Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1913-09-05
THE GOSPEL Is SPREADING.

Gradually the gospel being preached
by THE WASHINGTON STANDARD. urging
the establishment of state govern
ment by commission in place of the
present loose and inefficient system, is
spreading over the state. And there
is one noticeable fact-where men and
women may not be talking loudly or
rushing into print about it, they are
considering it seriously and talking it
among themselves, which is of course
the best kind of foundation for a
movement of this kind.
Recently the Tacoma Tribune, one
of the rapidly growing newspapers of
this part of the country, had this to
say about Commission Government
for States:
A opposition has recently been ad-
vanced by the Olympia STANDARD to
abolish the state legislature and place
the control of affairs in the hands Of a
commission of five, or some number to
be determined upon. The merits and
dement's of the proposition are being
discussed by the state press and the
sentiment appears to be largely in IA
vor of some step looking to a central.
ization of authority and responsibility.
There is growing sentiment in
many states in favor of limiting the
number of elective officers. The PEG,
pie in Colorado are taking steps to
centralize in the hands of their gov.
ernor control of practically all state
affairs. An amendment to their state
constitution is being proposed which
would make the governor the only
elective administrative official in the
state government. He would be au-
thorized, under the proposed change,
torney general, state treasurer, super
intendent of public instruction, and a
business manager for the state. They
would constitute his cabinet and, with
him, would be required to attend meet
ings of the legislature at least once a
week, when the lawmakers are in ses-
sion, to answer questions as to state
affairs. They would submit to the leg
islature budget with estimates of the
cost of maintaining each state depart
ment.
The Colorado idea is to get rid of
diffused authority and to center con-
troll in the hands of the governor. He
would be the only one chosen by the
people and the voters should be able
to know what they are doing when
they are required to investigate the
qualifications of the candidates for
only one Office. If the state government
is not satisfactorily handled they
would know exactly where to place
responsibility. That should result in
efficiency and cooperation such as is
not possible under system whereby a
large number of state officials are
chosen independently by the people.
Apparently the idea of organizing
our state governments so we can put
our fingers on one man and say: you
did it and you're responsible" is TAX.
ing hold of the people of the United
States who are coming to see they
have been badly misrepresented by
the present system of widely divided
authority and responsibility.
We are coming to point where we
want competency and not incompeten.
cy, efficiency and not ineffciency-we
want to know what is wrong, why it
J is wrong and who is responsible. We
are coming to ask ourselves why our
state governments, in which we are all
stockholders just as much as those
who own shares in some giant corpo
ration, cannot have our business con.
Quoted on the same basis as that OF
the modern corporation We want to
know and in searching for the answer
we are beginning to see that our prin.
cipal trouble lies in the fact that our
states business system is too loose
our methods too lax
I 1t certainly is most elevating tone
of the public mind. We are beginning
to see that governmentally we have
not kept a-pace with ourselves and our