The City’s Grasping Monopoly
Tacoma’s editorial board calls out corporate greed and local political complacency regarding the city’s power infrastructure.
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.
Isn’t it about time for the city folks to stop laughing at the 'rubes' from the country, who yield so readily to the allurements of the flimflam artist and the man with the gold brick? There are more 'rubes,' ten to one, in American cities than there are in the country. The city 'rubes' are the men who allow themselves to be flimflammed out of their rights as citizens, and their communities to be fleeced by plausible politicians and corporation agents. Today, Tacoma taxpayers are groaning under the burden of taxes wrongfully piled upon them by city administrations in the past, when the 'rubes and rascals' controlled councils and did the bidding of those after the people's wealth. Just now, the Tacoma Railway & Power Company is after something for nothing. It wants a monopolistic power franchise which will finally run all electrical competition out of town and make it possible to raise power rates to all consumers. Business men of the city have signed a strong remonstrance against the granting of the monopolistic franchise, and they propose to put every possible obstacle in the way of its passage.
“There are more 'rubes,' ten to one, in American cities than there are in the country.”
Tacoma’s historic battles against the Tacoma Railway & Power Company (T.R.P.) mirror contemporary concerns over municipal utility monopolies and the influence of large corporations on city council legislation. The tension between public interest and corporate franchise growth remains a defining feature of Tacoma's civic identity.
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