Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1908-04-13
OUR next GOVERNOR
A BRIEF REVIEW OF OCCUPANTS OF
GUBERNATORIAL CHAIR.
William Goodyear, Editor OF the Cot.
fax COmmOner, writes interest.
w on the subject. A Depleted
Treasury and School Revenues
Sacrificed Calls for q Change.

Our next governor must not be a
spineless specimen of mediocrity. He
must have a higher ambition in life
than to play politics or to win the
reputation of being good fellow
He must have a truer conception of
the responsibilities of the office than
to use it as a medium through which
to reward his friends and henchmen
or to build up a personal machine.
He must be man of convictions, en-
dowed with sufficient backbone to
adhere to those convictions through
thick and thin. He must be patriotic
enough to place the welfare of the
state above the interests of his party.
He must have the courage to say
mo" to the requests of his closest
friends should their petitions run
counter to his judgment. In making
appointments to office he must be
broad enough to place efficiency
above politics.
Since Washington was admitted to
statehood there has been but one
man elected to the office Of governor
who could measure up to the stand
ard above set forth. Governor Ferry
was in poor health when elected and
surrendered his authority to Lieut.
Gov. Laughton so soon that it is i'm
possible to form fair estimate of
what his administration might have
been. LaughtOn is dead and the least
said about his record in the guber-
Material chair the better. Gov.
McGraw was a we'll meaning man,
but he had been educated in the
school of practical politics, was am
bilious for future preferment, and his
policies were, to large measure, die
tated by PARTISAN machine, with
unfortunate results. While not a
brilliant man, John R. Rogers had
the interests of the people at heart
and possessed an unlimited amount
of courage. His administration was
honest, economical and efficient and
Justly entitled him to the reputation
of being the best governor the state
has ever had. His reelection, de-
spite the republican landslide of 1900
proved conclusively that he had won
the confidence of the people and they
approved his second term, and Henry
Mcbride was promoted to the office.
He endeavored to carry out the pol
icies inaugurated by Rogers and
thereby incurred the enmity of the
machine politicians of his party and
was refused the nomination for gov
ernor by the republican state conven-
ton of 1904. That convention was
dominated by railroad influences
which dictated the nomination of
Albert Il. Mead. His administration
has been weak and validating. In
stead of guarding the treasury of
the commonwealth against the raids
of politicians and extravagant legis-
lators, he has aided and abetted them
in recklessly appropriating the money
of the taxpayers. AS result, the
state, instead of reducing it's obliga-
tions during three years of "unpre-
cedented prosperity" when high taxes
have been promptly paid, has been
plunging deeper into debt. In addi-
tion TO this deplorable condition, the
schools are being deprived of their
legal revenue in order to keep down
the tax levy for political purposes.
This assertion is based upon a dis
patch which was sent out from Olym-
pia under date of February 1st, and
was published in the leading repub-
lican newspapers of the state. 1t
contained the following startling as
SertionS:
Property owners in this state will
begin paying taxes next Monday at a
higher rate for the general state
purposes than in any year since
1896.
"At the same time they will pay
state schol taxes based on rate
lower than any levied since the
amended Barefoot Schoolboy Act"
of 1901 went into effect.
Figures obtainable from the state
treasurer's Office show that the state
tax levying board either greatly over
estimated the school revenues to be
derived from sources other than tax
alton or else Intentionally disre-