The Tacoma Bridge Scandal
Local contractors and builders suspect civic corruption in the rushed bidding process for the Eleventh Street bridge project.
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.
Bridge builders seem to think that there is something crooked in the manner in which the city of Tacoma is preparing to let the contract for the Eleventh Street bridge. It is claimed that some of the city officers are interested in letting the contract to parties with whom they are connected and to that end have not permitted outside representatives of bridge companies to gather any facts about the plans. The bids are now asked for and they are to be submitted inside of eleven days. Bridge men claim that it is utterly impossible to prepare a bid in eleven days, and therefore they will not have an equal chance with those who are assumed to have had special privileges in examining the plans before the bids were called for.
“Bridge builders seem to think that there is something crooked in the manner in which the city of Tacoma is preparing to let the contract.”
Public infrastructure projects in Tacoma have long been lightning rods for concerns over municipal graft. This 1894 report on the Eleventh Street bridge mirrors modern anxieties about how 'fast-tracked' government contracts can inadvertently—or intentionally—favor well-connected insiders over fair competition.
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