Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1911-05-19
REASONS FOR
NOT FILING
The PETITIONS
THE FIRST STORY GIVEN OUT
THAT THERE WERE NOT NAMES
ENOUGH 1T SEEMS NEEDS
QUALIFYING, AS THERE WERE
"OTHER REASONS"

That there will be no petitions filed
referring the bill appropriating $780,
900 for an addition to the capitol
building, nor the bill appropriating
$270,000 for buildings for the Oregon
Agriculture College was the an
nouncement made by T. L. Van 0rs
/ dali, chairman of the committee in
charge of the referendum campaign,
last evening and with this barrier out
of the way the state board will hold
a meeting the first of next week and
consumate its plans for the purchase
of site for the building, and also in
struct the architect to prepare plans
for the building.
Will Buy Half OF Block.
When the board held its last meet
ing an option was secured on the
south half of the block lying just
east of the state house for the build
ing The purchase price agreed upon
was $21, 500, and it is estimated that
the Metschan house can be sold for
something over $4,000, bringing the
purchase price something below $2O,-
0OO Ben Selling, president of the
]
place of Governor West, as the gov
ernor is interested in the property,
and Speaker Rusk, who acter in the
place of Secretary of State Benson
who was then in California, were
anxious to purchase also the north
half, and are still so, provided that it
can be secured at a reasonable price
/ The price then asked for this portion
of the block was $4,000, but the
board regards this too high, and the
property owners will have to give
better terms if that half of the block
is bought by the state.
Building To Begin in July.
As the state architect is now busy
with plans for other state buildings
and it will also require some tine to
get the ground in shape for construc-
ton work on the building can not be
commenced before July, in the judg-
ment of State Treasurer Kay. While
the work will be rushed with all pos
sible dispatch as the room which the
building will supply is greatly need
ed, 1t can not, in the Judgment of the
state treasurer, be completed before
July of next year.
Why Petitions We're Not Filed.
T. L. Van Orsdall in announcing
that petitions referring the two bills
in question would not be filed an
nounced as the reason of the failure
the inability to secure the required
number of names, but as politicians
view it, the real reason for not filing
the petitions against the capitol
building bill is to be found in the
fact that Harry Parkinson after an
inspection of the building decided
that the appropriation was necessary;
and the reason for not filing the pc
tition against the agriculture bill to
be found in that those back of the
movement would need its support for
the initiative petition having for it's
object the consolidation of the univer-
sity with the agriculture college and
which will be filed before long.
! When Parkinson filed the petition
against the university appropriation
he was taken in hand by State Treas
urer Kay and shown the crowded
conditions of the state house, and the
needs of the additional building were
pointed out to him. After the exami-
nation he agreed with the state treas
urer that the additional building was
necessary and promised to use his in
f1uence against the filing of the petit
tion and that he did so is evidenced
by the fact that it was not filed.
The reason for the referring of the
bill appropriating $4,000 for a DOR
mitory for the Monmouth normal lies
in the fact that when the school was
revived through an initiative law a
tax was provided for whereby the
school gets about $50 900 each year,
and the fact that the school immed-
lately after securing this revenue
reached out and grabbed $4,000 from
the legislature was resented by those
back of the movement