The Great City Printing Graft
Seattle’s local newspapers accused the Telegraph of padding city bills, sparking a political firestorm that reached the city council.
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 council will on Monday night open the bids for printing ordinances and other city official announcements. Five sealed bids have been put in by parties whose identity is supposed to be concealed until the bids are opened. Last year there were only three bids, namely those of the Post-Intelligencer, Telegraph and Press-Times. The Telegraph was the highest bidder and the Press-Times next. The Post-Intelligencer put in the lowest bid, but the board of aldermen, consisting entirely of Democrats, awarded the contract to the two highest bidders instead of to the lowest, as the charter requires. When in July the Telegraph bill for one month alone was $385.87 higher than that of the Press-Times, the steal became too brazen and a halt was called. A special meeting of the auditing committee was summoned and the fact of the discrepancy leaked out. The Telegraph was compelled to back down and admit that it had made an 'error.' Since that time, watchfulness on the part of other newspaper representatives compelled the Telegraph to abandon its practice of 'stuffing' bills.
“When in July the Telegraph bill for one month alone was $385.87 higher than that of the Press-Times, the steal became too brazen and a halt was called.”
This 1893 conflict over municipal contracts and 'fake' competition feels familiar to modern residents following Seattle’s ongoing debates over public transparency and the awarding of city service contracts to preferred vendors.
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