The Seattle Hopefuls Denied a Post
President Cleveland shuts the door on Seattle applicants for the Victoria consulship, insisting on national distribution of patronage.
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, D.C., Jan. 6.—The Victoria consulship is one of the most important diplomatic positions remaining to be filled by the state department. Politicians are learning that no appointment of any moment is made this term except by the advice and consent of Mr. Cleveland. There are quite a number of applicants for the berth at Victoria, among them being Thomas Drew and Martin Egan of Seattle. Two reasons are given at the state department for the lack of success for Washington state applicants. First, it is not desirable to appoint men to consulates from adjacent territory, for fear they might have business interests or prejudices detrimental to the faithful discharge of their duties. Second, the state of Washington has already had its quota in the consular list, and unless it be some minor place, should expect nothing more. Washington was given its apportioned consulship early in the session when George W. Bell, the Montesano orator, was sent to Sydney, New South Wales.
“It is more than probable that the Victoria place will be given to one of these... and it has since been intimated here to applicants from that state that they are cheeky to ask for anything more.”
The struggle for federal appointments in the 1890s highlights the era's patronage-heavy politics. Even then, Seattle's growing ambition was bumping against the hard limit of its national influence, a dynamic that remains a part of the city's relationship with federal power today.
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