The Telephone Bribery Scandal
Accusations of bribery within the City Council threaten to boil over as councilmen attempt to backpedal on their support for an investigation.
The determination of the investigating committee to get to the bottom of the charges of bribery in the city council is not meeting with the unanimous approval of the members of that body. Some councilmen who were the loudest in their condemnation of the alleged attempted bribery on the part of Frank Mortimer, representative of the Independent Telephone Company, are now inclined to hedge. A telegram from Mortimer denies the charges and states he will return to Tacoma to be present at the investigation. Mortimer further claimed that the bribery charge is an old trick of the Sunset Telephone Company to defeat their competition. Public sentiment outside the council is overwhelmingly in favor of an investigation, as many believe considerations were offered for votes in the recent telephone franchise fight. A resolution calling for the investigation will be introduced next Wednesday night.
“The public wants to know.”
Public utilities were the primary battleground for graft in early 20th-century American cities. The rivalry between independent phone companies and the entrenched monopoly, the 'Sunset' line, reflects the broader Progressive Era fight to break corporate control over essential infrastructure.
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