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398 stories matching reform
- The Price of Reform: A New Inspector and a New Horse
The city's 'reform' administration creates a new office for a political supporter and is immediately asked to fund a luxury buggy.
- The Reform School With No Prison Walls
At the Washington State Reform School near Chehalis, boys and girls were trusted, taught trades, and paroled into new lives—a radical model for juvenile justice.
- The Boy Too Tough for the Reform School
A teenage burglar escapes Chehalis, stumps the trustees, and triggers a constitutional standoff over who must deal with an incorrigible child.
- The Forgotten Platform for a People's Washington
In 1909, a visionary reformer urged a fractured movement of grangers, socialists, and unionists to put aside their hobbies and unite behind a single platform of 'Majority Rule.'
- A Judge Takes Aim at Seattle's Charter Reformers
Judge Orange Jacobs mocks the men who promised a new city charter would cure every municipal ill — and doubts any document can make people honest.
- The Constable Who Preached Instead of Punched
In a small Washington town, one officer’s radical experiment in restorative justice is turning criminals into church members—and neighbors are taking notice.
- The $12.50 License That Became a $300 Shakedown
Expressman J.A. Fletcher said a license inspector never asked him to renew, then had him arrested, searched, and thrown into a steel cage with seven prisoners—over a $12.50 fee he says he would have paid.
- The Pulpit vs. the Tax Assessor: Seattle Pastor Fights a Bill to Tax Church Property
Rev. Clark Davis told his congregation that a proposed state law would punish churches for doing the state's moral work—and warned that saloons and 'unbelievers' were cheering it on.
- Tacoma’s Epworth League Wants the Bible in Public Schools—and the Saloons Gone
A thousand church reformers gathered in Tacoma planned a moral crusade against liquor and for Bible reading in the public schools.
- The Politics of Personal Attack in 1872
A century and a half ago, a Seattle newspaper reflected on the toxic state of political discourse and the dangerous habit of substituting insults for policy debate.
- Lawmakers Pocketed Mileage for Railroad Passes They Rode Free
A Tacoma editor accuses Washington legislators of charging the state for travel they never paid for — and then shouting for reform.
- The City Hall Clean Sweep
Mayor Ronald's municipal 'reforms' see a swift firing of city staff to make room for Democratic appointees.
- Ballard's Chaotic Three-Way Election
A local municipal election descends into farce as rival factions swap candidates and run into residency requirements.
- Scandinavian Reformers Eye Municipal Power
A powerful local organization gathers in the Swedish Baptist Church to solidify their influence on the upcoming municipal election.
- Age Technicality May Free Convicted Youth
A young man sentenced to reform school for burglary finds a path to freedom after it is revealed he is over the legal age for juvenile detention.
- Springdale Burned. The Reformer Didn’t Miss an Issue.
A fire swept away Springdale’s entire business district and wiped out its newspaper office. Editor Burrows still published an account of the blaze and promised a new press.
- City Council Caught in Costly Pipe Scandal
Seattle’s city fathers accused of wasting thousands of dollars by rejecting cheap, high-quality pipe in favor of a politically connected supplier.
- The Secret Game Under the Sidewalk
A reporter uncovers a network of hidden gambling dens and 'wire-puller' locks operating with total impunity under the city's reform administration.
- A Child’s Desperate Escape
A twelve-year-old girl pleads with a judge to send her to reform school to escape her abusive stepfather.
- City Treasurer Vanishes With Public Funds
Democratic reform administration treasurer Adolph Krug disappears to British Columbia after an investigation finds his accounts short by $1,500.
- The Mayor Who Forged His Way Out of Town
After posing as a moral reformer, the mayor of Anacortes was unmasked as a forger who threatened suicide to cover his tracks.
- A 13-Year-Old Stole $7. He Got Five Years in Reform School.
A Springdale meat cutter's missing change led to a child's five-year sentence — a window into early-1900s juvenile justice.
- A Heartbreaking Departure for Reform
A teenage girl thanked the judge who sentenced her to a reform school in Chehalis for stealing clothes.
- The Sad Case of Eight-Year-Old Albert
A young boy, orphaned and abandoned by his father, is sentenced to reform school for petty theft.
- Seattle’s 'Reform' Government Promised Clean Streets and Low Taxes. Two Years Later, the Bill Came Due.
A furious 1894 editorial accuses the Democratic city administration of breaking every campaign promise—keeping Whitechapel open, protecting gambling, and cutting day laborers while salaried officials kept their pay.
Also about this, in other words
- The Price of 'The Reform Administration'
A juror protests the Seattle municipal court's practice of fining sex workers as a de facto monthly licensing scheme.
- Seattle Synagogue Modernizes Ritual
Congregation Ohaveth Sholom adopts a conservative reform minhag to shorten and simplify services.
- The Political Weaponization of Voter Literacy
An editorial endorsement of ballot reform as a tool to disenfranchise 'ignorant' voters in both the North and the South.
- The Political 'Tramp' Hits the Streets
A new reform journal emerges in Seattle, embroiled in the bitter factionalism of the People’s Party and the city's complex political machinery.
- The Shake-up at Chehalis
After fourteen years of controversy, the state removes the superintendent of the reform school amid allegations of suppressed scandals.
- Two Young Waifs and a Plea for Reform
A concerned citizen recounts the success of a Maryland reform school as a potential model for Seattle's juvenile justice system.
- The 'Reform' Administration's Policing Scandal
A scathing report accuses Seattle’s new municipal government of total incompetence in failing to curb a wave of burglaries, despite increased spending on the force.
- The Battle to Protect Civil Service Reform
Tacoma’s City Council faces a showdown as political machines push to dismantle merit-based municipal hiring.