he did not deny the right of the legislative assembly to locate and establish the seat of government, he felt it his duty to call their attention to the wording of the act, which distinctly said that the money there appropriated should be applied by the governor; and also, that the act of June 11, 1850, making a further appropriation of twenty thousand dollars for the erection of public buildings in Oregon, declared that the money was to be applied by the governor and the legislative assembly. He further called their attention to the wording of the sixth section of the act, which declared that every law should have but one object, which should be expressed in the title, while the act passed by the legislative assembly embraced several objects. He gave it as his opinion that the law in that form was unconstitutional; but expressed a hope that they would not adjourn without taking effectual steps to carry out the recommendation he had made in his message at the beginning of the session, that they would cause the public buildings to be erected.
The location bill, which on account of its embracing several objects received the name of the omnibus bill,[1] passed the assembly by a vote of six to three in the council and ten to eight in the house, Salem getting the capital, Portland the penitentiary,[2] Corvallis the university, and Oregon City nothing. The mat-
- ↑ The Gaines clique also denominated the Iowa code, adopted in 1849, the steamboat code, and invalid because it contained more than one subject.
- ↑ It named three commissioners, each for the state-house and penitentiary, authorizing them to select one of their number to be acting commissioner and give bonds in the sum of $20,000. The state-house board consisted of John Force, H. M. Waller, and R. C. Geer; the penitentiary board, D. H. Lownsdale, Hugh D. O'Bryant, and Lucius B. Hastings. The prison was to be of sufficient capacity to receive, secure, and employ 100 convicts, to be confined in separate cells. Or. Spectator, March 27, 1851; Or. Statutes, 1853–4, 509. That Oregon City should get nothing under the embarrassment of the 11th section of the donation law was natural, but the whigs and the property-owners there may have hoped to change the action of congress in the event of securing the capital. Salem, looking to the future, was a better location. But the assembly were not, I judge, looking to anything so much as having their own way. The friends of Salem were accused of bribery, and there were the usual mutual recriminations. Or. Spectator, Oct. 7 and Nov. 18, 1851.
