The Political Spoils System at Work
Speculation mounts in Washington Territory as the appointment for a new Internal Revenue Collector highlights the fierce, often petty nature of regional political influence.
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.
WASHINGTON CITY, Dec. 4.—The appointment of a collector of internal revenue for the district of Oregon and Washington may be expected now in a very short time. It is practically settled here who is to be the man. Oregon politicians who are after the place are doomed to disappointment, and there is no small number of office-seekers in the state of Washington who will wonder why their much vaunted 'strong pulls' have proved ineffective. There is Col. Frank J. Parker, for example, who has been telling everyone that he had a dead moral cinch on the office. Well, the doughty colonel's chances must have been largely imaginative. Then there is Henry Blackman, state senator in Oregon, who has felt happy ever since some one returned from Washington and told him Carlisle had said there was 'a little Jew out in Oregon who seemed born for the place.' Henry will have to go back to keeping store. It may be authoritatively stated that James A. Munday is the man.
“There is no small number of office-seekers in the state of Washington who will wonder why their much vaunted 'strong pulls' have proved ineffective.”
The 'spoils system'—rewarding political allies with government positions—was a standard, if corrupt, mechanism of the 19th century. While we now have a civil service merit system, the underlying struggle between local party power brokers and federal influence continues to define regional representation.
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