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About The Oregon scout. (Union, Union County, Or.) 188?-1918 | View Entire Issue (May 29, 1890)
IJditoi:, THURSDAY, MAY 2!, J8'J0. A WOItI TO THK VOTUItS ION COUNTY. OP UN- Reforo another issue of Thk Fcovt i reaches our n adcrs the i lection will liavo taken place, the voice of the pco- j 2lo will have been heard, our ollicials for the next two yens will havo been selected and matters of local impor tance which have been a jource of discord for some time past, will have been sottlcd. In this free country the people are supremo and when an ox- r .!...! ...:n I I...- prussiun ui muir win 11,13 m.-uu jiiuuu known through the medium of the ballot-box, it should bo and generally is, obeyed without a niurmer. The right of suffrage, albeit unappreciated and unprized by many, is the most sat crcd and important trustcver yetgiveu to man. For it, and the liberty it en tails, havo earth's bravest and bust struggled through centuries of pain and oppression, and bought the price less piivilcgo with their blood. The story of Christ, if true as narrated, of fers no gieater example of a noble purpose than this. Tho blood that purchased a chance for some to at tain happiness beyond the skies is not more precious than that which has been poured out by patriots to enable their fellow men to enjoy liberty while on earth. "Tho right of suH'rago should bo held above price and used only with tho greatest care. Upon the wise exnrciso of it depends tho stabili ty of this republic which loads in ev erything tending to advance mankind. If it becomes n thing of barter and salo and its results valueless, what hope' is there for the progress of the world? Tho most humble man when ho de posits his ballot in the box adds an impetus to one or the other of the op posing forces that are wot king for good or evil. That litllo paper ballot is tho basis and source of law and the man who casts it is not himself ex empt from its cU'eels. According (o tho motives which causes it to be dropped in that little box it formulates a code and defines crime givinu lo the vicious or tho good authority to exe cute its decrees. It has power to build prisons; fotgo manacles for tho limbs of any man, however innocent ; inako a Siberia of any laud ; suppress free speech; construct gibbets and and choke tho lifo out of tho man who casts it, at the end of a ropo. It has power to do this or to prevent this as tho case may bo. Tho man who does not appreciate tho value and impor tance of it is n fool. Tho man who has it for salo is a villian doubly dyed, as dangerous to his fellow men as a venomous reptile. Tho cunning, I rainy rascal, who buys votes is no bettor than they are. Misleading with his sophistry tho feeble intellect of tho fool; appealing to the prejudices of tho knave; paying with coin for tho votes of tho rcjitiles who havo thorn for sale, ho is a leper to be avoided and despised by all honest men. That such men abound, more or less, i:i various localities cannot bo denied. That their manipulations havo a tondaney to biing these locali ties into disrepute and causes thorn to bo looked upon with suspicion, U ecr ,tain. Much as Tin: Hcoi t regrets to say it, such a condition confronts tho peoplo of Union county today ami causes a vague fear in tho minds of tho taxpayers throughout tho county whoso financial interests are at btako in tho coming election, Their eyes aro turned toward La Grande and they , foar what will bo done there next Mon day. Mot what will bo done by the many honest peoplo of that place hut what will bo done by thu schumers who manipulate things over there. It cannot bo taid that thoo fears ate groundless. The recent municipal election there is without a parallel for venality, corruption and open fraud .nnil proves that there aro ballot-box manipulators there as unscrupulous us it is possible for men to be. It must also bo said that tho fact that a num ber of thuin are not now within tho walls of the penitentiary and that the whole disgraceful alluir was smoothed over as much iih possible "in order thnt harmony might provail at tho -county seat election" is not creditable to the honest peoplo of that place. Wo are compelled to fay that wo look "upon llioso men, who mo still free, mul ready for woik noxt Monday, with a considerable degree of appre hension and advise that thu olllcors of tho government aided by the people at largo seo to it that a fair and honest Amos K Jo.nt.h, election is hold at (Juit place. Wo j Ui Grande. It is a wull mid genecnlly nro certain that unlets strenuous of- understood rule of law that it takes forts nro made to accomplish this that two in make a imiruel that is bind the result will be anything but Mitis- , iug. No one mn niter into a con- factory. No law-abiding citizen, nuy where; will otject to