The Boss-Led Machine vs. The Citizen Movement

The voters of Seattle will to-morrow be called upon to decide between two sets of nominees for the most important positions under the city government. A Mayor, a Chief of Police, a City Attorney and four members of the city council are to be elected. The issue is simple: shall the government of this city be controlled by a knot of irresponsible men whose political methods are of the most repulsive nature? The so-called 'People's ticket' was nominated by a close convention which was entirely controlled by two or three bosses of the most disreputable kind. The presiding officer was a man who has been a resident of the city but a few weeks, and who has no interest in it other than as a field in which to make a living without work. Any attempt on the part of the delegates to show independence was promptly and effectually suppressed. The entire programme had been arranged beforehand in the back room of a well-known saloon. A marked contrast to this was presented by the convention which nominated the Citizens' ticket—a mass convention to which the people of the city without regard to politics or opinions had been invited. It was pre-eminently an open convention. The people of Seattle, if they regard the interests of the city, will administer a crushing defeat to the bosses and elect the ticket nominated at this open meeting of citizens.