Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1890-10-24
THE CAPITAL.
Why Olympia Should be Selected as
tho Permanent Place-Reasons
Why it is the Best Point and
Why it Will be Chosen.


of the doubt which necessarily exists
as long as the matter has not been de-
cided by the voice of the people. The
unsuccessful candidates for the Capt.
tai honors will be benefited by the
removal OF the faint and forlorn hope
the straw as it were-to which they
have been clinging, thereby making
them more self-rcliant and indepen-
dent, depending upon their own re-
sources and natural advantages rather
than pretending to think that some
day they may become the Capital OF
this great and growing State. AS but
4 short time intervenes between now
and the November election, it will not
be out of place to call attention to
few facts touching upon this selection.
The citizen upon casting his ballot,
should consider the best interest, not
of Olympia, of North Yakima, of El-
lensburg, nor of any special locality,
but of whole State, without regard
to sectional or individual interests.
That point settled, let lis consider few
of the most essential features.
1t is not the geographical center,
but the center of population that enters
in the contest-that place which can be
most readily reached by the greatest
number of people is the point we are
looking after. The census returns go
to show that the great Puget Sound
basin contains the preponderance of
the population of the State, and the
ratio OF its increase is far in excess of
that of Eastern Washington. There
is no middle ground between Eastern
and Western Washington, rs that
would place it somewhere on the Cas-
cade mountains. Who knows but the
most central location is the summit of
Mount Rainier, whose eternal SHOWS
and frigid atmosphere might be pleas
ant to an Esquimaux, but would hardly
prove congenial to Washington law
maker. Then the Capital should be
in some city on Puget Sound, and
Olympia, the queen of them all, is the
only place which asks for it. AS to
her accessibility by land, three rail-
roads are building through the city as
rapidly as men can he secured to push
the work; these give six different
avenues of entering the city by rail.
As shown by local paper few days
ago, eight steamboats, are coming and
leaving her wharves daily. With all
these facilities for travel, could any
point be more accessible from all
quartersi All we ask is, let the voter
compare this showing with Yakima
and Ellensburgh.
Olympia has all the advantages
claimed by her rival candidates east OF
the mountains and many more besides
The harbor OF Puget Sound is un-
doubtedly the finest on earth, and al
ready her port of entry is the second
one in importance in the United
States, being only excelled in the
amount of her shipping by New York,
and it is no fanciful dream to say that
the commerce of Puget Sound is but
in its infancy.
Our timber is as fine as any in the
world, and it will require many gener-
atoms to exhaust the supply. The
same remarks apply with equal truth
fulncss to her coal fields and minerals,
the development of which has hardly
begun. We are in the midst of the
finest fruit country on earth. Our
fish supply is not excelled and rarely
equaled, and Puget Sound will even
tually become the curing and packing
grounds for the great fishing banks of
of Alaska.
Our climate is the most healthful,
our atmosphere the most invigorating,
our water the purest, our soil is rich--
much of it unexcelled in any country.
Olympia is situated at the head of the
great Puget Sound harbor; she is sur
rounded by a great hop-growing and
fruit-producing region. Within little
over a mile from the Capitol is an un-
excelled water-power, sufficient to drive
an immense amount of machinery.
The location of Olympia is most
beautiful, and here in a delightfully."-
shady park stands (where it has stood
for nearly four decades) the Capitol.
Here it was placed by the early pio-
neers. This spot seemed to them the
most suitable for the location, and
time has proved and the voters next
month will prove, that their judgment
was good.
With all these facts before the peo-
pie they surely will not commit the
blunder of moving the Capital from
Puget Sound, where nature intended
should be the great commercial center
of the Pacific Northwest, where the
big ships from all parts of the habit
able globe come to carry off our lum-
Der, wheat, hops and many other arti-
cles of our production and manufac-
ture. Thus it will be seen that Puget
Sound is and will be the market and
shipping point for all parts of the
State and for several neighboring
States. Here will be the great manu-
lfacturing section, giving employment
to thousands Of men, and here is and