The Mayor-Elect's 'Backbone'
Tacoma's mayor-elect quashes a persistent rumor that a local political powerbroker was trying to control his municipal appointments.
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 rumor was prevalent on the streets today that S. A. Perkins had telegraphed from Los Angeles to Mayor-elect George P. Wright, asking him to defer making any appointments for city offices until Mr. Perkins could reach this city for a conference. Inquiry by The Times at Democratic headquarters resulted in the discovery that nothing was known there of such a telegram. The well-known fact that Mr. Perkins had once sent such a telegram to Mr. Campbell, when the latter was elected mayor, gave a color of plausibility to the report. The Times finally located the mayor-elect at the Olympic cafe, on Tenth Street, and asked him if it was true. 'No, it is not true,' Mr. Wright replied, pulling a Western Union telegram from his pocket. It read: 'George P. Wright, Tacoma, Wash. Accept congratulations on your victory. Success to your administration. Will uphold your hands for the upbuilding of Tacoma. S. A. PERKINS.' Having disposed of the rumor that Mr. Perkins was hurrying north to help him organize the police force, the mayor-elect returned to his lunch.
“The new mayor would now have a chance to show whether he had a good backbone or not.”
Political influence and the fear of 'bossism' are constant threads in Tacoma's civic life. While the venues have shifted from the Olympic cafe on Tenth Street to modern digital platforms, the public's anxiety about who actually controls a new administration's agenda remains a defining feature of local governance.
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