The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1906-05-24

, promised II Hat salary law, il passed an,
beginning in January, the fees of tn,
secretary of state and state treasurer
, viii be paid into the treasury, benefit
ting the tax payers about S35,000 ,
year Now. there is no way of fully
describing such an absurd claim as thi,
save to characterize il as an instanc,
of supreme gall, For two campaigns
prior to Chamherhm's election the re
puhlicans of Oregon had declared /,
favor of that salary law, IL was recon-
mended by myself to the legislature be-
fore ChambcrNin's Inauguration, the
bill was introduced by republican aud
it was passed by republican legisla
ture, and every well informed man in
Oregon knows that the record will show
this, But, aside from that, the governor
could not in thousand years show
where the sum OF S35,000 year will be
saved to the taxpayers OF Oregon by
this law. or even half that sum, al.
though it is good measure.
1T is significant, however. that the
governor while boa-tfully claiming
whatever of good has come from the fiat
salary law neglected to say that the
governors salary has been increased
sixteen per cent above what il is at
present. But. perhaps, that is one Of
the good features of the law which he
forgot to mention. A man cannot re.
member all these things as he goes
along, but what about the saving to
the tax payers!'
With remarkable modesty. he also
declares that he promised that the
money in the irreducibe school fund
should b. loaned and today it brings in
about $4,000 Il year for the benefit OF
the school children of the state In
his speech at la Grande he said 4 took
the matter up with the other members OF
the board and told them that fund must
be loaned out, and it was loaned out
Sure. The Great Am and the Lord
said Let there be light, and there was
light Once again. we are able to faint.
ly conjecture what might have been the
fate OF this great commonwealth ii
Chamberlain in his youth had decided to
move to California instead OF to Oregon
although it should be remembered that
in that event. our southern state would
in all probability have escaped the re.
cent earthquake disaster for YOU will
observe that in its travels northwarl
that seismic disturbance lost its grip as
soon as it crossed the Oregon line. II
couldn't thrive in the domain of Cham.
berlain. II was foreigner. and the
democratic party balks at foreigners.
But as to the lending of the school
fund, what were the other two members
of the state hand board doing all this
time? What did we elect Dunbar and
Moore for! Why are the democrats try
ing at this time to elect secretary Of
state and treasurer? They would not
be needed if Chamberlain should be
elected governor, and their salaries, even
though they be ever 20 fiat as well
be saved
But the facts are that during my |
administration times were exceedingly |
good and the sales of public lands were
enormous, thus adding to the irreducible |
school fund. Every dollar OF this fund |
that was applied for during that time
was boldly loaned, where the security
was sufficient. and Governor Chamber.
lain's uncaled for intimatiOn that funds
were withheld from borrowers desiring
them for purposes of gain, does him no
credit as a man wishing to be at all fair.
This is, in fact, an intentional misrepre-
sentation, wholly for political effect and
! challenge him to name a single safe
the state land board had
to lend dollar during my administra
tion where it was refused.
"NIerely to show how purposely mis-
leading Chamberlain's claims for politi-
cal effect are, wish to say that in order
that the loans of the school fund might
not be confined to ordinary borrowers
and that the increasing amounts might
not remain in the treasury idle, a law
was passed in the middle of my term
two years before the advent of Cham.
berlain, even before his appearance had
been included in the prophecies provid-
ing that the land board might invest
the surplus funds in school or municipal
bonds. This was in answer to sugges-
tions by the board. The attorney gen.
eral decided, however that under this
law no money could be loaned for less
than per cent, and as school districts
could get money at cheaper rate, none