The Price of Power: Benton County’s 1916 Election Scuffle
Candidates in the 1916 election face off over county spending, with one challenger promising a tax-payer-funded bond to slash office costs.
Saturday, August 12, was the last day fixed by the primary law for candidates to file for office. A little spice was thrown into the fight for county clerk when W. S. Jenkins filed for the place. Jenkins, who is in the abstract business in Prosser, notes that the average expense of the clerk's office from 1909 to 1915 has been over $2,650 per annum. He claims if elected, he will put up a bond as a guarantee that the expense will not exceed $1,450 per annum, promising a saving of $100 per month to the taxpayers. The present incumbent, M. C. Delle, defends his record, noting that the spending Jenkins cites included one-time investments like vault fixtures and record books which remain county property. Delle states: 'If I am re-elected I shall make no expenditures nor employ any help save that required to discharge the duties of the office as such duties are prescribed by law.'
“If I am re-elected I shall make no expenditures nor employ any help save that required to discharge the duties of the office as such duties are prescribed by law. I would not want to do more; I can not honestly promise to do less.”
Budgetary efficiency remains a perennial debate in local government, mirroring the century-old tension between incumbents claiming 'record of economy' and challengers promising to trim the fat from administrative costs.
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