On the meeting of the legislature of 1876, there being a United States senator to be elected, the choice lay between Jesse Applegate and Grover. The first ballot in the senate gave Applegate seven and Grover twenty votes, with two votes scattering. The first ballot in the house gave twenty-seven for Applegate and twenty-five for Grover, with seven for J. W. Nesmith. In joint convention Nesmith received on some ballots as many as fourteen votes. But the democrats were chiefly united on Grover and the republicans on Applegate; and at length the friends of Nesmith gave way, that the candidate of their party might succeed, and Grover's vote rose from forty-two to forty-eight, by which he was elected. In February 1877 he resigned the office of governor, and took his place in the U. S. senate,[1] S. F. Chadwick succeeding to the gubernatorial office.
In the mean time there was a growing uneasiness
in the public mind, arising from the conviction that there was either mismanagement or fraud, or both, in the state, land, and other departments, and the legislature of 1878 appointed a joint committee to examine into the transactions of the various offices and departments of the state government. The commission published its report, and the impression got abroad that a system of peculation had been carried on for some time past, in which serious charges were made; but notwithstanding the numerous accusations against the several state officials, there was not sufficient evidence to prove that moneys had been illegally drawn from the public funds. Nevertheless, the administration suffered in reputation in consequence of the report. The scandal created was doubtless tinged by
partisan spirit, more or less. The improvement in
the affairs of the government was substantial and
noteworthy, and at a later date credit was not un-
- ↑ See Sen. Com. Rept, 536, 548, 561, 627, 678, 44th cong. 2d sess.; also, Proceedings of the Electoral Commission, and Cong. Globe. 1876-7, 74-5, 209-10, app. 132, 188, 192; Portland Oregonian, Jan. 27, 1877.
