Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1907-01-21
LEGISLATIVE GOSSIP
REAL WORK Of SESSION WILL
BEGIN THIS xEE
Reform Forces In HsrmonDous Con.
troll of the Senate. wiN Act Inde-
pendent on Measures NOT Affected
by Their Agreemenf. Applicants
tor Place Disappointed.
Especial to the HERALD

Especial to the HERALD.1
OLYMPIA, Jan. 19.-Fifty.six bills in.
troduced in the house, ,hirty.three in
the senate and the appointment of COM
mittees in both house and senate, two
bills passed in both branches and signed
by the governor-this expresses in brief
the work of the first week OF the tenth
session Of the legislature. The second
week will see many committee meetings
to examine bills and arrange for hear
ings, for this has every appearance of
being a serious and indpbtrious legisla-
ture, knowing what It desires and un.
willing to do the will Of the political
bosses who used to come down to Olym-
pia and, with free whisky and other ac-
commodations, to tn wartthe wishes of the
voters who sent the representatives here.
Uppermost in the mind of the legisla-
ture, Of course, was sthe struggle in the
senate which ended III the overthrow of
the "old-tinersos spd the inauguration
OF new deal" legislation. This
overthrow was accomplished by ma
jo'ity of the senaSors entering into an
agreement to stop HE extravagant prac-
tices Of former sessions and to carry out
the purposes Of the agreement. Evident
ly the reform forces deemed it essential
to control the committees, for at the very
first session, Senator Booth introduced
amendments to the rules which clipped
from the lieutenant-governor, who is
president OF the aenste, the control of
committees, and required him to submit
them to the senate for confirmation.
This fight for the limitation Of the
power Of the president Of the senate is
one Of tie mssf remarkable in the his.
tory of state legislatures. For many
days preceding the opening of the ses-
sion, friends of the lieutenant-governo
scoffed at the very idea. They made it
out that the senators who had signed
the agreement had done 90 in several
cases under misunderstanding, and that
afterward they wrote letters to the
acknowledgement showing they were
| wholly out OF sympathy with any move
ment that would affect him. They told
of Withdrawals from the agreement in
sufficient numbers to make majority
of the senate impossible, but it was
evident in less than twenty.four hours
after the legislature met that the COM
pact was proof against plans of the "old
gang" to break it up. 1t had been pre-.
attempted to adjust committee appoint
ments, contention would begin and the
signers of the agreement would scatter.
However, in the caucuses exactly the
contrary condition was found. The
members manifested unselfshness in
remarkable degree. If it CHANGED that
any two of the "new deal" senators had
been expecting place on the same
committee, each was entirely willing to
step aside and let the other have the
place. The reform forces were bound
together by something stronger than
patronage or committee places. And so
1t was that the prediction Of COnten-
ton and inability to control committee
appointments failed.
Early in the week, when the house
approved the report OF the committee
on employees, there were sundry sorry
faces in the galleries and corridors. A
delegation of eight or nine aspirants for
jobs followed the Spokane delegation to
Olympia. About half of them found
places, and for the rest it was "back to
the mines" 1t is believed that the
patronage reforms adopted by the legis-
lature this year will prevent the biennial
spectacle of place-hunters by the score
gathering in Olympia at the opening OF
the session. E. H.