652 



OREGON. 



for presidential electors. The platform adopted 

 was as follows : 



The Republican party of Oregon, in convention 

 assembled, makes this declaration of its principles 

 and policy : 



Resoloed, That in this Centennial year of American 

 Independence we again affirm our devotion to those 

 fundamental principles upon which the republic 

 and the Republican party were founded. Among 

 these are : 



1. Unswerving fidelity to the Constitution, and 

 the perpetuity of the Union. 



2. The preservation of the liberties and equal 

 rights of all citizens throughout the nation, and the 

 impartial administration of the laws in every part 

 of the country, for the protection and enforcement 

 of public and private rights, and the punishment of 

 violence and crime. 



3. Pure and economical administration of every 

 department of the Government, State and national, 

 and we pledge the support of the Eepublican party 

 to all measures honestly proposed and wisely de- 

 signed to promote the moral and material prosperity 

 of the people. 



4. That a well- instructed people a_lone cn be per- 

 manently free ; it is therefore essential that the pub- 

 lic-school system shall be maintained in order that 

 every child may receive such education as will fit 

 him for useful citizenship : and we are unalterably 

 opposed to any division of public-school money loir 

 any purpose whatever. 



5. That while we are in favor of a revenue for the 

 support of the General Government by duties upon 

 imports, sound policy requires such adjustment of 

 those imposts as to encourage the development of the 

 industrial interests of the whole country, and we 

 commend that policy of national exchange which se- 

 cures to the working-men liberal wages, to agricult- 

 ure remunerative prices, to mechanics and manu- 

 facturers an adequate reward for their skill, labor, 

 and enterprise, and to the nation commercial pros- 

 perity and independence. 



6. That the best interests of all citizens of every 

 condition and pursuit imperatively demand the 

 speediest return to a specie basis of values and cur- 

 rency, and we hail with gratification the act of a 

 Republican Congress definitely providing for that 

 end. 



7. That we are in favor of the untiring prosecution 

 and punishment of public fraud and crime, straw- 

 bidding and peculation in office, wherever existing, 

 and we repeat the injunction, ''Let no guilty man 

 escape." 



8. We demand that our national candidates shall 

 be men of tried integrity, who will carry out this 

 policy of reform, and preserve inviolate the great 

 results of the war. 



9. We arraign the present State administration, 

 and its supporters, as corrupt and profligate. They 

 have robbed the common-school fund ; they have 



'been guilty of partisan legislation ; they have squan- 

 dered our patrimony in lands, and heaped upon us 

 a debt of over $300,000 in direct violation of the 

 constitution. 



An additional resolution was adopted "amid 

 great cheering," declaring James G. Elaine to 

 be the choice of the convention for President 

 of the United States. 



There was an election on the 5th of June, at 

 which only local officers and members of the 

 Legislature were chosen. Of the new Senators 

 the Republicans elected seven, the Democrats 

 seven, and the "Independents" one, while four 

 Republican and eleven Democratic Senators 

 held over from the previous term. Of the Rep- 

 resentatives chosen, 30 were Republicans, 27 



Democrats, and 3 Independents. The Legisla- 

 ture was therefore composed of 18 Democrats, 

 11 Republicans, and one Independent in the 

 Senate, and 30 Republicans, 27 Democrats, and 

 3 Independents in the House. 



Presidential electors and a member of Con- 

 gress were voted for on the 7th of November. 

 An official canvass of the vote was made by 

 the Governor and Secretary of State on the 

 4r,h of December. The following result was 

 ascertained: For electors, Odell 15,206, Watts 

 15,206, Cartwright 15,214, Klippel- 14,136, 

 Cronin 14,157, Laswell 14,149, the three 

 "Greenback" candidates respectively 507, 509, 

 and 510, and scattering 4; for member of Con- 

 gress, Williams 15,347, Lane 14,229, and scat- 

 tering 8. At the close of the canvass Governor 

 Grover announced that in the matter of the 

 election of a member of Congress a certificate 

 would issue to Richard Williams. In the mat- 

 ter of electors a protest had been filed against 

 the issue of a certificate to Mr. Watts, which 

 raised " grave questions as to jurisdiction and 

 the law," and as the certificate need not issue 

 until the 6th of December, the question could 

 be investigated and argued. A hearing was 

 given by the Governor on the 5th. The pro- 

 test alluded to was as follows : 



To His Excellency L. F. Grover, Governor of Ore- 

 gon : The undersigned citizens of, and legal voters 

 in, the State of Oregon, do hereby protest against 

 the issuance of a certificate of election to John W. 

 Watts, a candidate for presidential elector at the late 

 election held on the 7tn day of November, 1876, for 

 the reason that on that clay, and until about the 13th 

 or 14th of the same month, he was a postmaster duly 

 appointed and qualified as such by the proper author- 

 ities of the United States; and therefore ineligible 

 as an elector under section 1 of Article II. ot the 

 Constitution of the United States. We chiim and 

 insist that the votes cast for the said J. W. Watts at 

 that election amounted to nothing the same as if 

 they had never been cast, and he being ineligible to 

 the said office, it is the duty of the proper canvass- 

 ing officers to give the certificate of election to the 

 three qualified candidates having the highest num- 

 ber of votes. 

 December 2, 1876. 



R. R. THOMPSON, JAMES K. KELLY, 

 J. C. AINSWORTH, W. II. HFFINGER, 

 GEO. L. CURRY, W. W. THAYER, 

 C. B. BELLINGER, B. JENNINGS, 

 J. S. WHITE, B, B. ACKER. 



J. T. MILLER, A. D. SHELBY, 



J. H. REED, T. PATTERSON. 



W. F. TRIMBLE, 

 Indorsed, filed, December 2, 1876. 



A counter-protest signed by J. C. Cartwright, 

 W. H. Odell, and J. W. Watts, was presented, 

 claiming that the Governor and Secretary of 

 State, as a canvassing board, had only the min- 

 isterial function of ascertaining what candi- 

 dates had a majority of votes, and certifying to 

 their election. The law was quoted at length 

 in support of this position. Having heard ar- 

 guments on both sides, the Governor took the 

 matter under advisement, and on the morning 

 of the 6th announced that he had decided not 

 to give a certificate of election to Mr. Watts 

 on account of his ineligibility, but to give it 