precautionary measures being taken in his precinct i! plitinf it iu flirt to iiifcuro a fair election, That it is the intention of the schemers of La Grande to icpent the disgraceful fccouus enacted at the city election there can be no doubt. Tho Gazette intimated as much and justifies such a course in the following extract which wc dip from its hist issue: "J 11 reference to tho 'Dago' votes, the plain, unvarnished truth of the matter is this Union papers made a great ado about what would happen on tho first of March. It was publicly and repeatedly reported in the Union papers that at that lime Hunt would havo liOO men making the dirt fly, and if Union hud succeeded in tho plans that were mapped out and expected to j mature there would not now bo a word I K'lid nlmnf. trnnsipilL voters. The Olllv said about transient voters. 1 he only thing La Grande could do was to check-mule this move as far as pos sible. Union failed, and now they pqueal that's the whole truth of it in a nut shell." What docs that mean? It means that in order to "Check-mate" an imaginary enemy La Grande has im ported a horde of "Dagos" to vote on the county teat question and intends to vote t lOin at all hazards, justifying itself on the grounds that Union would havo done the same "thing, but failed. Every oneouts-ido of La Grand'j knows the falsity of this charge 'against Un ion ; knows that the Hunt road is being built without reference to tho county seat question, and that many of the laborers employed thereon arc resi dents of this county when tho samo number could havo been brought in from other counties had they been do Hired as voters. Union, and tho friends of Union know now, and havo known for months, that if a fair ballot is allowed to be cast by the legal voters who were in Union county on thu (irst day of last. March, Union will havo a majority of at least five hundred. Knowing tills there was no incentivo for any thing hut a fair election. La Grande is also fully cognizant of this fact and its leaders gave up the contest several weeks ago, but as a drowning man will grasp ul u straw, thoy conceived the idea, as their cause wao hopeless on a fair ballot, lo havo a majority of tho ballots anyway although they will havo lo bo cast by illegal voters ; their idea being that they might have one desperate chance loft in a legal contest after tho election. To carry out this plan about one hundred men arrived thero last Friday and nearly as many more caino the next day. These men came ostensibly to work on tho branch railroad but in reality to vote for Dave Thompson for governor and La Grande for the county heat. That thoy will bo voted, unless prevented by tho proper authorities, it as sure as the day comes around. La Grande knows it has but one chance left and grasps it eagerly., In anticipation of a legal contest, which wo now foresee is sure to come if tho plans of La Grande's leaders aro successful, wo urge tho friends of Un ion in every precinct in tho county to ?eo that not one questionable vote is cast either for or against us; then if we aro beaten it will bo all right. THAT INIiraiMTV JlOND. Although but little has been said lecently concerning tho indemnity bond filed by sonio of the citizens of La Grande, ami not one lawyer has had cheek enough to say that it is a legal document thero may bo somo that will bo deceived by it and wo again publish, by request, our article on the subject which appeared a week or two ago. "As might havo been expected, La Grande comes forward at this liijo and tiles with tho county clerk what pur ports to bo an indemnity bond, signed by a number of its citizons, by tho terms of which it is agreed that in case ol the lomoval of the county seat to La Graudo thoy will indemnify tho taxpayers for tho loss of county buil dings. The object of tiis bond is ap parent to every olio and the securing of this object is tho hole and only pur pose of its execution. La Grande is sorely in need of votes and this scheme it is hoped by them will inlluenco tho taxpayers to support them and cause them as well to lose sight of other considerations which might influence their vote. Thoy seem to believe that if the taxpayer is indemnified against any loss resulting from a removal of the county seat then he is ready to vote with thum. This may be true, but wo doubt it. Hut let us see about the validity of an instrument of this kind. Can it be enforced, and if to by whom? This iuhtrumtmt has one I high contracting parly, and one 'only, tract with himself. The editor of Thk Scorr might draw up a contract be- j tween himself and John Doe, but not ttfifil ila fnpmo 1ic!Q 1ir?n,i ntlftin!1v llll.ll 111) IVJllltJ IIIUIUIIIIJ agreed upon is it binding between the contracting parties, In tho case of (his bond La Grande has agreed with itself upon tho terms of a contract