The Battle for the Assessor’s Office
A Seattle taxpayer challenges the hiring of a deputy, sparking a tense public exchange in the press over bureaucratic authority and civic competence.
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.
SEATTLE, April 14, 1878. To the Editors of the Dispatch: As a taxpayer, I want to know by what authority W. H. Shoudy, Assessor of this district, appoints E. Bryan as deputy assessor. The question is this: Can Mr. Shoudy, as assessor, transfer his brains to Mr. Bryan? Would it not follow, if such was the case, that Mr. Bryan represented the brains of Mr. Shoudy? Further, that Mr. Bryan was acting assessor, notwithstanding he did not receive a vote from anyone for that office? If Mr. Bryan is not authorized to assess property, don’t you think some lawyer will contest it the first time some one objects to pay their taxes? Yours, Taxpayer. (Response from Shoudy, April 16, 1878): To the Editors of the Dispatch: In yesterday’s Dispatch, Taxpayer wants to know by what authority I am entitled to a deputy? I would ask Taxpayer if he is a citizen of the United States and pays any tax in King Co. or elsewhere? For an answer to his question, I ask him (if he is a taxpayer and a citizen) to read the statutes of Washington Territory. He having so much superior brains, should not ask such foolish questions, but employ them in getting a pension. W. H. Shoudy.
“Can Mr. Shoudy, as assessor, transfer his brains to Mr. Bryan? Would it not follow, if such was the case, that Mr. Bryan represented the brains of Mr. Shoudy?”
This exchange from 1878 echoes modern Seattle's persistent anxieties about civic administration, administrative accountability, and the public's right to question the mechanisms of local governance. The tension between a 'taxpayer' demanding transparency and a defensive public official remains a staple of our local political discourse nearly 150 years later.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.