676 



OREGON. 



of J. M. Thompson, Speaker. Subsequently 

 James PI. Slater was elected U. S. Senator. 

 Mr. Slater is a resident of eastern Oregon, and 

 to that circumstance owes his success at this 

 election. He was born in Sangamon County, 

 Illinois, in 1826. His early education was 

 limited, but he succeeded in mastering the in- 

 tricacies of the law, and has been a successful 

 practitioner at the bar. He emigrated to Ore- 

 gon, and for many years has been a prominent 

 Democratic politician there. He was elected 

 to the Territorial Legislature in 1857, and 

 again in 1858, and then became a member of 

 the lower House of the first State Legislature. 

 In 1866 he was elected District Attorney for 

 the Fifth Judicial District of Oregon, and filled 

 that office two years. In 1870 he was elected 

 to represent the State in Congress, but was 

 not renominated for a second term. 



Among the acts passed at this session was an 

 amendment to the libel law, which adds to the 

 section on that subject in the statute a clause 

 that any publication made to injure, defame, 

 or maliciously annoy any family or person 

 shall come within the provisions of the law, 

 and requiring the Circuit Judge to read the law 

 to the grand jury at every term of court, and 

 the prosecuting attorney to bring suit in every 

 case that comes to his knowledge, whether the 

 party injured complains of the offense or not. 



An act was passed creating a separate Su- 

 preme Court, to be elected in June, 1880, con- 

 sisting of three Justices, and in the mean time 

 the Governor is to appoint such a Court, and 

 also to appoint five Justices of the Circuit 

 Court. The business of the Courts has in- 

 creased so that the Circuit Judges have not 

 time to sit as a Supreme Court and properly 

 try the cases that come before them. The 

 Constitution provides that when the State has 

 200,000 population it may have a separate Su- 

 preme Court. There has been no recent cen- 

 sus of the State; hence the population is a 

 matter of conjecture. The only criterion is the 

 number of votes cast at the last election, and 

 this affords only an approximate basis. The 

 number was about 35,000. It is likely that 

 there was not a full vote on that occasion, 

 since it is rare that all the voters are called out 

 at any election. The number of voters now 

 in the State may exceed 40,000. At the rate 

 of five inhabitants for each, the proportion 

 usually allowed, the number of inhabitants 

 would now be 200,000. 



An act relating to the property of married 

 women provides that property owned by a wo- 

 man at the time of marriage, or acquired there- 

 after by gift, devise, or inheritance, shall not be 

 subject to debts or contracts of the husband, 

 the wife may manage, sell, convey, and de- 

 rise the same as the husband can his property. 

 The property of either husband or wife shall 

 ; be liable for debts or contracts of the 

 Action may be maintained by husband 

 >r wife against the other for recovery of prop- 

 erty of which the other has obtained posses- 



sion, the same as if they were unmarried. For 

 civil injuries committed by the wife, damages 

 can be recovered of her alone, except in cases 

 where he is jointly responsible. Conveyances 

 or liens from one to the other shall be valid. 

 One may constitute the other his or her attor- 

 ney, to act for mutual benefit, or attorney in 

 fact. The wife may recover the wages of her 

 personal labor in her own name, and exercise 

 all rights at law in her own name. Neither is 

 liable for debts of the other incurred before 

 marriage. Expenses of family and education 

 of children shall be chargeable upon property 

 of both husband and wife, or of either of 

 them. 



Foreign corporations are admitted to do 

 business in the State on equal footing with 

 native. 



A Fish Commissioner is to be appointed for 

 Columbia Kiver. Fishermen must procure 

 license from said Commissioner; owners of 

 boats using gill-nets are to pay $10 for a li- 

 cense for one season for every one used ; for 

 weir or trap, $50, and for dip-net $2 ; and 

 every fisherman working is to pay $5. The 

 Commissioner to be alLowed a fee of 25 cents 

 for each license issued to a man, 50 cents for 

 license to boat, $1 for license to seine or trap, 

 and 25 cents for dip-net, to be reserved out 

 of the moneys received for licenses. The fund 

 arising from issuing of licenses shall be paid 

 to any person or persons carrying on a hatch- 

 ery ; or, if there are more hatcheries, to be 

 divided among them. 



The following memorial to Congress on the 

 subject of the Chinese immigration was adopt- 

 ed by both Houses of the Legislature : 



To the Honorable Senate of the United States : 



Your memorialists, the Legislative Assembly of 

 the State of Oregon, respectfully represent : 



That the continued immigration or rather impor- 

 tation of cooly slaves, or Chinese laborers, to this 

 State is a violation of treaty stipulations, which pro- 

 vide that such immigration shall be voluntary, and 

 is a very serious injury to the laboring classes, not 

 only of our State, but of the entire Pacific coast, by 

 the reduction of wages to starvation prices. 



That such importation of said Chinese and other 

 Asiatic slave labor tends to drive white and all other 

 free labor out of our country, and will ultimately 

 compel all who subsist by manual labor to the alter- 

 nation of choosing between starvation and crime. 



That at least 75 per cent, of all the earnings of 

 said Chinese or cooly labor, instead of being spent 

 in our midst, and thus contributing to our prosper- 

 ity, is sent to China never to return, thus withdraw- 

 ing the coin from our country, and rapidly decreas- 

 ing our circulating medium, to the great injury of 

 the best interest of this State and of the entire Pa- 

 cific coast. 



That such Chinese laborers do not contribute to 

 the wealth and prosperity of the country by the ac- 

 quisition of property and the payment of taxes, but 

 by pauperism and crime are a continual source of 

 expense to the country and municipalities of this 

 State. 



That the treaty of 1868 between the United States 

 and China, known as the Burlingame treaty, has 

 never been maintained on the part of China in ac- 

 cordance with its intent and meaning. The right of 

 free migration and immigration which it recognizes 



