the new state any of the country lying east of that range, and pointed out the very inconveniences that have since arisen. Lane related this to show what opposition he had to meet in securing the admission of the state in its present shape.[1]"
In the meantime, at a democratic caucus held January 29, 1856, at Salem, by members of the legislature, Judge Reuben P. Boise, chairman of a committee previously appointed, reported an address to the people as a preamble to a proposed bill re-submitting the question of state government to the people, and the report was unanimously adopted. The bill had been offered by Representative Tichenor in the Legislative Assembly at Salem, four days before, for the purpose of taking the sense of the people of Oregon relative to the formation of a state government and calling for an election on the first Monday of April, 1856. The bill was adopted, with the preamble, which laid especial emphasis upon the fact that there were recent gold discoveries east of the Cascade Mountains, both on the Pend d'Oreille and in Wasco County, and which referred to the resources for agriculture in that section that would induce settlement there. It argued that failure to enter the Union at once as a state would lose the 500,000 acres of eastern Oregon and would result in a division of the Territory. Other familiar arguments in favor of early statehood were repeated and amplified.[2]
The Oregonian came out with a virulent attack on this program. It was denounced as the most visionary and foolish policy that could be adopted, as statehood would impoverish the people and bankrupt, the state in less than two years, and would result in driving capital from the country and retarding settlement. The opposition was put quite frankly upon distrust of the
- ↑ Reprinted in Scott's History of the Oregon Country, vol. V., p. 13.
- ↑ H. J. 1855–6, pp. 159, 160, 195, 206. The preamble is set out in the Appendix, pp. 150–3. C. J. 1855–6, pp. 145, 146, 163. The result of the election is given in Statesman, June 10, 1856. The Oregon Weekly Time of March 1, 1856, published the preamble on the editorial page.
