Page:The History of Oregon Bancroft 1888.djvu/778



The administration of Governor Moody was a fair and careful one, marked by no original abuses, although it failed to correct, as it was hoped it would have done, the swamp-land policy, by which the state had been robbed of a handsome dower. The legisla ture of 1878 had endeavored to correct the evil grow ing out of the legislation of 1870, but Governor Thayer had so construed the new law as to render it of no effect in amending the abuses complained of; and Governor Moody had not interfered with the existing practices of the swamp-land board. Here, then, was a real point of attack upon a past adminis tration, when a democratic governor was elected in 1886. 2] Governor Sylvester Pennoyer was quite will ing, and also quite right to make it, and doubtless enjoyed the electrifying effect of his message to con gress, in which he presented a list of swamp-land certificates aggregating 564,969 acres, on which $142,846 had been unlawfully paid, and suggested that while settlers should be protected in possession of a legal amount legally purchased, the money, which under a " misapprehension had come into the treasury from other persons, should be returned to them ; and "the state domain parcelled out, as was the intent and letter of the law, to actual settlers in small quantities." Further, the new board of school- land commissioners 2 ! prepared a bill, which embodied

20 1 have already given an account of the manner in which the law of 1870 was passed, and with what motive. The legislature of 1878 had en acted that all applications for the purchase of these lands from the state which had not been regularly made, or being regularly made the 20 per cent required by law had not been paid before Jan. 17, 1879, should be void and of no effect. But it appeared that the board, consisting of the governor, secretary and treasurer, had issued deeds and certificates to lands which had not been formally approved to the state by the secretary of the interior, and to which, consequently, it had no show of title. It had issued deeds and certificates for amounts in excess of 320 acres all that by law could be sold to one purchaser selling unsurveyed and unmapped lands in bodies as large as 50,000, 60,000, or 133,000 acres, and otherwise encouraging land-grabbing.

21 The secretary of state under Gov. Moody was R. P. Earhart; and the treasurer Edward Hirsch. They constituted with the governor the board land commissioners.

2 The new board consisted of Governor Pennoyer, secretary of state, George W. McBride, and Edward Hirsch, who had been treasurer through \n\n