Washington House Speaker Says Courts Can Save Tide Lands
Speaker J. W. Feighan argues that Washington's tide land giveaway is unconstitutional and calls for a citizens' lawsuit to halt the sale.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Spokane Falls Review: Learning yesterday that Col. J. W. Feighan, speaker of the Washington House of Representatives, had been heard to remark that the tide lands could yet be saved to the people by legal process, notwithstanding the passage of the bill providing for their sale to the shore line owners, a reporter visited the speaker at his residence last night. 'Yes,' he said, 'the tide lands may yet be saved if the people will only take hold of the matter and invoke the aid of the courts. The law can be successfully attacked on its constitutionality. The easiest way to test it and prevent the sale of the lands would be for somebody to enjoin the governor from appointing the board of appraisers provided for in the act.' Feighan cited Article 2 of the state constitution, noting that thirteen members who owned tide lands voted on the bill, a direct violation of the rules. He also pointed to the declaration of rights, arguing that granting exclusive purchase rights to abutting owners over other citizens is unconstitutional. 'I believe if the people will take hold of this great injustice, disposing of the tide lands, the rightful heritage of the whole people, can be averted,' he stated.
“The tide lands can yet be saved by adopting the course I have indicated. Any citizen can restrain the governor, and that will stop the whole thing.”
Public access to the waterfront remains a major civic flashpoint in Washington, echoing these 1890 disputes over land privatization. Today, this struggle persists through debates over shoreline management and the encroachment of private development on common public access points.
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