purporting to be entered into with the j people of tho county. Tho terms of this contract or bond suits La Grande whether they suit anybody else or not, and they have taken the trouble and gone to the expense of filing the in strument with the custodian of all our precious documents of public purport. This instrument has no considerations expressed or is there any passing from one contracting party lo the other, and a most excellent reason exists why there is none, for the fact is, thero is only one contracting party and it would be an absurdity to talk about a consideration in such a case. It has been a rule of law from time immemo rial that most people are well acquain led with, tnat a contract witliout a consideration passing is null and void. Such a contract could not bo enforced anywhere, not even among heathens. With proper parties, there must be a consideration to make a contract or bond valid, and it must not only be expressed in the instrument but must actually pass in order to make a good contract. Any contract or bond given or enteicd into which is against public policy, made so by its terms, is void and cannot be enforced. This bond oi' agreement to indemnify taxpayers is against public policy and cannot be valid. By the terms of this instrument it is calculated lo influence votes through the hope of pecuniary gain and is therefore indirectly if not di rectly an attempt at bribery and an attempt to tamper with the freedom of tho elective franchise. Any con tract, bond or other contrivance which thus tends to influence votes is void for tho reason that it is against public policy. No court anywhere would on forco a contract or bond of this char acter, and if a taxpayer should go into a court of law or equity and attempt to enfoico it. thus tainted with all the elements of biibery ho would have no standing in court and would be so re buked by Iho judgment of tho court that ho would be glad to get out emp ty handed and free from the shackles of tho ciiminal. This bond is void and cannot bo enforced, for tho rea sons abovo set forth, viz: First, bc causo thero is only one contracting party. Second, because thero is no consideration, and third, becauso it is against public policy, either one of which teutons being sufficient to in validate it. The lawyers of La Grande who drafted this bond and tho peoplo there generally known that it is void and cannot bo enforced. The making and executing of this contract or bond and everything done in connection therewith is all for buncombe and of such thin, gauzy nature that tho intel ligent voters cannot fail to see through tho whole business. Not a dollar do tho peoplo of La Grande purpose putting up for county buildings or to pay for those lost by removal of tho county heat. The lies, misrepresenta tions and frauds which they have been guilty of, reaching back to those per; pet rated by them in getting signatures to the petitions for tho enabling act, are indelibly impressed upon tho minds of the peoplo of this county and hum bugger now is out of thu question. Even if this fine bond scheme w s perfectly straight and the instrument valid, another pioposition arises to stare the taxpayors in the face. It only proposes to inako good to tho county whatever two ditintereJed(?) parties shall decide tho county build ings at Union lo bo worth. Simply proposing to put tho county even, with no county building!!. Or in other woids the county can wipe out eo far as buildings are concerned and start in anew on fancy bu&inese principles. The taxpayer will then bo asked to go down into the depths of his shining mul silvery trousers' pocket and dig hp ij.75,000 or $100,006 for brand now county buildings such as will for ages anchor the county seat at La Grande. So wo can find no great folaco in accepting tho terms of their little vo ting incubator. Wo still have now buildings to erect besides sustnning a certain loss in the appraisement of tho property at Union. If La Grande can suoueed in humbugging tho county at large into accoptiug their overtures thoy can certainly manipulate much easier thu iippmuiug ot buildings, llewaro fellow citiiens of this bond cheino which is simply a bait for you to bite at. Your vote is what thoy aro after and will do anything to hooure it. They will nukonll manner of promises mid five bonds by the wholesale and any amount to long as they are I sure' they will not have to comply with thrir terms. It in expected that Frank Bros. Imp LA GRANDE -:- SI So i o rt - W w I C .s bo D jTyt giiirsi , WAWif JSEWe are in the field with a much larger and better stock of goods than ever before, and can show more and greater im provements for the season of 1890 than any other house. Do not fail to call and sec for yourself. FRANK BROS. IMPLEMENT La Grande will do this because they havo no argument to present