1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/Oregon

OREGON (see ). The pop. of Oregon in 1920 was 783,380 as against 672,756 in 1910, an increase of 110,624 or 16.4% as compared with an increase of 62.7% during the preceding decade. The average number of inhabitants to the sq. m. in 1920 was 8.2 as against 7 in 1910. The sparsely settled areas, other than the national forests, are the plateau region of the south-eastern counties and the extreme south-western county. In all the south-eastern counties, excepting Malheur county lying along the Snake river, there was a decrease in pop. during the decade. The density of the rural pop. in the nine

counties, comprising an area of .47,737 sq. m., or about one-half the state, was less than 2 per sq. mile. The urban pop. of the 23 cities and towns with more than 2,500 inhabitants each numbered 391,019 or 49.9% of the total pop. as against 45.6% in 1910. The farm pop. in 1920 was 293,432 or 37.5% of the total in the state; in 1910, 41 per cent.

The following are the cities of over 7,000 inhabitants with their pop. in 1920 and 1910 and percentage of increase for the decade:&mdash;

History.—The percentage of Oregon's contributions of men to the World War without awaiting the operation of the selective service law was the highest among the states. The ratio of its enlistments to the first gross quota was 157.84 per cent.

During 1910-20, recourse was freely had to the &ldquo;Oregon System&rdquo; of direct legislation to enact projects of constitutional amendment and statutory law. A total of 174 proposals was submitted to the people through initiative petition, referendum petition or by vote of the Legislature and 73 were approved.

While three-fifths of the voters usually vote with the Republican party, so that as a rule only 10 or 12 Democrats are elected to any Legislative Assembly, the representative leaders of the Oregon public during 1910-20 were two Democrats, George E. Chamberlain as U.S. senator and Oswald West as governor. Mr. Chamberlain was promoted from the governorship to the Senate; and in the Senate he was distinguished for his independence, especially during the war as chairman of the Senate Committee on Military Affairs. Oswald West, as governor (1911-5), deserves high credit for leadership in achieving much of the progressive legislation enacted during this period, and for his administration of the state penitentiary and the selection of those placed in charge of other state institutions; also for his application of the honour system among convicts and his insistence on a regimen of industry and cleanliness in the Oregon penitentiary.