The Sewer Scandal and the 'Pull' of the Democratic Machine
Testimony in the investigation of city official Jesse Cochran reveals a culture of backroom deals, sub-standard materials, and patronage hiring within the city's public works department.
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The hearing of testimony regarding the city's case against Jesse Cochran concluded yesterday. Investigations revealed that the board of public works conducted critical business without official records and engaged in 'star chamber' conferences to avoid public or press scrutiny. Ex-City Engineer Thomson testified that brick deliveries for the West street sewer were already underway before the contract was officially signed, and that the quality of materials—specifically brick from the Stoner and Pontiac yards—was consistently unfit for use. Witnesses also detailed a system where foremen remained employed despite official, public resolutions for their removal, provided they possessed the right political 'pull.' As one witness noted, it would have been cheaper to feed the laborers than to employ them in the disorganized, inefficient fashion seen on the sewer project, where the primary objective appeared to be payroll patronage rather than public utility.
“It would have been cheaper to feed them than to put them to work in such fashion.”
This 1894 investigation into the mismanagement of Seattle sewer construction illustrates a long-standing tension between 'business-like' municipal governance and the reality of political patronage. The 'good government' reformers of the era, who viewed professional administration as the antidote to machine politics, were laying the groundwork for the structural changes in city hall that still define Seattle's governance today.
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