Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1905-04-20
DESTROYED THROUGH PIQUE BY
REPRESENTATIVE DAVIS.
The HOQuiam WashingtOnian Makes
Ridiculous Defense of an lnde-
fenSibIe Action, and Adopts Stadd-
ard Oil ne fhOdS in so Doing. His.
tory of the Bill.

The Hoquiam mouthpiece of Geo. L..
Davis rushes to the defense of the misfit
statesman by impngning the motives of
the HERALD in exposing the mschievous
clam protection law. In this line of de-
fense the Washingtonian is not original,
the Standard Oil people have worn it to
FRAGILE, in an attempt to answer serious
charge by proving Larson no gentleman.
In that case it happens that Mr.. Lawson
is not on trial. Neither is the Herald
in this clam matter.
The history OF the clam bill, as given
the writer by Mr.. Davis himself, is that
he, Davis, had the bill irawn Tor four
months close season, as the law stands
now, but, after talking with p. +. Hal
ferty, of the Aberdeen cannery. he agreed
to reduce it to three months. That
when the bill was considered in COM
mittee, he was not present. and when he
found that MIR. Halferty had convinced
the committee, and Fish Commissioner
Kershaw, that two months was ample
protection, he was offended, followed
the measure to the senate and had the
four months clause reinserted. When
the bill returned to the house it was
passed unnoticed by the other members
from this county, who believed it had
been all settled IN committee in man.
nor satisfactory to everybody concerned
But, they -eckoned without the often led
dignity OF Geo. l.. Davis, whose pique
was aroused by the audacity Of the COM
mittee in aching upon his bill in his
absence. 1t may be added that the
original bill provided for close season
on Puget Sound, and that that section
was stricken ont in the senate, so that
the poor CLAIMS are without protection all
over those broad waters, and only those
favored by residence on the ocean
beach are taken care of.
This is the record OF the case accord.
ing to the author Of the bill, and the fact
tina, an extra month was added to the
close season, not in the interest of pro-
lection, but to harrasS an important in
du-try to allay Il personal feeling Of
offended dignity. fully justifies he term
misfit being applied to any legislator
who permits himself to be SO Influenced.
Does the clam need this protection,
anyhow? Mr.. Davis organ thinks they
do. and quotes the report OF the fish
commissioner to prove it. If our es.
teemed contemporary had looked up
ti.at report instead of taking Davis word
for it, it would have discover ed that Fish
Commissioner Kershaw admitted that
he did not know what sort of prot e.
ton they required. An admission that
is borne ont by the fact that he expressed
himself in committee as satisfied with
two months, and afterwards informed
Davis that he was pleased with the four
months provision-for Grays Harbor
only. Here is what the fish commits
$40 ler says, On page SO OF his report:
"Work with crabs, shrimps and clans
must necessarily at first be along the
lines OF studying their life histories and
habits until we learn something more
about them; then we can 60 about ex-
perimenting with them and protecting
them intelligently."
The section of the report quoted by
the Washingtonian referred to Puget
Sound species of clans, vet We find this
brilliant law lodges the long.suffering
clam of that region, and rushes to the
rescue OF the Grays Harbor mollusk,
whose "life history and habits" have
pof haou otrliod