Seattle Voters Topple the 'Tammany' Machine in a Republican Landslide

To say that yesterday's election resulted in a sweeping Republican victory is to speak but mildly. The Republican success exceeds the hopes of the most sanguine members of the party. Mr. Phelps, the Republican candidate for mayor, wins by majority over all the other candidates combined, and by a plurality which bids fair to be numbered by the thousands. The Republican ticket entire is elected. This victory is unquestionably the greatest one of any municipal election in the history of Seattle. The majority given in the city even approaches the extraordinary majority given for McGrew in 1892. It is a splendid tribute to the worth of the Republican candidates, and an indication of the conservatism, good sense and devotion to their city of the voters of Seattle.

No small part of the sweeping Republican victory achieved yesterday at the polls is due to the excellent and effective campaign work done by the Republican central committee. The organization of the party was never better than it was yesterday, and the work was done quietly and without ostentation, but with thoroughness which commands admiration. The Republican committee was not, by any means, a 'kid committee.' It was composed of intelligent and honorable business men who knew their duty to the city and did not hesitate to perform it. To Dr. Mitten and his colleagues in the committee not only Republicans but all citizens who care for the welfare of Seattle owe a debt of profound gratitude.

The sweeping Republican victory won at the polls in this city yesterday means that the people are tired of the corruption, mismanagement and disreputable methods which have been such a crying evil in the municipal government for the past two years. It means that they are tired of Wolff, of Heifner, and of all that ilk. It means that they are tired of a condition of affairs which made possible a dishonest treasurer, an incompetent comptroller and a looted city treasury. It means more than this, for the Republican victory is so overwhelming that it could not have been won without the aid of Democratic votes. It means, therefore, that the decent elements of the Democratic party have risen in revolt against the disreputable methods of John Collins, who has done more than any other ten men to prostitute the politics of this city, and whose efforts to build up a Tammany power in Seattle have thus met with disastrous failure. They have risen in revolt against the misrepresentations and villifications of the Telegraph, which, in the eagerness of its owner, John Collins, to achieve victory, did not hesitate to drag into the canvass questions which had no place there, or to excite religious and race prejudice and array one class of citizens against another. They have risen in revolt against a condition of affairs in their own party which made possible the bossism of Collins and the bribery and corruption of Considine. The result of the election means further that the voters of Seattle are not to be swerved from their plain duty by fine-spun theorists or advocates of impracticable government. They know when and where and how to return bad government and save their city from the hands of wreckers.