Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1911-11-20
LETTER PROVES
A BOOMERANG
Circular Letter Issued By the
Standpatter Injuries
Their Cause
ASSUMPTIONS ARE FALSE
Statement that Allen Law Is
Failure and Experiment
Do Not Tally.
ARE FALSE

The circular letter sent out Friday
by the opponents of the Allen commits
sion law is proving the boomerang
the Herald predicted it would even
the Aberdeen World, which has been
neutral on this subject, found it too
rank for it's digestion, as is shown by
the following leading editorial in that
paper of Friday evening:
How many, do you suppose, of the
brethren who signed the circular let
ter, which is now being sent to voters
appealing to them to vote against
the commission system next Monday,
either read the letter before signing
it, or read the Allen law before sub
scribing to the sentiments of the let
ter? Some of the men who signed
the letter have read the law. Their
signatures are based on conviction,
but it's safe wager that the greater
majority of those who signed have
not read the law, and on that basis,
did not sign from conviction. Yet
the letter would have you believe the
contrary The letter ought to carry
no weight. 1t declares, among other
things, that the commission has been
d
nothing on which to base such a
statement. The World asked Col. w.
w. Robertson, one of the ablest news
paper men in this Northwest country,
to give his convictions on that point
He wrote an editorial in his paper in
reply, saying that the commission had
not been a cure-all and that there was
as much dissatisfaction with it as with
the councilmanic system. He said that
he did not expect it to be cure-all
The World printed that comment
and it was taken up by opponents OF
the commission system and published
as being an expression of opposition
to the law. Yet Col. Robertson ex.
pressly dsclaimed any such ex
preston, and you will have to use
your Imagination to find any such ex
preston in his comment Along with
Col. Robertson's statement, The
printed comment from the Hoquiam
Washingtonian, in which the commits
sion in that city came in for praise
The opponents of the law forgot to
publish that comment.
The World has given all sides of
this question, just as it promised
Others have made protestations of
fairness, but have forgotten to live
up to their pledges.
1--WE herewith append a comment
from The Washingtonian, which may
add further to the interest in this
discussion, and may shed some light
on the question under debate:"
The Washingtonian has avoided
mixing in Aberdeen's commission
t. -,
ter for the voters of that city to set
tie for themselves when they go to
the polls next Monday, but we have
protested and still protest against
misrepresentation concerning Ho-
quiam which have been and are still
being made by the Aberdeen opp
nents of commission government.
According to one speaker 1--WE get
our information from an Aberdeen
newspaper), the streets in Hoquiam
are covered with horse manure; our
fire department is crippled the police
department is violating the state
laws to keep up appearances; the Ho-
quiam commissioners are intention
ally misgoverning this city in order
to make a good showing in the cost
of municipal operation.
"All of which is wrong. There have
been few complaints against the
commission form, as it is working
out, but in the main the people are
giving the commissioners a chance,
and we seriously object to being
broken down and discredited in or
der to boost the anti-commission fight
in our sister city
"Hoquiam, it is true, is economic
ing municipality, for business rea-
sons. She tried to economize under
the councilmanic system, but could
not-the system was too cumber-
some. In the old days we had lots
of economy talk but no saving of
money; now we have lots of saving
and no talk, except from the public
platform in Aberdeen and that talk
is born neither from a love for us,