Tacoma's Secret Tax on Vice
Under the guise of official business, the police department allegedly collected protection money from gamblers and slot machine operators with no public accounting.
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 city's revenues from gamblers and slot machine men are being collected as usual this month under the mask of absolute secrecy. It is a case of not letting the right hand know what the left hand does. Nobody can tell how much the gamblers are compelled to hand over to the police in the shape of 'fines' except the managers of the city hall syndicate and the persons who pay the money. The latter, being violators of certain laws, cannot say anything, even if the screws are tightened upon them and much good money squeezed out. All that the taxpayers and citizens generally can see is a mysterious hand reaching out of the darkness of the city hall with its fingers clutching a lot of coins, which are dropped into the city treasury. The hand keeps no books for the public.
“All that the taxpayers and citizens generally can see is a mysterious hand reaching out of the darkness of the city hall.”
This 1904 report highlights the long-standing tension in Tacoma between police corruption and the desire for a 'clean' city. Today’s debates over public accountability and the transparency of city contracts echo this frustration with 'shadow' governance.
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