Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1893-02-08
STATE CAPITAL GOSSIP

gate matters pertaining to the action
of the Worlds fair commission listened
to severe arrangement of Edmond s,
Meany, the press agent of the commits.
sion at a recent meeting. For a long
time as indicated by your correspon-
dent there has been sentiment that
the Worlds fair commission had mis-
managed matters and that 1t had been
unduly extravagant. Ezra Meeker,
however is the first to file formal and
definite charges against the commits
sion. Meeker Is an executive and prob
ably knows as much about the actual
value of the services which the COM
mission has performed as any other
man in the state. He specifically
charges that there was an attempt at
the first meeting Of the commission to
appropriate $4,000 to pay private
obligation of DIR. Blalock and others.
He further states that members of the
commission have not submitted true
accounts of their expenses but obtained
from the state much more than their
expenses actually were. He declares
that Meany was created press agent
when it was entirely unnecessary that
any such office should be in existence.
burg he says cost the state $1,000. He
charges that by obstructive methods
they prevented receptacles for displays
from being secured and intimates that
the money which had been spent for
that purpose was expended i'm unneces-
sary expenses or still is to the credit of
some of the commissioners or the press
agents bank cccount. He declares that
all the money that has been paid TO
Meany, nearly $4,000 has been illegally
paid HIM and that from the day he was
appointed he was ofiicious and intefer-
ing and has been of no use whatever in
furthering the interests of the state.
Meeker practically declares that
Meany's office was created because
Meany was out of employment and had
to have some position provided for him
by the state.
The old proverb that "when rogues
fall out honest men get their due" is
contradicted by this incident for the
money that has been spent will never
be recovered, but to the unprejudiced
II would seem that if Washington's
credit is TO be sustained there must be
some radical changes i'm the personnel
of the Worlds fair commission. There
is perhaps not paper In this state that
would not willingly at any time pub
fish whatever Is of interest that per-
tanned to the Worlds fair, and there
was absolutely no use for press agent.
The sooner he at least is removed the
better the people of the state will be
pleased. The foregoing comment is
simply the reflection of the sent ment of
a number of the members of the legis-
lature whom your correspondent has
interviewed who do not believe i'm
creating offices to supply individual
wants or necessity.
The anger which fills the breasts of
the members of the Worlds Fair COM
mission, however. is not half so bitter
as That which Allen and McGraw feel
against Turner. Quite recently Judge
Turner decided that since the Bolivian
minister had been deposed as Aliens
manager McGraw, through his friend,
Van de Vanter, was directing Aliens
campaign. Accordingly he submitted
to Governor McGraw a proposition to
withdraw from the senatorial contest,
providing Allen also withdrew. Judge
Turner said that his supporters wanted |
a senator but did not want Allen. He
declared that he did not wish to be an |
obstructiOnist aud that was his reason |
for making his offer to withdraw. This /
conversation Judge Turner avows was |
held in strict confidence and was en- |
tirely confidential, yet was printed i'm |
the Allen papers. Judge Turner inn |
mediately wrote a letter, in which he |
strongly intimated that the governor
of the state Of Washington had acted |
i'm an ungentlemanly manner. Gov
ernOr McGraw also wrote letter and
the two letters were so much at vari.
nfh hot IL -,
that one of the writers, to put il
mildly, had stretched the truth. Sue
incidents as these only tend TO make
the contest more bitter and there has
never been time since the beginning
of the contest when there was less
likelihood of the contest being settled
by compromise between the two con.
testants. Representative Ludden, of
Spokane, recently changed his vote
from Turner TO Allen and Greenberp,
of, Spokane, can, it Is said, be "in-
duced" TO vote for Allen if he lacks
only one vote. Ludden has long
wanted to make the change but dared
not do it until there was some means
of making known to his constituents
why he did il. The Allenites found a
way to defend him. Joseph French
johnson, the editor Of Spokane
paper which has hitherto been support
ing Turner, recently arrived here aud
after a long consultation with the
Allen men, intimated that his paper
could support Ludden's course. This
was an abrupt change in the editorial
policy of the paper and there are
many who do not hesitate to say that
a certain amount Of money was dis
bursed before the policy of the paper
could be changed. II now seems
probable that the Turnerites cannot
hold out to the end. They may delay
the result but it is highly improbable
that they can prevent the election of
Allen, especially IL the latter's sack"
arrives next week or the latter part Of
this, as 1t is expected II will. The SEN
atorial contest has thus far cost each
candidate in the neighborhood of