with probate powers, whose duty it should be to hold two terms of court, annually, in each county, at such times and places as the law should direct. It likewise established the duties of clerk, recorder, sheriff, and justices of the peace.
One of the conditions insisted on by the old colonists in consenting to a government organization was that they should not be taxed. But the committee of 1844 believed that no efficient and regular government could be sustained without a revenue; that no revenue could be had without taxation; and no taxation could be enforced unless the majority were satisfied with the government. The great majority would not support the organization unless convinced that they were receiving an equivalent in the form of protection, and it was a perplexing question how to secure the support of law-abiding men.[1] The legislative committee remembered, however, that Americans prize above all things the possession of land, and the privilege of the ballot, and shaped their course accordingly. The ways and means act in its fourth section provided that any person refusing to pay taxes should have no benefit from the laws of Oregon, and should be disqualified from voting. Thus by outlawing those who refused to support the government, the people began to consider its value to them, and few were willing to forego its assistance in preventing trespass or collecting debts. Nor did many desire to be deprived of the ballot.[2]
The land law of 1843 was repealed and another passed in its place. By the first, any person of any age, sex, or race could hold a land claim, while by the
- ↑ This refers as much to the Canadians, who were law-abiding, as to the American colonists. Says Brown, Willamette Valley, MS., 31-2, the 'Americans played a pretty sharp game on the British subjects to bring them into the organization of this government.'
- ↑ The ways and means act called for a tax of one eighth of one per cent upon the fair valuation of all merchandise brought into the country for sale; on all improvements in town lots; on mills, pleasure-carriages, clocks, watches, horses, mules, cattle, and hogs; and every white voter must pay a poll tax of 50 cents. The sheriff was made collector of the revenue, for which he received 10 per cent for all moneys received. Burnett's Recollections, 205.
