Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1907-03-01
A Move in the Right Direction.

OF our Union tOgctner IN ii league W
check the Capitalization tendencies of
the Roosevelt Administration. 1t
was introduced by Mr.. Merritt, of
st. Lawrence county, and provides
that three delegates from each State
be invited to conference next OctO-
Der, probably at Saratoga, to frame
uniform laws for regulation Of mat
tiers appcrtaining more directly to
local government and individual life
of the citizen. The visiting delegates
are to be guests of the State, and
$50, 600 will be appropriated to meet
the expenses of entertainment.
Its intrOducer says in its support
that conservative men of all parties
view with alarm the bare fact of Sug-
gestion that it is necessary for the
States of the Union to surrender di-
rcctly, or by indirection, any portion
of their sovereignty to the Federal
government, which has not been al
ready conceded. 1t is not question
of States rights, but rather one of
preserving, in its integrity, the SOW
ereignty of the several States which
have been recognized as properly
theirs to control.
The flourish that Mr.. Roosevelt
gave to his big stick to cOerce the
citizens of California into his way of
thinking, followed by the significant
language of Secretary Root in justi-
ficatiOn of that usurpatiOn of the
minor details of home government,
| Il OF fn at hon
stances wherein the Federal author
ity had been invoked without inquir-
ing as to the proper jurisdiction for
their determination. 1t is now con-
sidered that the matter had better
be met before a conflict is inaugur-
ated that may lead to overt acts
which can but cloud the eyes of JUS
tice by presentation of sanguinary
acts that impair calm Judgment.
Mr.. Merritt affirms, in support of
his bill, that current discussion of
the regulation of the public-service
corporations, corporate organiza-
tions, and hours of labor in particu-
lar, seems to be developing in the
direction of Federal instead of State
control And it will be observed that
the tendency has been to increase the
salaries of all public officers, out of
all proportion to the wage-rates of
labor. The object seems to be to
establish instead of the distinctions
of rank or caste, prohibited as the
first condition of free government, q
wealth qualification that will pass
as the badge of nobility. This ten
dency of sentiment is seen even in our
Legislature, wherein an attempt is
being made to invest the judicial and
executive officers, State, district and
county, with salaries and perquisites
that will, under ordinary tenure,
seat them firmly in the band-wagOn,
with whip in hand. These will, in
the course of time, constitute the
privileged class that is born" to
rule with as much assurance as the
peerage of England.
This movement, be it said to the
credit of patriotism, is not bounded
by partisan feeling or prejudice. 1t
is from the same earnest heart
throbs that resisted the suggestion
of a centralized" government when
our national constitution was framed,
and has kept our nation ever since
true to the cardinal principle therein
embodied, of government of the
people, by the people and for the
people"
AN OLD SUGGESTION IN New
FORM.-It was a man named David
Hutton, who, nearly a century ago
Tin 1879 after considerable expert
ment, estimated that he could equip
thread factory with 10000 mice,
and an equal number of miniature
treadmills, to be run by them, where
by he could secure an annual profit
of $1,000 In order to do this, each
mouse would have to travel a ten
mile limit each day, and one of his
test mice attained speed of eigh-
teen miles. Mr.. Hutton's death pre-
vented a practical application of his
idea, but it is said to have been re-
vived, and the suggestion has been
made to apply it to a motor vehicle
propulsion. What a sensation a
light tricycle. would create with
squirrel-cage wheels filled with a
multitude of mice, and compart-
ment for well-grown cat, that keeps
them at their work by an occasional
meow, or develops their best pace
by a stacatto mow-wow! All the
chauffeur would have to do to in
crease speed would be to twist the
feline caudel appendage.
EFFECT OF JAPANESE INVASION OF
LABOR.-One effect of Japanese in
vasion of labor is shown at Sakhalin