Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1907-10-18
Tacoma Surges Ahead.

few weeks ago il was told with glar-
ing headlines that Tacoma had a real,
true. sure haunted house! 1t was
shown by reliable witnesses that a
deserted house, that had become
such for its unbeatable canny char
acteristics, in thickly settled part
of the city, seemed to have at night
fully equipped blacksmith's shop
in full operation. The steady blast
of the forge bellows. only suspended
when the vigorous strokes of the
smith rang upon the anvil, alter
mating with the resembling strokes
of the helper. No blaze could, how
ever, be seen, and the noise shifted
from one part of the building to an
other, rs the venturesomc party of
scarchcrS changed their positions.
until finally it appeared to he direct
ly under their feet, when the I'M
welcome suggestion doubtless caused
their haSty retreat, reviewing prob
ably Il memory of that old-timc mad
rigal
Here comes the devil, with his III. iron
shovel,
A heaving hot Goals on sinners poor
souls"
What tragedy this unrest is in
tended to portray is unknown, but
certain it is that Seattle has enough
gruesome incidents upon which to
plot ghostly comedy of murder and
outrage, by land and sea, and to sup
ply capper to the smithy and its
anvil chorus.
Another thing in which Tacoma
has distanced Seattle is in raising
$l33. 900 rs subsidy for transferring
the offices of the Alaska Steamship
Company and contracting to operate
their steamships from the latter
port. That these achievements are
somewhat different in their nature
is not surprising, for both towns have
ever been on the alert to take in all
sorts of fish caught in their nets,
and when any unknown species is
found it is classified as sculpin and
thrown into the salt-barrel for such
suckers as may come along who are
unable to feast on Goldfish.
1t surely seems that Seattle is los
ing its snap when it allows Tacoma
corner on ghOstly exhibitions or to
compel steamships to tie up at her
wharves, unless indeed Seattle has
simply been caught mapping.
MAKE SPECTATORS PAY THEIR
SHARE.-One way for reducing taxa
ton and causing a sunburst of pros
perity to dawn over our honest hard
workers, is to compel spectators to
pay fair proportion of the assess
ment for local government. 1t seems
Lewis county has arrived at a proper
method for attainment of results, by
adopting n plan that seems to be
working with the best of results for
making the Timber BarOns pay their
full proportion of this fixed charge.
According to the report of County
Timber Cruiser, Walter Clinton, the
total cost of the cruise made by him
self and party for April, May, June,
July, August and September, has
been $28, He has reports in his
Office from 44S,0 900 acres of timber
that has been gone over. which would
make the cost of the cruise so far
tritle over cents per acre. AS near
as Mr.. Clinton can estimate, there
are yet to be cruised about 800, 900
acres of timber, and at the same rate
the cost will be approximately &c.
900 on this. At the outside, it is not
believed that the entire cruise will
cost more than $4,000. The cruise
is expected to more than pay for
itself on the first assessment that has
been made on account of the increased
values.