Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1896-05-29
Watchman. Tell Us Of the Night

And still the question comes to us,
IN every conceivable form, What OF
the CaWtol?' and in reply VIC can only
point TO past delay for an indication
Of what the future may have in store
Tor us. Ii it be true that There is no
better way OF judging OF the future
than by the past" there is little foun-
dation Tor even those illusions OF hope
to rest upon which the immortal pat
riot Henry declared transforms us into
beasts.
The situation, briefly stated, is that
there remain about 10000 acres Of
the 1872 000-acre land grant yet to be
located, after the elapse of three years
OF time in making selections! II it is
TO constitute the security for loan OF
the entire amount used in construction
of the capitol, it can very readily be
seen that failure toprovide the COL
lateral" is serious, if not insurmount-
able difficulty in securing the loan.
This is especially true when we con-
slider the terms of the act under which
the State capital fund" is to be Great
ed. 1t provides that contracts for ma
terial and labor shall be paid in war
rants on said fund, derived from sale
Of lands granted for construction OF
public buildings at the capital. No
provision is made. however, for pay
ment of accrued interest on these war
rants, consideration that is regarded
as of primary importance in all desir-
able monetary transactions. 1t would
have been an easy matter for the legis-
lature to have made these warrants
first-clsss paper, at about one. half the
legal rate Of interest, by simply insert
ing provision guaranteeing say three
or four per cent, payable semi-annu-
ally. But friends of the measure
seemed to be willing to accept almost
anything in the way OF compromise to
secure affirmative action, and actually
allowed their opponents to dictate the
terms of the act which finally passed,
and of which one OF its most bitter op-
posers declared Immediately after the
vote, "Olympia is welcome to all the
good she can derive from it,"
There seems to have been no reason
why the construction of as important
an acquisition as State capitol should
have been placed in a different cate
CORY from the erection of other public
buildings, the cost OF which has been
paid directly from the pockets of the
taxpayers. Olympia, when Thurston
was the leading county, was never q
niggard in extending aid to all such
public works. She never asked for
anything more than was accorded at
the first from her geographical position,
the seat of government, and has been
endorsed by decided majorities every
time the people of the State have had
the privilege of expressing their choice
in the matter.
The unfriendliness of the Legisla-
ture as shown by q refusal to infuse
into their act the vital essence to give
it life, afforded an opportunity for the
Do-Nothing Board OF Commissioners,
headed by Gov. McGraw, to continue
their policy OF mastery inactivity,
thwart the will of the people and rele-
gate the matter to the masses as bone
Of contention, whereby personal ambi-
ton may be advanced.
The only hope that remains of sale
of the warrants lies in the speedy To-
cation of the remainder of the land
grant aud that the legal rate OF inter.
est which they will bear may compen-
safe for the failure to provide for its
payment at stated intervals. The out
look, it must be confessed, is not very
bright, but it is the best we can dis
cover when the cathode ray is turned
on to the whole subject.