The Local Rebel Taking On the Political Machine
Frank W. Bixby, a Lynden attorney, is making waves by refusing to bow to Whatcom County’s political establishment.
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.
Mr. Bixby is becoming more popular every day throughout the county. Hardly a day passes that we do not hear a good word spoken about him. The Journal of Blaine gives him unstinted praise for the stand he has taken on political questions. Says the Journal: 'Frank W. Bixby of Lynden, candidate for county attorney, was in our city this week getting acquainted with the voters. Mr. Bixby is attracting a great deal of attention of late by his open defiance to the machine of this county, and it looks as though the machine had run against a snag when it attempted to force Mr. Bixby to do its bidding. After he had signed the resolutions of the Grange, in which there can be found no fault, the machine attempted to force him to withdraw his signature from the same, but were met with a prompt refusal and the fight was on. There isn't a man in Whatcom County that knows more about the inside workings of the machine for the past five years than Mr. Bixby and there promises to be something doing before the campaign is over.'
“Mr. Bixby is attracting a great deal of attention of late by his open defiance to the machine of this county.”
Local political tensions in 1908, defined by the struggle between party 'machines' and independent populist groups like the Grange, mirror modern concerns about party influence and candidate accountability in local government.
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