The Machine at Work: How the Local Political Bosses Pre-Selected the Ticket
Voters arrived at the Yakima Republican primaries to find that the candidates had already been chosen in secret, leaving little to be decided by the rank-and-file.
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.
There was great rustling last Saturday evening to make a showing at the Republican primaries; but the managers were very particular as to whom they approached, and individual notice and solicitation was only given to those who were looked upon as faithful. At precinct No. 2, the 'John B. Allen crowd' and the 'Yakima National Bank crowd' marched in together. As one disgusted Republican said, 'Everything has been patched up, and the nominations for the county officers have been harmoniously apportioned in exchange for an Allen delegation, and you will see that the tickets are not made up in meeting but come here already prepared, and are in two handwritings.' This proved to be correct, and with the exception of three or four tickets the ballots could be called off by simply reading the first name. At both precincts, the county and federal officers, with their assistants, formed a large portion of the gathering.
“You will see that the tickets are not made up in meeting but come here already prepared, and are in two handwritings.”
The frustration with 'backroom' deal-making and the consolidation of political power by a select group of local bankers and officials remains a central tension in American local politics, as voters today continue to struggle against the influence of party machines.
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