Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1914-06-19
WHAT WILL HAPPEN
IF ALL BILLS PASS?
STOP LOOK LISTEN LEAGUE
GIVES ITS VIEWS ON COSTS
OF MEASURES.
(FrOm the StOp-LOOk-Listen League


ington, by foolish political expert
ments, rob themselves of anywhere
from $70,OOO,00O to $9O,OOO,OOO,
and maybe more than $1O0,O00,0OG
of useful, necessary and profitable
capital?
Initiative Measure No. II, the fish
cries bill, will drive more than So
100000 worth of business out of the
state every year; it will rob us of
revenue of more than $4,000 year;
it will close many, if. not most of our
canneries, and drive boats, barges
and other equipment out of Wash
ington waters into the waters of
British Columbia and Oregon and
hence will result in a net loss of sew
eral millions of dollars in taxable
values.
Initiative Measure No. 9, the FIRST
aid" bill, which proposes a first aid
tax Of 500 upon employers for each
workman injured in extra-hazardous
employments, in addition to charges
now imposed by the workmen's COM
pensation law, would mean possible
liability Of more than 100000,
and, on the basis of official statistics
for the last two years, an actual
charge of more than $550,00O. There
are now more than 10000 persons
in Washington within the scope of
the workmen's compensation law, and
all these persons would come within
the terms of the proposed first aid
law.
The Eight.HOur Law.
Initiative Measure No. 10, which
shortens the day to eight hours and
the week to six days, would apply to
every man and woman in Washing
ton working for living, and would
result in the loss Of hundreds Of
thousands of dollars every year, for
under it's terms no man and no wo-
man could work more than eight
hours in any kind of service during
one day, nor more than 48 consecu-
tive hours in any one week. That
would mean to both labor and CAPT.
tai colossal loss.
Initiative Measure No. 8. which
abolishes private employment agen-
cies without substituting public
agencies, also would result in the loss
of hundreds of thousands of dollars
to men and concerns wanting labor
and to laborers wanting employment,
for there would be no means of bring
ing together the jobless man and the
man with job to give.
Initiative Measure No. 6, the "blue
sky" bill, proposes system OF harm
full and harrassing espionage which
would keep millions of dollars worth
of capital out of Washington at a
time when capital is our greatest
need.
Certain influences in the state have
sought to discredit the statement of
the Stop-Look-Listen league that the
proposed initiative measures in cleo
ton expenses alone would cost the
people of Washington $1,06S,0OO
That is the leagues conservative es-
innate of the cost of initiating and
voting upon the measures. If any
quarrel is to be had with the leagues
estimate it must be Oh the ground
that it is too low.
The plain truth is that the cost of
these measures, if the people should
be foolish enough to approve them,
will run into a staggering total.
There are reasons to be formed in an
analysis of state official statistics to
believe it may run over the 100000
900 mark. The question the people
of this state must determine is wheth-
er they wish to part with this enor-
nous amount of capital at the behest
of the few persons, only ten per cent
of the total number of electors, who
may propose these initiative mea-
sures.
Discusses Fish Hill.
Out of the waters of Washington
we now take annually about $20,OO0,-
600 worth of fish. The proposed fish
law would tax the bulk of this bust
ness out of existence. 1t would mean
not only the loss of the revenue which
more than enables the people of
Washington to maintain their hatch
cries, but also the loss of boats, bar
ges, canneries and other equipment
directly involved in the fishing indus
try. The assessed value of fishing
traps and locations alone was $751;
947 in 1913; that is supposed to be
only 40 per cent of the actual value,
for our assessments for tax purposes
rest upon a 40 per cent basis, so that
in addition to losing business yearly