Prison Scandal Rocks Penitentiary Board
A Walla Walla official is removed from his post for illegally funneling state-made grain sacks to commercial dealers instead of local farmers.
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.
P. B. Johnson, editor of the Walla Walla Union and member of the board of penitentiary directors, has been removed from office by Governor John H. McGraw. The official order cites misconduct and malfeasance, stating that Johnson authorized the sale of jute bags manufactured at the state penitentiary to private dealers rather than to resident farmers of Washington, directly violating state law. It has long been a matter of public scandal that grain bags from the penitentiary jute mill were sold to private interests in Umatilla County, Oregon, while Eastern Washington farmers were left unable to secure sacks for their own harvests.
“It has long been a matter of public scandal that grain bags from the penitentiary jute mill were sold to dealers in such goods while Eastern Washington farmers were unable to get sacks.”
This reflects the early Washington struggle between the public mandate of state institutions and the corrupting influence of private intermediaries. Even a century later, the tension between regional economic protectionism and the privatization of state-controlled resources remains a central theme in Washington politics.
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