doubt |
that a majority of the legal voters of
he county have signed the petition,
rut the lists do not compare with the
poll books which no doubt are faulty
n the extreme, Several slgners whose
Names have been thrown out are
Known To have voted under different
lames and many others believed to
'e non-residents are known positively
% be entitled to vote, The failure of
election clerks to ascertain the spelling
of the names has brought about this
trouble.
The matter as II stands, is badly
mixed mess at best but liberal en-
erpretatio nof the maater would un-
oubtedly result in the reception Of
he petition, lta the final action be
What II may.
Attorney Thompson declares that the
published statement to the effect that
lis opinion on the validity, or, rather.
nvalldity, as he holds. of the 'three
'oads" matter, was voluntarily and
sratutous is untrue. He states that
wo of the county commlssioners-Lew
$ and Peterson-requested him to sub
nlt an opinion and that his action was
n accordance with this request. He
states that he Is not one of the
emonstrants, as his name appears
'nly upon the papers questioning the
egality of any favorable action on the
natter