The Great City Treasury Mystery
A skeptical newspaper accuses the Seattle city government of diverting public funds meant for the Lake Union sewer tunnel into private speculations.
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 comptroller has again rushed into print with a long letter seeking to defend the financial policy of the city and the condition of the municipal treasury. The Post-Intelligencer believes that a very large amount of the money supposed to be in the city treasury has been improperly diverted and used for personal and private speculations. It is idle for anyone to attempt to persuade the public that if there is $300,000 in the treasury, a sum of $30,000 could not be used in an emergency for the payment of labor on the Lake Union sewer tunnel. We propose that if the city treasurer can demonstrate to a committee of the council and the press that the money is actually in the Seattle banks, we will donate $500 to a deserving charity. If the money was, as alleged, on deposit subject to the treasurer's check, he can readily demonstrate it without any hardship.
“The Post-Intelligencer, whatever its political convictions may be, owes a duty to the public, and it will not be deterred from the performance of this duty by considerations of fear or favor.”
This 1893 editorial captures the perennial Seattle anxiety over public accountability and the transparency of large infrastructure budgets. The tension between fiscal claims and the reality of stalled public works—like the Lake Union sewer—is a narrative that still resonates in contemporary municipal budget battles.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.