A Confederate or a Dupe: The Fight Over Lake Washington
A Seattle property owner denies he is part of a Tacoma-backed plot to defeat Senator John B. Allen over the Lake Washington Canal. The editor calls him a confederate or a dupe.
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.
SEATTLE, July 24, 1892.
To the Editor: The dispatch from Tacoma published in your paper today stating that I am a member of a combination whose purpose is to elect a United States senator hostile to the Lake Washington canal is preposterous to anyone who knows me and my business interests. I would not enter into a combination for such a purpose as the one referred to, simply because my property interests and the interests of my firm at East Seattle, Kirkland and along the Lake Shore amount to many thousand dollars, as a reference to the county auditor's books will show, and I would be a principal in injuring most of my property if I were as foolish as the dispatch you print.
That my most earnest efforts have been in favor of the canal, the Chamber of Commerce, the press, to which I have addressed communications on the subject, and many members of Congress from several states can show.
HARRY WHITE.
Mr. White seeks to mislead by professing his loyalty to King County and asserting his support of the Lake Washington canal project. If his letter were a frank one and meant what he wants people to believe it means, one would be forced to the conclusion that Mr. White is being shamefully deceived. He is either the confederate or the dupe of men who are bitterly opposed to the Lake Washington canal.
Probably nobody will accuse Nelson Bennett, H. W. Fairweather or Miles C. Moore of friendship for Seattle or King County. These gentlemen have formed a combine to defeat Senator Allen, and they attack him because of his support of the canal project. They have assailed him on this ground personally and through their organs, the Tacoma Ledger, the Spokane Review and the Olympia Tribune. Their candidate is Judge Turner, of Spokane.
Mr. White is also opposed to the re-election of Mr. Allen. Mr. White is also a supporter of Judge Turner. Mr. White has within the past few days been frequently in conference with Mr. Nelson Bennett. Mr. White has repeatedly stated in conversation that he would be able to secure the nomination of legislative candidates in King County hostile to Mr. Allen and favorable to Mr. Turner. Mr. White cannot truthfully deny these facts, and they assuredly prove that he is working in harmony with those whose political stock in trade is hostility to King County.
Mr. White is either a confederate or a dupe.
“Mr. White is either a confederate or a dupe.”
The Lake Washington Ship Canal finally opened in 1917, but the fight over who benefits from big infrastructure—and which regional interests get to shape it—never really ended. Modern Seattle still argues over waterfronts, transit, and whether private property or public benefit drives the plan.
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