Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1910-06-16

year 1907, can, with this knowledge,
support an assembly movement and
thereby indirectly oppose the present
method of electing United States sen
atcrs is beyond my comprehension
and beyond the comprehension OF
thousands of the people Of this
state.
In 1901. l recall, while a member
of the state senate OF this state, a
certain individual, then living in
Portland and then a candidate for
the United States senate, whose
strikers, agents and friends bought
men and paid them in money and
whiskey and other things for their
votes. I remember one instance in
particular of a member of the house
of representatives who was given
500 on the last night of the session
for every time he voted for this
Portland man for senator. The man
who gave him the money was a mem
ber of one of the leading churches
in the city of Portland and a very
fine man and man whom ! person
ally think a great deal of, and it
only illustrates, that this man was
so carried away with the corrupt
surroundings and with his environ
ments that he, himself, should forget
his christian duty and obligations as
citizen and as a man, and would
stand there in the cloak room and
as fast as the representative ballot
ed gave him his 800, a drink of
good old whiskey. patted him on the
back and told him to go back and
continue to vote for the old man.
This is only one instance of hun
dre9. Take the different state Of
fices. They are always traded and
trafficed off as spoils under the old
system. The state printers office
was a corrupt graft, which the tax
payer had to pay; clerkships, in
cluding men and women, were a
great expense to the tax payers of
this state, all of which were bar
tered off, directly or indirectly, us
part of the method and machine of
electing United States senators under
the old system.
Let us go back to 1897 what was
known as the "hold-up' year, and
see where forty or fifty men, many
of them who were kept drunk and
intoxicated for days and weeks in
order to keep them from taking their
oath Of office or qualifying, simply
at that time to defeat John Fl.
Mitchell for United States senator.
There were places around the city
of Salem where these men congre-
gated where a decent and respect
able woman could not go, there was
a den of prostitutes and evil, whis-
key and tobacco smoke as a flavor
for all who called, and this was man
aged by men who were advocates at
that time of the old system of elecr-
ing United States senators by mem
bers of the legislature. If a picture
of these scenes could be taken so 1t
could be placed in the home of every
self respecting voter in the state Of
Oregon so that they could see what
really happened and really occurred
in the years 1897 and 1901 in this
state, the assembly proposition would
not receive twenty-five votes in the
state of Oregon, outside of the old
machine politicians who are really
getting this assembly up in the in
terest of themselves, and the cor
porations and the clients which they
represent.
Take the great state of Illinois,
the state that gave us Father Abra-
ham Lincoln as a presidential can
didate, the state that gave us Grant
as military hero, the state of John
Logan, Richard Oglesby, owen Love-
joy and men of that character, dis
graced as they are today by what IS
appearing in the newspapers relative
to the bribery and methods of elect
ing senators under the old machine
system
Now this assembly, in this state.
no matter what It's leaders may say
10 the people, is simply a great big.
political machine in the disguise
and under the name of popular
Can we afford It?
There are so many instances of !
he corrupting influence OF eIectIns
senator's by the old method outside
If the actual purchasing Of votes that
I is startling that the public has en-
iured them so many years without
protest. ! recall prominent in
liyidual who was wearing out his
irticulating organs shouting for
francis j. Heney, the reformer.
While Mr.. Heney was here in Port
and This man acted as sort OF
py and go-between for Francis J.
Ieney and one OF the jury commits
toner's who had in part the select
ng Of the jurymen who were to try
he United States land fraud cases.