Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 2.djvu/366

350 object and design of the proposed corporation, and the previous question being ordered, the resolution passed by a vote of forty-four ayes and one nay; Mr. J. E. P. Withers, of Lane County, casting the negative vote. The resolution was transmitted to the senate on October 10, and upon motion of Senator Palmer the senate concurred, nineteen voting in the affirmative; Senator T. R. Cornelius voting in the negative; and Senators Caldwell and Pyle being absent. On October 12, 1866, an elaborate report was presented from the select committee, to whom was referred the governor's special message, and to whom was referred House Joint Resolution No. 13, and with the report was House Bill No. 78, entitled "A bill to aid in the construction of the Oregon Central Railroad." This bill afterwards passed the legislative assembly, and was approved October 24, 1866, and by its terms the state undertook to pay interest on $1,000,000 of bonds to be issued by the corporation; and in return therefor was to receive transportation of all persons and property which otherwise would be conveyed at the expense of the state, and all articles on their way to the fairs of the state, and upon their return; and also to transmit free of charge all telegraphic dispatches to and from the officers of the state. It is sufficient to know that this act was clearly unconstitutional, and that no money was ever appropriated or paid under its terms. The report of Mr. Foudray, of Jackson, which accompanied the bill, is interesting in this, that it states the fact that in 1864, while wheat was selling readily for $2.00 per bushel in San Francisco, it would bring the farmer but seventy-five cents per bushel in the Willamette Valley, and that at the time the legislature was then in session, while it was $1.00 per bushel in San Francisco, it was dull sale at half that price in the Willamette Valley. It appeared also from the books of commission