Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1897-02-12
" Even HON Sometimes Mods.

'''" ''' 4 Iti., .!Il!" iIlL 'iil. gIitt ned
"rl'.'n upon any topic d;~cu--,d. cA-
'"i.' :"'''.. '...-.. VIII" ha..- attained :,
r"n.nrucr which ,h"'Iid carry with
".t:i il enlarged iI,a- and Il ju-t con
''l'tl"n ii dUtv t. mankind. in which
IL" rights and privileges "i all ar,
considered. Without claiming inI
the newspaper profession any undue
merit. thu writer has often been i'm
pressed with the Thought how nearly
hI> brethren "i the quill" come to-
wards div">tinE themselves Of thi,
earthly tralt III the discussion ui mat
t'rS in which they must "i necessity
feel tine same narrow rromptingS oi
their fellow man.
The wider the circulation Of Il news.
paper, and the more extended its in
influence, the higher becomes this
duty OF acting as an umpire in pass
ing upon matters OF interest to the
whole commonwealth. \ great paper
should he the reflex of enlightened
sentiment; it should weigh every
proposition from an impartial stand
point, and he careful in forming it,
estimate to see that the interests of
all have been duly considered. The
great newspaper should base its pres
tige upon fairness and impartiality,
and should be careful when it makes
itself the engine OF any radical change,
to see that its premises are founded
upon truth and justice.
This much by way of prelude to the
consideration of an article in the Sc
attic Times of Saturday, on removal
Of the capital, in which that journal of
vaunted circulation and influence
strings together column of the gross
est misstatements to induce the
Legislature to submit to the people a
proposition for relocation of the
seat of State government, in the hope
that by so doing Seattle will be able
to absorb what little is left of desira-
bic things that are not yet "perma-
nently located at or contiguous to
that city.
1t urges the change on the alleged
ground that the present location is
difficulty of access, and says:
The train leaves for Olympia in the
morning, arrives about noon, if it has
good luck-and if nothing very extraor-
binary happens, by five o'clock a train
may possibly get out of the town the
same evening-but if the conductor or
engineer should happen to be ill, pas
sengers would wait over until the next
day.
The fact is that the train service is
part of the Northern Pacific system,
and the trains arrive and depart on
schedule time and the assertion that
passengers "wait over until the next
day." under any circumstances, is
simply false. 1t further asserts:
To be sure there is a steamer which
leaves there in the morning before any,
body gets up, and returns sometime
about bedtime. These two means of
ingress and egress to the capital of a
great commonwealth are all that can
be afforded by the various transporta-
ton companies, and we presume are
more than travel really warrants.
This is just as false. Steamers
leave for Seattle and other points at
6 80 A. M. and 2 P. NJ. and the Port
Townsend Southern cars leave at 2:1O
P. NJ. connecting with the Northern
Pacific railroad at TeninO for all
points South and Southwest. A per-
son having business in Olympia can
come by steamer, arrive at l 80 and
leave at 5 in the evening for the
"hub," Seattle, and the planetary sys-
tenn which revolves around it as the
great central sun.
The assumption Of the lop-sided
critic seems to be that everybody visit
ing the capital comes from Seattle,
and that as the distance from that
city is less to Puyallup or Tacoma,
that everybody would be benefited by
a change of the capital to one or the
other of those delectable points. Now
there are many people who live in the
river counties and on Gray's harbor,
who, if the change were made would
be compelled to travel much farther
than they now do to reach the seat of
government. This fact is, of course,
ignored by that class of philosophers
who live with their heads above the
clouds, and can only see what is &C.
curing amid the iridescence of the
rainbows, each with money.pot at fits
base, which have fitted so persistently
over everything of Seattle origin.
The writer then attempts to dispar-
age the hotel accommodations of
Olympia, which are equal to any in
the State, and far better than the
average hasheries" of the city whose
prominent landmark is its "Hotel
Denny" which has stood for years
awaiting the finishing touches to its
stately proportions. a monument of
incapacity to institute, to say nothing
of ability for supporting, a first-class
hotel service.
The writer then attempts to show
that the mail facilities of this city are
poor; that it sometimes takes "four
days" for mail to reach this city from
Seattle. If this be true, the fault is
with the postal department and not
with the location, for there never has