Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1913-01-27

OLYMPIA, Wash, Jan. 26.-(Spec-
iaD-lt was real business that the
solons of Washington transacted this
week, following the social furry of
the first week of the session, height
ened because it contained the great
est Inauguration the state had known.
Not that the social aspect was neg
lected, for the Legislators enjoyed
the first legislative dance of the ses-
sion Wednesday evening and enjoy
ed in one fashion or another the ses-
sion of the Third House the follow
ing evening, when the newspaper men
at the capital disported to their hearts
content to the chagrin and at the
expense of most of the lawmakers.
To the representative or senator who
is attending his first session, the
third house" was revelation of
many things, principally as to the
voracious appetite of the scribes so
far as filthy or any other kind Of
lucre is concerned.
Then, too, the solons accumulated
lots of advice during the week on
everything from when to spank bad
boy to the minimum wage for wOm-
en-, including a dissertation as to the
woes of an assessors existence. For
Olympia was not only host to the
state legislative conference of the
Charities and Corrections society,
but it also entertained some 400 de-
legates to the annual convention of
the State Federation of Labor and
spent it's spare moments looking aft
er the wants and foibles of most Of
the county assessors of the state, and
they all oozed oodles of suggestions,
recommendations and demands.
Many Bill of Many Kinds
1t is not any wonder, then, that
the week saw the introduction of some
11S bills in the House and 80 more
in the Senate, making total of 207
in the lower body and 142 in the high
er, the most measures introduced in
the first two weeks of any legislative
session. The upshot of it is that the
solons are getting down to the real
grind of the legislative work some
and may perhaps establish a preced-
ent that later generations will be
prone to criticize with more than
latent fervor.
Makes Grave Charges
The high mark of the week was
reached in the accusations of Repre-
sentative Houser, of King County,
who declared that the railroads, some
of the big shipping interests and 9TH
er large corporations had combined
in an alleged design to fleece the
state out of thousands of dollars worth
of tidelands in and near the Seattle
harbor. The charges occupied coup
le of days of the Houses attention.
led to not a few acrimonious remarks.
caused considerable of turmoil and
ended in the appointment OF a COM
mittee to investigate whether the
House should make an investigation
such as Houser demanded. Latterly
the committee has decided an inves-
tigation should be made and has an
nounced it is willing to hear all per
sons interested and some fireworks
are promised.
Senate Jumps on Junket
The week gave the senators an op-
portunity to lord it over their breth-
rem of a lesser degree in a couple
Of instances, one of which incidental
ly reduced the cost of this session
TO the extent of some $500 and six
days of the solons time. the former
doubtless being the more valuable.
All this happened when the senators
applied the axe to the Houses pet
iunket around the state to visit each
of the institutions. The members OF
the lower body had convinced them
selves such trip would be immense
ly valuable to the state on the argu-
ment they would know better the in
stitutions for which they were appro-
priating and be able to appropriate
accordingly, but this little bit of logic
failed to percolate the minds OF the
more distinguished representatives OF
the common peepul' of Washington
and they stamped on it hard.
Refuse Bill Revision
And then. because they got the no.