Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1911-11-02
SEEK JOINT
DISCUSSION
Allen Law May Be Subject Of
Discussion Next Tuesday
Night.
WANT TO LEARN FACTS
President Of Progressive Club
Will Invite Dissenting
Attorneys to Debate

Considering the Halloween festivi.
ties, Tuesday evening the mass meet
ing in the city council chamber, to dis
cuss the commission plan of govern
ment was we'll attended, and the in
terest in the topic is rapidly growing
throughout the city. The first speak
er of the evening was Attorney Frank
E. Murphy, who replied to the opinions
print last week Mr. Murphy COM
pletely refuted the assertion that the
adoption of the Allen plan would pre-
vent Aberdeen from becoming city
of the first class when it's population
reaches 10000. reading an opinion
from the attorney general to substan-
tiate his statement. Pointing out the
inaccuracies of the opinions under dis
cussion he said he saw no possibility
of danger to the city by the adoption
of this modern system of witty govern
ment.
O. c. Whitney, a former councilman
of Hoquiam, was called upon by the
chair, and made forceful address.
He said the plan was working well in
his city, and said that Aberdeen could
not be injured by it's adoption although
he said, the kind of city government
a city receives depends entirely upon
the civic pride of its citizenship; that
a city whose citizens refused or fail
ed to give the required attention to
it's affairs was certain to be indiffer-
emily governed.
The next speaker was Judge J. G..
Pearson, who devoted his attention
to the opinion of w. J. Patterson, to
the effect that the adoption of the AL.
len law would be calamity to Aber-
deem, and termed the assertion
"scarecrow."
Editor Clark, of the Grays Harbor
Post, was given the floor, and he pro.
ceeded to defend the opinions of his
legal staff, saying that when he re-
quested the articles he did not know
how any of the lawyers stood on the
commission plan, and that their un-
animity was one of those remarkable
condolences that occur with about
the frequency of the HALEY comet.
and made an argument against the
plan along the lines laid down by his
legal contributors. Referring to Ia
coma as a horrible example of the
commission form, he was called down
by Joseph Jacob who is familiar with
that city, and who stated that Tacoma
was so well pleased with it's commits
sion plan that a change back to the
old ward system was not thought of.
With all it's mistakes, it was a vast
Improvement over the old plan.
James A. Hood made a vigorous
talk for the commission, and called at
tention to the numerous misleading
statements made by the opposition.
T. H. Mckay said he favored the COM
mission form, but considered the Allen
law dangerous. His explanations of
the alleged dangers started running
discussion between Messrs. Mckay
Hood, Murphy and Carney, that seem
ed to the chairman to indicate the fact
that joint discussion would be cal
culcated to bring out the facts that
the people should know before cleo
ton day, and he announced that an
effort would be made to have such a
discussion. An invitation will be ex-
tended to the six lawyers whose op-
position views have been published,
to have one of their number meet the
chairman in joint debate on the
Allen law next Tuesday evening.