The Tacoma Water Plant Scandal
A suspected $500,000 kickback scheme involving the city's purchase of a private utility plant ignites a public outcry in Tacoma.
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.
The city council this evening gave color to the rumors of jobbery regarding the purchase of the Tacoma Light and Water Company's plant. With Nelson Bennett's telegram in hand, urging that $1,850,000 be paid, the council rebuked those favoring a proposition to fleece taxpayers out of $500,000 by refusing to allow more than $1,500,000. About a year ago, the plant was offered to a syndicate for $1,450,000. During the past year, the company has put only $54,000 of its annual earnings into improving the plant. To now attempt to load it on the people for nearly two million strikes the average citizen as smacking of jobbery. Councilman Steinbach, a member of the committee sent to Philadelphia to confer with C. B. Wright, previously protested against paying $1,350,000, yet after seeing Mr. Wright, he signaled approval for a much higher price. Tacoma will not own its light and water plant until it is able to build one of its own unless officials offer a satisfactory explanation for these shifts.
“To now attempt to load it on the people... strikes the average citizen as smacking of jobbery to the extent of just $500,000.”
This 1893 struggle over the public versus private ownership of water and light infrastructure mirrors Seattle's long-standing debates over utility control. The accusation of 'jobbery'—political kickbacks to enrich private owners at public expense—remains a core tension in Pacific Northwest municipal politics.
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