Newspaper Presses First National Bank on Water Deal
The Statesman accuses local banking interests of attempting to force an overpriced land deal onto the city through the municipal council.
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 organ of the First National Bank says that it does not know what interest if any the bank has in the water question, yet it would have the public believe that the Statesman is disgraced for not believing the statement made by the cashier of the bank. If the organ itself is not sure that the bank has no interest in the settlement of the water question, it should not wonder that the Statesman does not accept the declarations of its mouthpiece as gospel. The Statesman has investigated the ownership of the Thomas land sufficiently to know that no matter in whom the deed in escrow may show the title to be vested, the bank has a cinch on the property and would be the chief beneficiary if the city could be induced to purchase the land for $25,000. It is a remarkable fact that those members of the council known to be closest to the bank are the most zealous advocates of purchasing the land. The people will not stand for it, and the attempt to unload the Thomas land on the city at an exorbitant price will soon receive its quietus if the people are given a fair chance to express their opinion on this hold-up game.
“The Mephistopheles back of the scheme has not been able to hide his cloven hoof.”
Public control of water rights and the influence of banking entities on municipal infrastructure remains a major point of civic contention. This 1903 conflict mirrors modern debates over private utility ownership and the struggle for transparent public planning in Walla Walla.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.