Who Should Keep the Peace in Everett?
As Everett moves to a commission form of government, the local labor movement pushes for a police commissioner who understands industrial unrest rather than one beholden to business interests.
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 elimination bout for the control of our municipal administration is history. Tuesday, June 18, will see the final grapple at the polls. It is no light matter, this choosing of city commissioners under the commission form of government. For the next four years three men will have absolute sway over the municipal affairs of the city. While we admit that it is essential that extreme care be taken in the selection of all three commissioners, we are principally interested in the contest for commissioner of public safety. The commissioner of public safety will have charge of the fire, police and health departments. Experience has proven that in nearly all cities in which industrial disputes have arisen the head of the police department has been a potent factor in the dispute. If he knew from actual experience in labor troubles how to handle men and understood their viewpoint, the situation was kept well in hand and very little disorder developed. If on the contrary his viewpoint was that of the employer of labor and his environment that of the monied element, trouble that might have been avoided often ensued. Mr. Brodeck is a successful business man and a courteous, affable gentleman. We have no bricks to throw at him whatever. He would make an admirable commissioner of public safety. The Labor Journal, however, chooses R. J. Olinger as its candidate. The great and compelling reason why we are for Olinger is because he understands the labor movement from years of actual contact with it. He is of the firmest belief that rough-house tactics will never help the cause of labor and would never encourage men, whether employers or employes, to resort to violence to gain their ends. It is because we believe that Olinger is well-balanced, honest, fearless, and familiar with all phases of the economic struggle, that we are for him in this campaign.
“It is the duty of the police department to keep the peace. NOT TO BREAK IT.”
Everett's long history of labor conflict—such as the 1916 Everett Massacre—is mirrored here in 1912, as the paper argues that the police department's primary function is to de-escalate rather than suppress. The question of whether a public official represents the working class or corporate interests remains a central tension in modern municipal elections.
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