The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1905-07-14


is the fortune Of reforming executives
tackling legislative bodies. The ses-
sion is spoken Of as epoch making.
The administration had mapped out
a large field of endeavor in accordance
with the sweeping message of the gov
ernor About it's first act was to make
the governor a senator and in the way
the leaders of the senate at least
thought to minimize the executive mold
on the legislature. But Governor La
Toilette treated them to a surprise by
staying right at his post until the fin
ish and throwing all the weight of his
influence, both as governor and sena-
tor-elect, for his favorite measures.
the creation of a railroad commission
with large powers in the matters of
fixing rates and regulating state traf-
fic. This legislation was the slogan of
the first La Toilette campaign eight
years ago, and it is a tribute to the
tenacity of the governor as well as to
the organized opposition that it took
six years of valiant battle to win this
victory.
But the railroads draw some conso-
lation from the fact that the Johnson
2-cent mile bill failed Of passage,
some of the administration leaders OPP
posing it on the ground that they
ought to wait to see what the commits
sion can accomplish before going into
more specific railroad legislation.
In the line of tax reform the enact
ments were many and some of them
important. The most noteworthy was
the establishment of a permanent tax
commission. An attempt was made to
substitute the ad valorem system In
assessing the public service corpora
telegraph and street railway compa-
MES The state board of assessment
was given power to assess property
when in it's opinion not assessed up to
full value. An attempt to tax life
insurance companies on the surrender
value of their policies failed, but bill
was passed compelling companies to
distribute their surplus at least once
in five years. This cures a defect in
the legislation which prevented Com
missioner Host from winning his case
against the Equitable last year.
A number of measures calculated to
make effective the triumphs of the
people recorded in other legislation
were also enacted. Among these were
the anti-lobby act, the bill prohibiting
corporations from contributing to cam
paign funds and that making the cor
rupt practices act mandatory.
The closing session of the La Fol-
1ette regime finds the wave of reform
still at flood and the governor in bet
ter standing with the rank and file of
his party than ever before. Politicians
are asking whether the impetus to
drastic legislation has not spent its
force. The La Toilette men say no,
that the people have just begun to rule
in Wisconsin and that they are pre-
pared to carry on the government for
some years to come. The laws en-
acted last winter are experimental.
Their application is a matter of con-
siderable concern and the people are
not likely to let go before they see the
principles of the La Toilette program
in successful operation.
The enactment of useful laws has
been but one of the benefits Of the La
Toilette ascendancy. The most i'm
portant contribution of his admins
tration does not show in bills. 1t lies
in the elevation of politics, the substi-
tuition of ideals for selfish jobbery.
The people of Wisconsin will not soon
forget this service nor will they fail