Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1902-10-03
A LITTLE HISTORY.
SHOWING HOWANKENY DEFEAT.
ED THE COMMISSION BILL

All Sue" ~dtters FOsssSS an Absorbing IntefeS
Just Now. When Both Parties Ostensbl,
Favor a Commission-One for Expediency
the Other From Principle.
Following is the report OF the defea,
of the Preston Railroad Commission
bill published in the Seattle Post In
felligencer. Republican paper, in the
issue OF February 9th, 1901.
BY q vote of nineteen to fifteen in
favor Of, the Preston Railway Com.
mission bill was defeated in the Sen.
ate this afternoon. The bill provided
for the appointment OF a Railway
Commission by the Governor, the
Lieutenant Governor and the State
Auditor, thus taking out of the hands
of Gov. Rogers the appointive power
Several Democratic Senators claimed
to have voted against the bill because
OF that fact. In order to place them
on record it is said Senator Preston
will present bill similar to the one
defeated except that it vested the pow.
er of appointment in the Governor.
It is not believed that the bill will
pass. The next big railway fight will
be over the pending grain-rate bills.
The Preston bill was engrossed last
night after the adjournment of the
Senate, and when the hour for its con
sideration arrived this afternoon every
Senator was in his seat. In order to
be sure that all of the Senators were
present, however, q roll-call of the
Senate was had and every Senator re-
sponded to his name. The roll.call
was ordered and proceeded OF once, no
discussion being had on the bill.
When the name Of Senator CARRIER
was reached he, speaking on behalf OF
the four Democrats who voted for the
bill, said:
I" 1 regret that this Senate has seen
6t to depart from well-established land
marks. l believe that the Governor
should, under the Constitution OF this
State. have been given the power to
appoint this commission, but / feel
like captive who has been forced to
surrender to overwhelming force.
"Mr. President, I may have to ex-
plain many things during my legisla-
tive career, but I will never have to
explain to the farmers who sent me
here why I lined up with the railroad
forces. Still protesting against the
sbrogation OF the constitutional pre-
negatives OF the Governor, vote aye"
The four Democrats who voted
against the bill made no explanation
of their vote and the roll call con-
cluded without further incident.
The vote in detail was ss follows:
Yeas-Angle, Grow Of Spokane.
CARRIER, Hall, Hallett. Mantz, Megler,
Hammer, Moultray, Preston, Sharp,
Sumner, Tolman, Welty, Wiltshire
Is.
Nays-Andrews, Baker, Baumeister,
Biggs, Clapp. Cornwell. Grow of Whit
man, Davis, Hamilton, Heinrich,
Land, LeCrone. Kands, Reser, Ruth,
Schofeld. Smith, Stewart, Warburton
10.
At the conclusion OF the vote Sena-
tor Preston changed his vote to "No"
10, order to move q reconsideration
later.
The vote shows that the Democrats
split even, four voting each way. The
Democrats who voted fer the bill were
CARRIER. Hallett, Mantz and Tolman.
Those who voted against the bill were
Biggs, Crow Of Whitman, Land and
Reser. The vote further shows that
eleven Republicans voted for the bill
and fifteen against it.
The farmers OF Eastern Washington
who have been crying for railroad re-
lief and who have believed that such
relief would come through railrood
commission, may thank Levi Ankeny,
the rich Walla Walla banker. for the
defeat of the Preston bill. With the
exception OF Baker, Crow Of Whitman,
Cornwell, Baumeister and Keser, the
Eastern Washington Senators lined
up solidly for the Preston bill. Baker
is excused because he comes from q
district not affected by the railroads.
But Cornwell, Reser and Baumeister
are from the heart OF the great wheat.
raising country. Their votes would
have passed the Preston bill. These
three Senators are controlled by Levi
Ankeny. They have confided this fact
to their friends. They were willing at
any and all times to vote as Mr..
Ankeny desired. Mr.. Baumeister has
stated to some of his fellow Senators
that if Mr.. Ankeny favored the Pres
ton bill he was for it. Reser is q
Democrat, but he is under debt ol
gratitude TO Mr.. Ankeny and has re.
peatedly said that he would gladly
discharge it any time Ankeny saw fl
to request it. Every politician from
Eastern Washington states that i
Reser's vote will elect Levi Ankeny
United States Senator two years
hence, he can have it for the asking
this notwithstanding that Reser wa'
elected by the Dmocrats.
For almost . week d. B. Croker
Levi Ankeny's man in Walla Walla
county, has been in Olympia working