Would Boycott Sound Cities Unless Special Session of Legislature Agrees to Pacific Highway Bill
of Doubtful Expedience
Result a Matter of Grave Doubt. Big Cities Would Rule State
Aberdeen Herald
March 27, 1911

The meeting of the three governing committees of the Southwest Washington Development association, at Centralia Thursday, demanded an extra session of the legislature, and that the business interests of Seattle and Tacoma force their delegations to support the Pacific Highway bill, under threat of a boycott of those two cities. Following are the resolutions adopted;

"That this association unanimously places itself on record as favoring the Pacific Highway and pledges itself to use all honorable means to secure its completion as speedily as possible, and; "That this association asks the cooperation of King and Pierce counties, and any effort at action by the business interests of King and Pierce counties in opposition to the building of the Pacific Highway be construed as unfriendly to the Southwest."

"That the executive committee be authorized to ask Governor Hay on behalf of this association to call a special session of the legislature conditioned on the following; That after the commercial bodies of Seattle and Tacoma shall have secured sufficient pledges and assurances from the senators and representatives of King and Pierce counties that they will enforce the passage of the Pacific Highway bill and other state road appropriation bills."

Governor Hay is said to be willing to call the extra session, provided the members will agree in advance to consider only the highway bill and the apportionment of the state; will serve without pay and remain in session not longer than 48 hours. Whether or not the extra session would accomplish the desired result is an open question. The action of the two big counties went further and cut more deeply into the game of politics than the defeat of the Pacific highway measure, a defeat which by the way, our own Senator Hewitt assisted in accomplishing. 

It seems to mean that King and Pierce counties are determined to secure their plan of the new apportionment of the state by any available means, and if the "cow counties" desire roads they can get them only through acquiescence in this apportionment. Dr. W. M. Beach, representative from Mason county, and a leader in the house, gave the situation in a nut shell in a newspaper interview the other day, when he said;

"There should be no special session. It would be a piece of utter foolishness. It would not do a bit of good, as there was a combination in King county to beat the "cow county" representation. If they could not get the representation they demanded we should not have any road legislation. Outside of the "cow county" organization back of the controversy is the utter folly of spending $2,000,000 of the people's money for a road through Snoqualmie pass, which for eight months of the year is buried under from 12 to 20 feet of snow." 

"Should King, Pierce and Spokane counties get the representation they demand, the next thing would be a constitutional amendment which would provide for the election of the Washington legislature from Pierce, King and Spokane counties. If a special session is called it would sit for 60 days in the same deadlock as existed during the last 24 hours. The outside counties are opening up the state and helping build up the big counties, and they do not propose to have their representation taken away from them and to be represented instead by legislators from the coulee districts of the big cities."