The City Charter Cold War
Walla Walla's leaders debate whether the city should seek a new charter or remain under territorial law until the population hits 20,000.
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 communication from P. B. Johnson published in Saturday's Statesman makes it plain that Walla Walla has nothing to gain and much to lose by an attempt to get a new charter before the city's population reaches twenty thousand. It is pointed out that only a city containing a population of 20,000 inhabitants or more shall be permitted to frame a charter for its own government, and that smaller cities can be organized only under general laws or continue under their territorial charters. The people of Walla Walla do not care to run the risk of getting any sort of a charter that the legislature may choose to give them. Any charter that might be submitted to the legislature would be made the football of the railroad lobby and every other trading influence. Rather than take a chance in such a grab-bag lottery, the people would better content themselves with the charter they have until the population entitles them to draft a charter to their liking.
“Any charter that might be submitted to the legislature as embodying the desires of the people of this city would be made the football of the railroad lobby.”
The tension between municipal autonomy and state-level legislative interference remains a core issue in Washington politics today. Walla Walla's fear of 'railroad lobbies' dictating local charters mirrors modern anxieties regarding corporate influence in local zoning and city governance.
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