The Price of Civic Silence
An editorial on the danger of 'good citizens' ignoring municipal primaries and leaving the city to the mercy of ward bosses.
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 'good citizen' who stays at home when the primaries of his party are held does more real injury to society than the footpad who, with mask and club, knocks down and robs in dark places. The footpad injures a few individuals, but the 'good citizen' injures the entire community in which he lives. He refrains from doing his part in checkmating the evil designs of bad men in politics who seek to control nominations. When sufficient numbers of 'good citizens' stay at home, the minority of bad citizens run things to suit themselves. Then improper men are nominated, nine times out of ten, and the ward heelers chuckle together over the easy victory they have gained. Then the 'good citizens' stick to their private businesses on election day, and the bad nominees get into office. Next comes the plundering of the people. Useless jobs are created for friends of the administration, and favored contractors are allowed to do as they please after they have accepted public contracts. Street railway companies and other corporations are given valuable franchises, for which they pay somebody—but do not pay the people. The whole municipal system becomes rotten, injuring eventually the fair name and fame of the accursed city. And 'good citizens' did it. They were principals, for they knew just what results would follow from their conduct, and knowing, they deliberately chose their course.
“The 'good citizen' who stays at home when the primaries of his party are held does more real injury to society than the footpad who, with mask and club, knocks down and robs in dark places.”
This 1904 editorial captures a perennial anxiety in Tacoma politics: the tension between low voter turnout and the outsized influence of local special interests. The warning that 'good citizens' facilitate municipal corruption through apathy remains a standard refrain in every local election cycle.
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