Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1913-03-14
LISTER WINS LONE
BATTLE 20. MACHINE
'Tiaj FORCED ijI}ACK 70 BACK UP
Road Levies Fixed as Desired by
Governor, After Long Single
Handed Fight for Economy.
SAVES THE STATE $2,5oo,0oo.
Leaders Fail to Answer Execu-
tive's Charges of Extravaganza
Sims Admits Trading.

bdCkluS uOWu eUllTcIy III tlclI
program of extravaganza, advanced
under the shield of good roads con-
struction, the Taylor-SimsM cArdle-
Nichols machine of the house and SEN
ate behaved like good dogs" after
Governor Listers memorable attack
upon the unwarranted expenditures
they proposed and last Monday and
Tuesday passed the compromise road
measure providing for the IA and l
mill road levy for state road and the
~ mill levy for permanent highways.
The bills were Immediately signed by
the governor.
The result was a personal triumph
for Governor Lister who had waged the
night single-handed against the machine
and means saving of $2,500,O0O to the
ing biennium. While delegation after
delegation of good roads enthusiasts
waited on him, while every pressure
was brought to bear upon by the ma
chine and 10 out of the a. Democrats
in the legislature urged him to approve
the IN and mill levy, Governor List
er stood firm on his platform of econ
omy, enunciated during the campaign,
and forced the legislators to realiza-
tion Of the wholesale expenditures they
were proposing.
The original road program had been a
1 " mill levy for state roads during the
next two years and 2h mills for per-
manent highways. The first bill was
promptly vetoed by Governor Lister
and the house sustained the veto, later
expunging the record. The machine
scurried around for several days, try
ing vainly to line up its forces, but
failing, passed q so-called compromise
measure of ~ mills for 1914 and /
mill thereafter which was again vetoed
In the message delivered last Satur-
day. The 2 11mill levy for permanent
highways was held in the senate pend
ing the result of the other controversy,
but was finally passed this week by
both houses, amended to accord with
the governors recommendation that it
be fixed at ~ mills.
1t Is interesting to note that in all
the acrimonious assertions made by
Speaker Taylor, Representative Near
die, Senator Nichols and other machine
leaders, following the governors mes
sage last Saturday. no attempt was
made by any of them to answer his
declarations of extravaganza. The de-
livery of that message was the cul-
mination of the governors fight for
economy and was made in a crowded
senate chamber and amid many cheers.
How strong the people who jammed
the senate chamber that morning en-
dorsed the governors position was
strikingly illustrated when they hoot-
ed, jeered and laughed down Senator
Nichols, the chairman of the senate
roads and bridges committee, when he
asserted that so far as he knew not a
single trade had been made on road
legislation in this session. Nichols
himself was the kingpin about which
all the trades have been made, himself
IN fact made most of them, and the
brazen statement that he knew of none
was too much for the onlookers to
stand and they laughed him down.
Similar assertions were made in all
seriousness by Speaker Taylor and
Representative McArdle before the
house that afternoon and smilingly ac-
cepted for what they were worth. Talk
OF that kind continued until Represen-
tative Sims, the Republican floor lead
er, finally put a stop to it Tuesday by
the following frank statement: There
has been trading and everybody knows
there has, and it would be foolish of
me to say there hasn't"
Local interest last Saturday was at.
tached particularly to the incident of
the night before when the machine
leaders exerted every subterfuge to
present the road appropriation bill,
the companion bill to the ~ and
mill levy passed the Monday before,
10 the governor The appropriation
measure should have been passed with
the levy bill and it was a common
knowledge around legislative halls that
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