The Business Men's Club Picks Its Candidate
A rowdy, divided convention at the Standard Theater results in John Leary’s nomination for Mayor of Seattle.
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.
The Standard Theater was well-filled last evening by members of the Business Men's Club, who met there for the purpose of nominating a ticket. At 9 o'clock the meeting was called to order by A. E. Alden. A report from the Conference Committee was read, but after a motion to adopt it failed, S. Baxter read a report from a committee of the Business Men's Club recommending John Leary for Mayor. A motion was made to substitute H. O. Struve's name instead, but a roll-call vote resulted in 51 votes for Leary and 42 for Struve. The nomination was made unanimous, and Leary was later escorted to the Occidental Hotel to address the crowd, where he pledged to maintain business interests and enforce the law.
“I represent no element, no party, no interests, save the business interests of the city of Seattle.”
This 1884 scene—business leaders organizing specifically to influence municipal elections—foreshadows the long-standing tension in Seattle between corporate-backed political committees and populist reform movements that continue to shape City Hall debates today.
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