The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1904-09-21

Yeas, go: noes. 0: absent or not voting.
| IL. l want you to note that the bill
was not left in charge of Mr.. Mead;
that the railroads made no fight against
1t and, in voting for it Mr.. Mead
simply acted with all the other mem.
bers of the house
The Walla Walla Union said this
morning that Meads record is unlm-
peachable and added:
If there is anything in it to show
that Mr. Mead has ever served cor
porate interests. Turner is challenged
! to name it. He should submit the
proof or admit that he spoke falsely"
Mr.. Turner is not here but l accept
| the challenge on his behalf and will
prove that Mr.. Mead has served cor
porate interests by a statement of the
| Union itself. On the editorial page
of it's issue of May 10. under the cap
ton Record of Staunch Republican"
the Union said: In the recent fight
at the Whatcom county primaries
| when Mayor a. L. Black. of Belling-
ham. who was considered a lieutenant
of Governor Mcbride. became a can
didate for congress. Mr. Mead was
selected by the railroad faction as the
strongest man they could put up to
unite the forces of Whatcom county
and prevent the tacit endorsement Of
Mcbride that they believed Black s
success would have meant"
What more effective service to COR
porate interests could Mead have rem
dered than to allow himself to be used
as d tool to compass the defeat of Nc
Bride and his railroad commission
policy?
But there was an anti-railroad meas
ure before that house which the lobby
did oppose. 1t was House bill No. 1855,
introduced by Smith Of Douglas. an
anti-pass bill. How did Mr.. Mead vote
on that measure The record is found
on page 425 of the House journal. The
bill was reported by the committee on
railroads with the recommendation
that it be indefinitely postponed The
house refused to indefinitely postpone
this measure by a vote of 40 to 81, with
Il members absent or not voting. Mr..
Mead was one of the q who voted for
indefinite pOStpOnement. The bill was
then recommended, this time to the
committee on judiciary Of which Mr..
Mead was chairman, and in the tender
care of that committee it apparently
slept the long sleep which knows no
waking as there is no further mention
of it in the record. The state cOnstitu
ton makes it mandatory upon the le-
giSlature to enact an anti-paSS law. Mr..
Mead, when he qualified as a member
of the Legislature, took a solemn oath
to sustain the constitution and when
he voted against House bill No. 1873. l
charge that he violated his oath.
But Mr.. Mead is now asking sup
port on the pledge that he will sign a
commission bill if the legislature
passes one. He knows that he is safe in
making that pledge. If a republican
legislature refused to pass a commits
sion bill when the party was SOlemnly
pledged to do it by their state platform,
and with a governor using all his in
tluence to have the pledge redeemed,
| what hope is there of the bill passing
when the state convention has set its
seal of Iisapproval upon it and with
a governor hostile to the measure
There is not one chance in a thousand
that Mr. Mead would be called upon to
carry out his pledge. but even if he
should be, he could still keep faith with
his political hackers by appointing a
commission satisfactory to the rail-
roads, which would be worse than no
commission at all
You republicans who believe in GOV.
Mcbride; who honestly favor rail-
road commission. who are sincere in
your desire to purge your party of lob
by rule and lobby methods, what are
you going to do? 1t strikes me that
you are very much in the position of
a little neWsbOy. named Johnny. who
sold papers in Wall street in New
York city. One day he and a little
companion thought that they would be
extravagant and indulge in cigar.
Johnny Clipped in 3 cents and the
other boy 2 cents. Johnny stood out
side while the other boy went into the
store, bought d 5-center, lighted it
and came out smoking as grand as
lord Johnny watched eagerly until
over half of the cigar had gone up in
smoke and then asked Amt it about
time | had my turn?' The other boy
looked at him contemptuously, blew
out a Wifi of smoke and remarked:
This is a stock company. L am the
president, you are the stockholders.
You spit, See?" Are you going to do
it my friends? I believe that most of
you will spit in the faces of the gang
who are cracking the party lash over
your heads, while they are attempting
to fasten the corporation collars about
your necks. What are you going TO
do? There is only one sensible thing to
do and that is to vote for men VINO
stand for the principle in which you
believe You may rest assured that the
opponents of the railroad commission
will vote for Mead regardless of party
lines and it therefore behOOves the
friends of the commission to stand to-
gether. The democratic party has taken
the side of the people in this fight. It's
position is clearly stated in the lead
ing plank of the state platform; Let
me read it to you:
| we believe that the paramount and
all important issue in this campaign is
the question of whether the people
shall regulate the corporations or tue
corporations dominate the state. We
emphatically assert the right of the
people to regulate the corporations.
and therefore, demand. first: The crea-
ton of a nonpartisan regulatiVe rail-