“ Finance.—The revenue for state, county and municipal purposes is derived principally from a general property tax, a privilege tax levied on the gross receipts of express companies and private car companies, an inheritance tax and licence fees for the sale of intoxicating liquors. ”

“ Live-stock and dairy products are important factors in the agricultural wealth of Washington, but the raising of live-stock on ranges is less common than when large herds grazed free on government lands. ”

“ Education.—The public school system is administered by a state superintendent of public instruction, a state board of education, regents or trustees of higher institutions of learning, a superintendent of the common schools and a board of education in each county, and a board of directors in each school district. ”

“ If the owner is a married man the homestead may be selected from the community property but not the wife's separate property without her consent, and when it has been selected, even if from the husband's separate property, it cannot be encumbered or conveyed without the wife's consent. ”

“ Physical Features.—The western half of Washington lies in the Pacific Mountains province, consisting of the Coast range and the Cascade range, separated by a broad basin known as the Sound Valley. The eastern half of the state is occupied in the north by a westward extension of the Rocky Mountains, and in the centre and south by the north-western portion of the Columbia Plateau province. ”

“ Along the coast the prevailing winds blow from the west or south; in the Puget Sound Basin from the south, and in eastern Washington from the south-west, except in the Yakima and Wenatchee valleys, where they are north-west. During summer the winds are very moderate in western Washington, but during winter they occasionally blow with great violence. In eastern Washington hot winds from the north or east are occasionally injurious to the growing wheat in June or July. Light hailstorms are not uncommon, but tornadoes are unknown in the state. ”

“ All children between eight and fifteen years of age, and all between fifteen and sixteen years of age who are not regularly employed in some useful or remunerative occupation, must attend the public school all the time it is in session or a private school for the same time unless excused by the city or the county superintendent because of mental or physical disability or because of proficiency in the branches taught in the first eight grades. ”

“ A city of the second class must elect a mayor and twelve councilmen, and its mayor must appoint a police judge, an attorney, a street commissioner and a chief of police. A city of the third class must elect a mayor, seven councilmen, a treasurer, a health officer, a clerk and an attorney, and its mayor must apoint a marshal, a police justice and as many policemen as the council provides for. An incorporated town must elect a mayor, five councilmen and a treasurer, and its mayor must appoint a marshal and a clerk. ”

“ The discovery of gold in this region, however, brought such a rush of population that the Territory of Idaho was set off (March 3, 1863) and Washington was reduced to its present limits. Rapid growth in population and wealth led to agitation for statehood, and a constitution was adopted in 1878, but Congress declined to pass an enabling act. The development of Alaska and the completion of the Northern Pacific Railroad to the coast (1883) brought a great increase in population. ”

“ In the eastern part of the Okanogan Highlands there is some western white pine, and here, too, larch is most abundant. The Columbia plain is for the most part treeless and, except where irrigated, grows principally bunch-grass or, in its lower and more arid parts, sagebrush. In the forest regions of eastern Washington the underbrush is light, but grasses and a great variety of flowering plants abound.
Climate.—In western Washington, where the ocean greatly influences the temperature and the mountains condense the moisture of vapour-bearing winds, the climate is equable and moist. ”

“ When either husband or wife dies intestate one-third of the separate real estate of the deceased goes to the survivor if there are two or more children, one-half of it if there is only one child, the whole of it if there are no children, no issue of children, and no father, mother, brother or sister. ”

“ Justice is administered principally by a supreme court, superior courts and justices of the peace. The supreme court consists of nine judges elected for a term of six years, one of those whose term next expires being chosen chief justice, and is divided into two departments. ”

“ Indians who are not taxed, idiots, insane persons and convicts are debarred. General elections are held biennially, in even numbered years, on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, and candidates, except those for the supreme court bench and a few local offices, are nominated at a direct primary election, held the second Tuesday in September.
The governor, lieutenant-governor, secretary of state, treasurer, auditor, attorney-general, superintendent of public instruction and commissioner of public lands are elected for a term of four years ”

“ Municipalities are incorporated under general, laws, and cities are divided into three classes, the first class including those having a population of 20,000 or more, the second class those having a population between 10,000 and 20,000, the third class those having a population between 1500 and 10,000. When a community has a population between 300 and 1500 within an area of 1 sq. ”

“ Interest in the Oregon country developed with the increase of settlers and of knowledge and a demand for the settlement of the boundary dispute arose. The report of Captain Charles Wilkes, who visited the coast in 1841–1842 in charge of the United States exploring expedition helped to excite this interest. ”

“ The State Training School is for the reformatory training of children between eight and eighteen years of age who have been found guilty of any crime other than murder, manslaughter or highway robbery, or who for some other cause have been committed to it by a court of competent jurisdiction. ”

“ A law enacted in 1909 forbids a marriage in which either of the parties is a common drunkard, habitual criminal, epileptic, imbecile, feeble-minded person, idiot or insane person, a person who has been afflicted with hereditary insanity, a person who is afflicted with pulmonary tuberculosis in its advanced stages, or a person who is afflicted with any contagious venereal disease, unless the woman is at least forty-five years of age. ”

“ Suffrage is conferred upon all adult citizens of the United States (including women, 1910) who have lived in the state one year, in the county ninety days, and in the city, town, ward or precinct thirty days immediately preceding the election, and are able to read and speak the English language ”

“ Olympia was chosen as the temporary seat of government, and Governor Stevens at once set to work to extinguish the Indian titles to land and to survey a route for a railway, which was later to become the Northern Pacific. The Indians, alarmed by the rapid growth of the white population, attempted to destroy the scattered settlements and the wandering prospectors for gold, which had been discovered in eastern Washington in 1855. Between 1855 and 1859, after many sharp contests, the Indians were partially subdued. ”

“ No law other than appropriation bills can go into effect until ninety days after the adjournment of the legislature, except in case of an emergency, by a vote in each house of two-thirds of all its members. ”