The Mayor’s Labor Pact: How Organized Labor Bought Spokane’s City Hall
Mayor Byrne opens up about the 'organized labor' machine that secured his election and warns of a looming anti-Republican coalition in Washington State.
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.
"If the united labor of this commonwealth will stand solidly at the polls, any principle or man that it advocates is bound to win," said Mayor Byrne last night.
The reporter had found him deep in the pages of his favorite McMaster's History in his cosy library. Surrounded by his bright-eyed boys and girls, in whom he takes much pride and finds all his joy, he was reading to them aloud, but he dismissed them with a smile and a nod and laid his volume aside to reply to the questions of the news hunter.
"For some unaccountable reason many of the western people don't like the name 'democratic,' although the majority of those who protest being called such are often advocates of the principles of democracy."
"In addition to getting the normal democratic support of Spokane, I got a very large populistic vote on account of my former associations with the populistic party, and besides organized labor sent a man to each of the 25 precincts in the city to work for me, and I have no doubt but that the assistance that organized labor gave me was the cause of my election, and I don't forget that sort of friendship."
"Though feeling deeply grateful to the people of Spokane in making me mayor of this city, on account of the crudeness of its present charter I would not again accept the nomination under that charter. The mayor has the power of appointment, but has not the power of removal. Under our charter the council and the mayor delegate all their power to the appointed officers, over which substantially they have no control, so under that charter the people of Spokane are practically disfranchised. Without the mayor having the power of removal it is like making laws without a penalty."
"What about the populistic party? It is hard to prophesy what may happen two years hence, but I would like to see the entire anti-Republican force of this state come together, and it would be immaterial to me under what name they might go, and if that force came together, there would be no doubt but what the state would go anti-Republican."
Mayor Byrne’s candid admission that 'organized labor' was the decisive factor in his election reveals the raw power dynamics of early 20th-century Spokane politics. It mirrors modern political realities where union endorsements and labor-backed campaigns remain critical for securing municipal office, highlighting a century-long continuity in how civic power is negotiated between government and workers.
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