Year: 1872

oUID Pro QUO.


President Grant must have been satisfied
that a victory for the Administration in the
recent election in the State of Oregon was of
greater importance-to himself at least, if not
TO the public interests-than the proper con-
troll of the law department of the Government,
or he would not have sent Attorney General
Williams all the way to the Pacific coast to fix
matters for GLORIOUS Endorsement of his
policy. How far the country may have suffered
through the absence from duty, for several
weeks, of its principal legal officer, at critical
period when the fate of an important interna-
tonal treaty, of which he had been one of the
trainers, was trembling in the balance, we are
not in position to state; but we do know that
Mr.. Williams, or some other friend OF the
President has helped to roll up a vote IN the
far North Western State which he, Mr. W.,
formerly represented in the National Senate,
that is sufficient to stagger the faith in figures
of the most acute statisiCian. Let Us just look
at the facts


A Presidential election is generally found
to bring out pretty full vote of the people
In November, 1868, the total vote of Oregon in
the Presidential election was 22,0SG. But the
total vote for Member of Congress in June of
the same year was two or three hundred
higher being 22,3G9. and we viii take these
figures as the basis for our calculations. In
fact, it is most fair that we should do so, as
we are going to deal entirely with elections
for Congressman. Two years later, or in 1870,
the total vote for Congressman was increased
by 4G4 and amounted to 22833. With the same
ratio of increase-and there has been no eX-
ceptional cause during the past two years to
warrant more than an average lncrease-the
number that might have been anticipated to
be polled this year would be little over 25,-
300. But instead Of this number only voting,
Mr.. Williams, or some other great wizard OF
the West brought his hOcus-pocus to bear
upon the Congress vote so successfully
THAI he actually produced crop of citizens
that were not raised i'll strict conformity with
natural laws. We have not yet received the
full return of the recent election, but, taking
the votes Of five counties at the figures OF
1870 which must be now within the
mark, we have a total Congress vote this
year of 2j,13O, being 2,997 in advance of
the vote of 1870, and 1,S0O more than natu-
raj increase would have now made it. The





laborers in this, to them, fruitful vineyard,
have not only overcome the Democratic ma
iOrity Of two years ago OF 343, but also an
increased vote of about 800 from new comers
and recent converts, and have gone some
where about 900 better. That fraud has been
practiced TO obtain this result Is evident,
especially when we consider that in the
County of Mutnomah a thousand persons
more voted than there were names on the
latest poll-t list; and that the same, but to
a less extent, is said to be true of every
county in the State. We have at hand the
official return of the county named, by which
we find that the total vote this year is 3,269,
while in 1870 il was only 2,421, and that four
ffths of the increase have been given to the
Administration candidate; and it Is more than
probable he received the entire increase,
the addition of ia over the pre-
vious election to the opposition candidate
being doubtless made up of an accession
of Liberal Republicans. But the legerdemain
by which the Oregon election has been carried
for the Administration is not such a mystery
after all to those who have watched the per-
formance of the trick. 1t is well known that
innumerabe acres of the public domain have,



to new railroad enterprises, many of them
leading to OF being situated on the Pacific
slope; and that the Administration Senators
and Representatives have been most instru-
mental in forwarding the public robbery
Among the railroad magnates who have BEN
Gifted thereby has been Benjamin Halliday of
overland express nOtorety. And the Admin
istration having helped him to grind his ak,
of course he could not, when requested, refuse
assistance to the Administration when its Ak
required little sharpening. Consequently he
entered into an arrangement, ratified at Wash
ington, by which he transported several gangs
of laborers-fTom fifteen hundred to two thou
sand men in all-frOm California to Oregon,
ostensibly to work upon the railroads, but
mainly for the purpose of assisting to carry
the election that has just been held and
these men, in direct opposition to the laws of
the State, were marched to the polls, where of
course they voted for President Grants candi-
date. This accounts for both the excessive
vote cast, and for the number polled so greatly
exceeding that of the pOll-tax list. Whether
the bargain requires to be settled by any
further grab at the peoples property, we shall
perhaps ascertain III good season.


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4 NEW ALLIANCE OF POWERS IN EUROPE.


Already the change in the foreign policy of
the AustrO- Hungarian Government, which we
anticipated, appears about to take place.