The Political Fight for the Port Orchard Dry Dock
An Everett booster attempts to block federal funding for the Kitsap County naval facility in a desperate bid to lure it to his own town.
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.
Ex-Governor Swineford, of Alaska, who now resides at Everett, is in Washington D.C. opposing the appropriation for continuing the construction of the Puget Sound dry dock. When Swineford arrived, he had letters to Senator Squire from citizens of Everett saying that he was interested in behalf of that town and asking for the Senator's assistance. Senator Squire initially interested himself in trying to secure $5,000 for the Snohomish river, but has since learned that Swineford was working hard to prevent the appropriation for the dry dock at Port Orchard, claiming it should be located at Everett instead—a site already twice rejected by government commissioners. Senator Squire warns that if various Washington towns continue to sabotage each other's federal recognition, the entire state will suffer and receive nothing.
“If each city or section fights every community seeking just appropriations from the government and succeeds in defeating these appropriations, the effect will be disastrous to the whole state.”
This story highlights a century-old Seattle-area tradition of 'regional cannibalism,' where local boosters fight each other for limited federal resources. It mirrors modern debates over regional infrastructure funding, where local competition often results in the loss of projects that might have benefited the broader Puget Sound region.
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