Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1916-08-04
A STATE POWDER FACTORY.

Failure to learn all Of the facts connected with
tHc propu>aI to establish a stat powder factory
has led writer in the current ISSUE Of the Agri-
cultural Grange News, the official monthly publ
cation of the Washington State Grange to convey
the wrong impression as to why such factory has
not becn established The writer quotes the law
passed by the 1913 legislature, but stops there
he fails to proceed with his article 10 the 1918 leg
stature to learn what happened then and to find
out the actual reason why there is state powder
factory. Therein he made mistake and plunged
himself into serious error
The facts concerning this situation should be
well known to every farmer and especially to the
state Grange, but apparently not. The writer
Is correct when he says the legislature appro-
prlated $4,000 for the establishment of factory
1t did, and it also authorized the governor to APP
point an investigating committee, Of whom
should be the state chemist which he did. But
this writer makes no attempt whatever to find out
what this committee did or why factory was not
established, and blames everything on to the gov
ernOr.
Here are the facts an investigation was made
by the committee. 1t found that the state could
manufacture powder for about seven cents a
would contract to sell it at eight and threequarter
cents pound in carload lots. But more impor-
tant, it found that it would cost the state all of
the fifty thousand dollars appropriated to erect
and equip the factory, and that, after it was built
there would be no money to operate it or to buy
the materials from which to make the powder
There was only one thing to do. The commit
tee reported the situation to Governor Lister and
he in turn reported it to the 1915 legislature,
saying on pages ffty-four and fifty-fve of his
message to that body, THAT fund would have to
be appropriated by the Legislature in addition to
that already appropriated, to be used in the pur-
chase of raw materials, payment Of operating ex-
penses, etc.
Again, in the concluding paragraph of this por-
ton of his message after stating, Il did not feel
that ought to direct the construction of the fac
tory as there would have been fund for it's OPP
Grafton available when completed" the governor
repeated the statement that, SHOULD you decide
in favor of the establishment Of the powder fac
tory it will be necessary to Inappropriate the
fund available two years .ago and also to appro-
pirate a sufficient amount for it's operation
In Accordance with the committees report and
the governors recommendation to the legislature,
several bills were introduced in the 1915 session,
but that is far as they got. They died So per-
sistent was the opposition to them by those who
running that session that one representative
who was particularly tneretsed in the factory pro-
ject and had introduced one of the bills quit the
session in despair and disgust before it was off
cially closed.
We make this somewhat lengthy statement of
the situation to correct misunderstanding due to-
lack OF information, and to put before the farmers
the real facts in the case.