The Independent Candidate Who Fought the Party Machine
After suffering a broken arm, a local editor decries the 'spoils system' and the grip of party caucuses over Washington Territory's first constitutional process.
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.
Nearly six weeks ago, the senior editor of this paper met with an accident by which the upper bone of his right arm was broken, since which time he has not written or dictated a sentence for publication. Previous to that casualty, he had announced himself as an independent candidate for Delegate to the Constitutional Convention, which afforded the coyotes of the press an opportunity of yelping at him in his disabled condition—misrepresenting his position and falsely accusing him of seeking party endorsement after he was physically disqualified from carrying on a canvass with any hope of success.
It is a matter of public notoriety that for the past eight years—during our residence in this Territory—we have in no single instance taken an active part in any party primary, caucus or convention, or supported a party ticket as such. For thirty-five years previous to that time we had devoted all that we were and all that we had to the promotion of principles as represented by the Democratic party. But we have always held to the doctrine that principles are paramount to party. Without principles, party is a delusion and a snare—a mere device of demagogues to cheat the many for the benefit of the few.
The position of Delegate to the Constitutional Convention offers no inducements in honor or emoluments, yet it is the first case in which political principles are involved in any popular election in the Territory. The candidates now before the people have all been presented by party caucuses in which not one-tenth of the legal voters of either party participated. These self-selected caucuses laid down no platform and required no declaration of principles from their nominees. For these reasons, we determined to be an independent candidate, not for personal reasons, but solely for the purpose of infusing some issues of principle into the canvass above the unreasoning cry of party. We sincerely regret our accidental inability to carry out our purpose, but we shall, as far as we are able, maintain the issue without favor or prejudice.
“Without principles, party is a delusion and a snare—a mere device of demagogues to cheat the many for the benefit of the few.”
In 1878, the editor of the Weekly Dispatch railed against 'party caucuses' and 'the spoils system' during Washington's push for statehood, arguing that partisan machine politics ignored the actual needs of citizens. Over 140 years later, Seattle voters continue to grapple with the tension between party endorsements and the desire for independent, principle-based governance in local civic life.
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