Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 25.djvu/293

 OREGON AND CALIFORNIA RAILROAD 255 companies were allowed to bring in their attorneys to insure that they were well represented. The attorneys presented their cases October 9, 1868. On October 17, Senator Ford moved that S. J. R. No. 14 be indefinitely postponed. Senator Cornelius moved to amend the motion by postponing the whole subject mat- ter of the resolution. Although Senator Ford accepted the amendment, the amendment was lost, whereupon Senator Bayley asked permission to withdraw his resolution, which was carried. 31 Upon the same day as the withdrawal of S. J. R. No. 15, Senator Miller introduced S. J. R. No. 16 which provided that the East Side should receive the grant, saying that the resolution of the Legislature of 1866 "was adopted under a misapprehension of facts as to the organization and existence of such a company." This resolution passed the Senate by a vote of fourteen to eight. In the House the subject was referred to the Railroad Committee who made their report the same day that the Senate passed their resolution in favor of the East Side Company. The report was the report which had been called for by H. R. No. 24. 32 The majority of the committee consisting of James F. Gazley of Douglas Co., J. L. Scog- gins of Multnomah Co., and D. E. Benson of Baker and Union counties, reported that the land was not granted to the State, so the State had no control. The only function of the legislature was to designate a company which ac- cording to the Act was to be organized under the Laws of Oregon. They held that the legislature could not reverse the acts of the previous legislature. They recognized the fact of the pencil memorandum made by the Secretary of State on the Articles of Incorporation, Oct. 6, 1866. They 31 It is not our plan to attempt to give each step in the transaction but only those which show the general procedure through which the bill passed. 32 House Resolution No. 24 had instructed the Committee on Railroads to investigate the matter and report at an early date. O. &C. R. R. vs. U. S. Vol. XIII, p. 7058.