justify ing a removal of the county scat at the present time and must buy votes if possible. Bartering and bribery will be their stock in trade as they can not hope to win in any other way. Honesty justice and fair dealing are not on their side, and wefeel confident that the honest voters and taxpayers of this county will give them a just rebuke the second day of next month. A -ivortD OF CAUTION'. lu this ni la every other locality whert it li known, thero nro hundreds of perious yth an taking Joy's Vegetable Srsaparllla. To tbo w want to pay ouo word. Iu nlno case out el trtrj tea it is cfl'cctluKtil'eclflocurai. But word comet to us occasionally ot poopls who report that II operutes ton Irccly upon tho bowels. Wo want t4 call tho uttoutlou ot thono to tho fact that the; aro not following the printed Instructions and are taking too much of It. If It acta too freely re duce tho dose, nover taking any more nt any Urns thnu causes easy aud perfect action. Keep this Injunction In mlud, aud tako it regularly for i while nud do not ludulgo In too much greasy food and wo will havo your testimonial within a fort night. If taken under theso conditions it is an absolute, euro for indigestion, dyspepsia, sick headaches, constipation, face eruptions and HTei aud kidney dlsordors. it may bo asked bow It can possibly euro so many aliments. But the rea son Is clear. All those troubles arc the legltlmsU resultof improper liver and kidney action or Un paired digestive organs. Its effects upon ihota functions nro as astonishing to the medical fraternity as to tho thousands wis aia dally taking it. Booml Booml! Boomlll Do quick if you want a first class bargain in city or country property (YVo'll loan you money to buy with.) Now is tho time. Got there "Eli." You'll double your money the first month. Call on Wilson fc Hackett, managers Union Real Estate Associa tion. Bucklon's Arnica Salve. Thk Hkst S.n.vn in tho world for Cuts, Bruises, Sores, Ulcers, Halt Khciun, Fever Sores, Tetter, Chapped llanos, Chilblains, Corns, and all Skin Kruptloiis,jhiHl posl ntvely cures Piles, or no pay required. It is (iiiuranteed to give perfect satisfaction, or money refunded. Price 23 cents per box. For salo Brown's drug store. New Livory Stable. I take this method of informing tho pub lic that I liavo rented the livery stable op posite tootlie' hotel, and will, about tho Stth Inst, open the same with u fine line of buggies, buggy teams and saddle horses, livery accomodation will bo afforded custo mers, and a .haro of the public patronage Is solicited. V. K. 1JOWKEK. A Snap. The best farm in Indian valley; '.IXInores; excellent improvements; a home farm; $:i,UOO cash. Address: a. f. nntuiioii .tco. .V.tt-JIt Elgin Or. A Pointer For You. If you "want to inako every dollar do full duty, catch on to soino pf the cheap bargains in farm or city property now otTcrcd by Wilson ife Hackett, mana gers Union Real. 1'JgtllU' Association, Everybody admits that tho Improved Randolph Steel Frame Header sold by Sta yer Si Walker, is tho lightest running easi est managed header on tho market. .VI.) Quick I Or you loso it. If you want a cheap lot in Union, call quick or you loso it. Call on Wilson it Hackett, managers Union Real Estate Association, Our beat farmers arc beginning to find Hint Stayer Si Walker sell tho best ma cuinery and vvhlcles, mid that their prices are the most reasonable, ft-15-t'l Wanted! To oxeliange goods for !!0 cords of wood. Mrs. L. It. Itinchart. FOR SALE. I nf ACItES OF TIMBER LAND near 1 U17 Summervllle. Both rvsidcuco and biutnosi proiicrtv In Ilia cities of Union ami im uriuitic!, cnenper limn inu cnenpesi JMiO.tr. J. It. OH mis. AND -- ISLAND a. m -:- Mrs. Rinehart, erf -I Also Carry m m yy y Ladies' Fnrnisliii Mil id Fine Slioes. All of which wili be NOW ARRhnnGi The Finest Lot of Mens' Whs' Boys' and G!' Clothing Spring and Summer Hats, Also tho Greatest and Rest Assortment of DRESS -:- GOODS! In all tho Latest Styles and Qualities, AT THE LOWEST PRICES, A. IjE"V"32" 3 -DEALER IN- DVJVl I O AU Kinck ' Latest Styles. Just Received, Direct from the MISSES' CALFSKIN SHOES, tho Best Ever brought to this Market. Also a Fino Assortment of . GENT'S -:- FURNISHING -:- GOODS, My Prices will suit the times. Drop in and see me. O. VINCENT. Main Street, Union, Or. HiOTOGRAPHS! HinHmiMiitii ii it iiiiiuiiiiii i n iiiiiiiiiiiiini iii i imiiiiiiiiiu The Jones Bros., Photographers, Union, Oregon, are now prepared to do finer work than ever before. XEWSU13NKHY and 0(!EKMOIUJ2S. All work guaranteed to give -.tisfactin or no -h:.rg. CITY, OREGON. o o 2 . r ss-s M o t-i t 3 " - 9 f -1 S3 " S 2 3 7- a -2, o o o o c c H 6 L-J s 5! H U2 a CO., La Grande and Island City. ifflfl the Milliner, -:- a Fine Line of- sold at bottom prices. Jf - TJlsTIOIsr OIR, East, a Larco Invoico of LADIES' and 6 J i