Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1911-11-16
Commission Plan Wins On
Vote Taken After
Discussion
SAME OLD OBJECTIONS
Big Audience Gives Speakers
Close Attention. Merits
of Law Shown.

he CITY council room was paCkeQ,
and the corridor filled, at the joint
discussion of the Al n commission
law Tuesday evening, and vote TAX
en- at the conclusion of the arguments
showed more than two-thirds of the
crowd in favor of the adoption of the
plan.
l.. G. Humbargar presided at the
meeting, and Judge F. w. Loomis
opened with a Commute address in
opposition to the law. While the
judge made many objections to the
Allen law, the dominant note of his
speech was opposition to the initia-
tive, referendum and recall, features
which he declared would undermine
the very foundations of our govern
ment. He feiled to note any serious
undermining" as yet in the many
states where those safeguards of the
peoples interests are in successful
operation. He showed two pamphlets
issued by the state of Oregon con-
tanning copies of laws initiated and
referred in that state and said it was
impossible for the people to have vot-
ed understandingly on so much leg
islation. He carefully refraned from
informing the audience-as he might
stance had a bad law been initiated,
on the contrary, the composite citi-
zenship of Oregon proved fully capa-
BILE of intelligent legislation.
The objections OF Judge Loomis to
the Allen law were but reiterations
of those made by the six lawyers in
the Grays Harbor Post, the fiimsey
character of which was fully exposed
in the Herald. He declared himself
in favor of commission form of gov
ernment, but opposed to the Allen
law. This, by natural inference, was
taken to mean that he favored an un-
checked commission, such as we now
have in the county commissioners,
that being a commission without the
initiative, referendum or recall.
He repeated the statement of At
torney Hogan, that local improv
ments would be delayed under the
Allen law, statement entirely unWar
ranted by any possible construction
of tne Allen law. The fact is, that
the Allen. law makes absolutely no
changes in our present laws and ordi-
nances in regard to local improve
ments, further than to require the or
dinance, in it's complete form, to be
on file with the clerk seven days be-
fore it's passage (section 16). Local
improvements are mentioned but
twice in the Allen law, in section 16,
referred to, and section %, which pro
vides that such ordinances shall not
be subject to referendum.
Many of the objections raised to
the new law by the Judge were too
trivial for serious consideration, some
of them bordering on the absurd. For
instance, the date of elections was
bad, and the danger of two commits
siOners meeting on the street, and,
being quorum, attending to some
city matter at once, instead of as
now, having the citizen wait until the
meeting night, and then have his
trouble referred to committee for a
week. The judge almost became pa
thetic in picturing sad state of af-
fairs in which the red tape would
be cut out, and the citizen permitted
to do business at any time with the
responsible head of department.
He repeated the objection made by
Attorney J. B. Bridges, to the effect
that the location of new industries
would be handicapped by the section
of the law requiring franchises to be
voted upon at an election. In his re-
ply, Mr. Carney pointed out the error
of this position, quoting section 16,
to prove that franchises for public
service utilities only were so required
and that spur tracks to private indus
trial plants were not public service
tracks. Although ownd by the rail
road company, such spur tracks are for
the private use of the plants to which
they are laid, and it is a strained con-
struction of the law to include them
as public service lines, construc-
tion that would be upheld in no court.
That Aberdeen would be unable to
secure the proper men for commits
sioners was urged by Judge Loomis,
to which, in reply, Mr.. Carney cited
the cities of Walla Walla, Chehalis,
North Yakima and Hoquiam as in
stances where no such difficulty was
experienced and said he believed Alb
erdeen contained citizens as public
spirited, and that civic pride was as
abundant here as in any of those
places.
One of the humorous objections of
Mr.. Loomis, was to the mayor of
North Yakima, acting as chief of po-
lice and police Judge. He painted a
picture of the doughty mayor, as po-
lice chief, arresting a disorderly hobo,
haling him to the police judge (him
self and fining him SO. The feelings
of the hobo may well be imagined To