The Political Tug-of-War Over the Seattle Land Office
Intrigue in the Democratic party as factions struggle to relocate the federal land office from Seattle to Everett.
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.
There has been a desperate fight waged to have the Seattle land office transferred to Everett. If National Committeeman Wallace had not stepped in and stood out for McDonald, of Seattle, for the position of receiver of the land office, it might have already been settled in favor of Everett. The fight was a curious one. The senatorial complimentary coquetting had something to do with it. The proposition to make the change from Seattle to Everett went right through all the red tape departments and actually turned up on the president's desk one morning. And about this time the national committeeman was called in, and the evidence indicates that he made a stand for Frank W. McDonald, of Seattle. This appointment still hangs fire.
“The proposition to make the change from Seattle to Everett went right through all the red tape departments and actually turned up on the president's desk one morning.”
Federal land offices were the engines of expansion in the 19th century, deciding who held title to the territory. The move to relocate the office to Everett is a classic example of Gilded Age 'boosterism'—where powerful men leveraged federal patronage to inflate the property values of their preferred townsite.
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