The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1917-03-13
LEGISLATURE STARTED
OFF NEGATIVELY GOOD:
ENDED POSITIVELY BAD
BY Edgar G. Wheeler

The 18th legislature start
ed out on its career by being
egatively good.
1t finished positively bad.
The best that can be said
about ii by its most tolerant
friends is that it was a 90
so proposition.
When it came to the end of its
last wasteful days, there were
many of its members who went
home with disgust, yet with a de-
termination to bring about a
change in the system by which I'M
repre- sentative representatives
could bring about stampede OF
undigested lawmaking.
What Excuse.
"What excuse can you give for
us?" asked one of these repre-
of a friend, after he had
voted to back up Speaker Kelly
in putting across the shady build
ing and loan deal.
what excuse was there for the
18th legislature?' was question
asked by more than one senator
and representative on the last
night, when the hands of the clock
were covered with an American
flag to allow the necessary time
for spending the last 100000
of the states money.
Some Better Days.
Anyone who witnessed the last
irresponsible days of lawmaking,
would have hard time to concoct
an excuse.
Yet there were saner days when
some time and thought and discus
sion were given to proposed legis-
lation, and when an attempt was
made to get into touch with what
the public wanted.
During these better hours the
bone dry law was worked out and
passed; the serious university con-
troversy was settled wisely; a first
aid law was adopted, though I'M
satisfactory to those whom 1t was
supposed to benefit; the army post
bonds were legalized; a bank guar
anty measure was put on the
statute books.
Didn't Stop i'm Time.
Those who followed the show
from start to finish have agreed
that if the legislature had called
quits, had let well enough alone
and had gone home with its days
half numbered, it would have re-
ceived the thanks and approval of
the state.
But the representatives of the
people apparently hadn't gone to
olympia with any such intention.
The real business of the day
hadn't even started.
The foremost business of a leg
islature, it appeared, was not that
or cooperating to give the state
something of benefit.
How 1t Operated.
This particular legislature was
to big, boisterous trading deal,
operated and directed by a group
of promoters whose business IL was
to see that they came out on top
and that those who followed their
bidding got what they wanted.
You went there with the high
purpose of getting something par
ticular for yourself, or for
friend, or for the folks who sent
you there.
If you had the notion you could
get it merely for the asking, you
discovered you were mistaken.
You found you must offer some
thing in return, namely your votes.
And you found that to get what
You wanted you must give your
votes part of the time, not to the
interest of the people you repre-
sented, but to some special inter-
est whose hand stretched out from
unseen places to direct your
course.
Ends I'm Stampede.
The negative goodness at the
outset was sop thrown out to
the voters back home.
Now it happens that when there
dlc IulluICu VI ~ iHGDlbClo Vi
this kind of a legislature, there
are many wants to be satisfied;
also that when a legislature leaves
the hand out until the last hours,
there is likely to be a stampede or
worse.
The 18th legislature ended in a
stampede of bills to get everybody
satisfied, and of course 1t cost the
state OF Washington money.
More bills were passed in the
space of a few hours during the
last days than were considered
during an entire week at the start
of the session.
No One Could Know.
There are members OF the
Pierce county delegation In the
house today who couldn't tell you
for the life of them whether they
made a good record or a bad one.
"The bills we're shot through in
such quick succession that it was
impossible to learn whether they
were good or bad before the roll
- cnsI Ann Dfnran annn-