Seattle’s 'Committee of One Hundred' Fights Transit Franchise
Civic leaders mobilize a legal challenge to halt the city council from granting street railway extensions, demanding municipal control of transit instead.
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 Committee of One Hundred held a special meeting in the Chamber of Commerce rooms Saturday night, which was well attended. The subject of discussion was the action to be taken when the consolidated franchise comes up before the city council. The following resolution was introduced by Mr. H. W. McVicar and adopted by the committee: 'Resolved, That we instruct our legal committee to prepare, secure, and serve a restraining order upon the city council as soon as the council shall vote an extension of existing franchise privileges.' The members of the legal committee are: J. C. Allen, C. A. Riddle, and Richard Winsor. Col. Hamilton Lewis was formerly on the committee, but he resigned, and C. A. Riddle is appointed to fill the vacancy. Dr. H. F. Hunt introduced the following resolution, which was unanimously adopted: 'Resolved, That we instruct our legal committee to prepare a petition for two amendments to the city charter, the two amendments to embody the two following provisions: First—A 10 per cent. initiative. Second—A special election in May, 1900, at which the question of municipal ownership and operation of street railways shall be decided.'
“Resolved, That we instruct our legal committee to prepare, secure, and serve a restraining order upon the city council as soon as the council shall vote an extension of existing franchise privileges.”
In 1899, Seattle’s civic groups were already battling the 'monopoly' of private transit companies and advocating for public ownership. Today’s debates over the expansion of Sound Transit and the privatization of urban infrastructure echo this century-old struggle for democratic control over how people move through the city.
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