The Newspaper Feud That Put Seattle’s City Hall to Shame
When an anonymous local columnist tried to smear Seattle’s city leadership as 'unnecessary ornaments,' the Evening Dispatch fired back with a sharp defense of municipal stability.
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.
A lively oracle, is 'Sniffles' of the Tribune. Who never had a word to say when the City Attorney was voted $1,800 a year for his services, now that the salary of that officer has been specifically limited to $300, pronounces the office 'an unnecessary municipal ornament.' He denounced the Council for reducing the salaries and compensation of officers whereby the expenses of the city will be less by over $2,000 this year than last. He says the Attorney and the Mayor 'have done about everything,' relieving the Council of all but the odium and responsibility, and making it an unnecessary piece of city machinery. In fact, of so little account in local affairs do several of the Council members feel that they are beginning to be ashamed of their known connection with them. Before the election, the Mayor was represented as an old imbecile who was only put up to be knocked down, and could not poll a dozen votes in the city, after which he was elected by the largest majority ever given for a candidate for that office in a contested election in this city. The City Attorney was subsequently represented as an 'unnecessary municipal ornament,' and now the Council, composed of some of the best business men in the city, are represented as mere unresisting tools. And with all this, city script has advanced 20 percent in market value since the present Council came into office, and sells at a higher rate than at any time before for the past eight years.
“What a great thing it is for the town to have such a newspaper representative of public sentiment!”
This 1878 clash over 'unnecessary municipal ornaments' and skeptical media coverage echoes the modern tension between Seattle's governing bodies and local commentary. Even 146 years ago, the rise in value of city bonds was the ultimate rebuttal to critics who claimed the government was failing.
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