A Legislature in the Homestretch: Saloons, Gambling and a Fight Over Pledges

Olympia, Feb. 16. — When the legislature convened Monday afternoon it had a limited number of days of business ahead of it, for on March 11, at midnight, it will have to close under provision of the law. With practically a week and a half of the session gone, the actual work of the lawmakers is infinitely unimportant. The first bill passed provided for the payment of the expense of the session and four other appropriation bills followed. Aside from these bills, but three measures have been passed and presented to the governor, the most important of which is the anti-racetrack gambling bill. Local option has been passed in the house, and is now before the senate. The eight-hour day for women bill is still in cold storage. The general appropriation bill has not been presented, neither has the school code nor the criminal code. Both these codes are lengthy documents and are being considered by sub-committees before being presented as bills. In the house 287 bills have been presented, the number being a trifle less in the senate. Of the total not more than 100 have any general significance to the people of the state. Dozens of them are pet measures, covering special interests of some sort. The last day for introduction of bills is February 20.

Cosgrove Urges Local Option. Great pressure will be brought to bear on the senate to pass the house local option bill. From the sanitarium in Southern California Governor S. G. Cosgrove is urging by telegraph the passage by the senate of this measure. In addition to the influence exerted by Governor Cosgrove, Acting-Governor Hay is strongly advocating the adoption of an effective bill. With the executive chair certain to be filled by an ardent local optionist, house members are now discussing the feasibility of rejecting any halfway substitute bill that the senate may send back for the McMaster bill.

House members believe that if effective local option fails in the senate the governor will summon an extra session of the legislature. They say that after the senators have been home for two weeks among their constituents, after defeating local option, they will be willing and anxious to return and promptly pass an effective measure. The close of the week left the exact fate of the McMaster bill in the senate uncertain. It is conceded by some of the most ardent advocates of the bill that it cannot pass in its present form and they are discussing what they are willing to concede.

The principal concessions the stringent local option leaders in the senate are willing to make affect the unit and the time of holding elections. It is said they would not now oppose, if such amendments would carry the bill through the senate, the elimination of first-class counties from the county unit, leaving other counties so controlled. In first-class counties they would want the city to vote as a separate unit. They would also not strongly object to having the saloon question brought up at general elections after the first test, but would insist upon the first vote being taken in a special election.

Snags Met in Criminal Code. The new criminal code, prepared by a special commission appointed by Governor Mead, is in the hands of a joint committee from the house and senate to consider its provisions before having it presented in the form of a bill. The document occupies 86 pages, printed as a bill, each page being full. The committee is considering the code article by article. Already many snags have been struck. It is stated that before the bill is recommended for passing there will be many amendments made to it. The code was drawn by a commission of prosecuting attorneys of this state, and many of the sections in it have been worded to their advantage. The joint committee is going over the ground from the standpoint of the defendant, and sections which react too strongly in favor of the prosecutor are being stricken. The committee will recommend that the clause which permits wife and husband to testify against one another be stricken. They object to the provision which makes a train or boat a criminal district. A provision in the code which permits of its liberal interpretation is objected to on the ground that penal statutes should be strictly construed. A section which permits a court to instruct a jury that they may convict a man of a lesser degree of crime than that with which he is charged will be stricken for the reason that the court's construction on this point may influence the jury.

Kill Election Pledges. The senate, by passing a bill making the signing of anti-election pledges to support any particular bill or measure a disqualification for legislative office, aimed what was admitted on the floor of the senate to be a blow at labor unions, the Anti-Saloon League, the Equal Suffrage Association and every other organization that seeks to commit in writing candidates for the legislature to the enactment of certain legislation. The bill also goes so far as to disqualify for the legislature any person who accepts an annual retainer for looking after the interest of any person, company or corporation, and to disqualify for office candidates for supervisor, school director, or any other legislative body who sign ante-election pledges to support particular measures. The scope of the bill is claimed to include qualification for city councilmen.

New Law for Schools. After considering the proposed new school code for several weeks and listening to suggestions of prominent educators, the senate committee on education reported the code back with the recommendation that it be adopted as amended. Relative to the certification of teachers, the amendments represent a compromise between the provisions of the code and the provisions of a bill introduced in the house. The principal difference in the two plans of certification is that under the code prime importance is given to normal school training, while under the house bill experience is more important.

Would Close Normal School. A strong movement in favor of closing one of the three state normal schools in Washington is on foot and Acting-Governor Hay says that he is seriously considering the subject. He may send a message to the legislature recommending that one of the schools be closed or devoted to purposes other than instruction of teachers. As arguments for the abandonment of one of the schools, it is claimed that all the pupils now attending the Ellensburg institution could be introduced at the other institutions and furnished room and board as well, now not allowed students.

To Regulate Telephone Systems. The people of Washington may be protected against the two telephone systems evil which has afflicted a number of coast states, if the legislature can arrange laws that will control such things. A law is now before the committee on railroads requiring telephone systems to connect the central offices with each other so that the patron of one line may be able to talk to patrons of the other line without expense or delay. The railroad commission is to take charge of the matter of connections, of the equalization of rates and of the efficiency of the service offered.

Race Track Bill Signed. The Ole Hanson anti-racetrack gambling bill has been signed by Acting-Governor Hay, and ninety days from the end of the session will become a law. The measure provides that any person who registers bets on a horse race, or who owns a building in which bets are taken, or who transmits bets, or who in any way aids in selling pools on the result of a horse race, shall be guilty of a felony and liable to imprisonment in a penitentiary from one to three years.

May Purchase Printing Plant. The legislature is laboring on a bill creating a printing department, which will have charge of all printing done by the state. A plant costing about $20,000 is planned, and a printer, practically an executive head, will be engaged at a salary of from $2,000 to $3,000 per year. Washington has handled the printing question in almost every way—by contract, by the piece and by the job—yet no satisfactory solution has been found. Now it will likely be made a department, to be handled by the board of control, as are other departments and institutions.

To Span Columbia River. With only two votes in the senate against it and with no opposition in the house, the legislature authorized the appointment of a committee to confer with the Oregon committee concerning the building of a bridge across the Columbia river between Vancouver and Portland.

Senate Passes Payday Bill. Despite the fight that has been made against the measure on the ground that it imposes unnecessary hardship or extra bookkeeping upon municipal, county, state and school district corporations, the Cotterill bill providing for semi-monthly paydays passed the senate by a vote of 29 to 10.

Railroad Employes Win. The bill prohibiting the use of 'dinky' cabooses on freight trains passed unanimously. The 'dinky' may be used on logging and construction trains.