The Shadow of the Landlord
Tacoma citizens grapple with the heavy-handed tactics of the Northern Pacific railroad and the Tacoma Land Company.
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.
Some of Tacoma's best-informed people consider that in appointing Isaac W. Anderson as his representative in the new board of directors of the Northern Pacific railroad, C. B. Wright intended to strengthen his hand in forcing a settlement of the water plant deal with the city. Mr. Anderson's influence as manager of the Tacoma Company is formidable. At one time, Theodore Hosmer, president of the water company, threatened that if Wright's terms were not met, he would expose the city's financial condition in the Seattle papers. The same bullying methods used in the initial water plant deal are being practiced again. A citizen noted, 'There was never a time when so many men dared to show they are restive under the domination of the Tacoma Land Company. The conviction is growing that Tacoma must look out for its own interests first and depend less upon the paternal aid of Philadelphia.'
“The conviction is growing that Tacoma must look out for its own interests first and depend less upon the paternal aid of Philadelphia.”
This 1893 report captures the classic Seattle and Tacoma struggle against outside corporate ownership—what residents once called 'Philadelphia paternalism.' Today's anxiety over corporate landlords and the privatization of essential city infrastructure continues this exact civic argument.
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