Tacoma's 1893 Water Purchase Vote and Bribery Claims
Bribery allegations and political intimidation reach a fever pitch as citizens decide whether the city should purchase the private water and light plant.
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.
At the People's party meeting, Jacob Ralph alleged that a man had been promised a position with the water company and $25,000 if he secured 900 votes favoring the city's purchase of the Tacoma Light and Water Company's plant. Others at the meeting described similar attempted bribery, with one claiming a Northern Pacific railroad employee had told him there was money and a position in it. A. R. Titlow reported that Superintendent Hurley of the company claimed they would spend $100,000 before the polls closed on Tuesday. Taxpayers are increasingly skeptical, with many concluding the price is outrageously high. The company has threatened to cease improvements and suspend work on a new hotel if the city does not buy. Meanwhile, Mayor Huson has named a water commission to attempt to take the issue out of politics, though the city remains deeply divided.
“If we pay him $1,750,000 for a property, the capital cost of which is made up by including the salaries that have been paid to the management and the cost of shovels and picks which have been worn out in putting down the water pipes.”
The 1893 Tacoma struggle over public utility ownership—pitting corporate interests against a suspicious, populist public—mirrors contemporary debates in Seattle regarding the privatization of essential services and the power of corporate lobbying in local municipal elections.
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