The Corporate Battle for Cosmopolis
Citizens of Cosmopolis are racing to annex their town to Aberdeen to escape the control of the Grays Harbor Commercial Company, which they fear plans to turn the city into a company-run mill settlement.
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.
A strong movement is on foot for the annexation of the town of Cosmopolis to Aberdeen. The attempted vacation by the city council of a large portion of the townsite on petition of the Grays Harbor Commercial Company, together with alleged intimation coming from that corporation that a movement for the disincorporation of the town was on foot, are the things which started the annexation idea among the residents of Cosmopolis. A Cosmopolis business man says: 'The Grays Harbor Commercial Company would be glad to disincorporate the municipality and make it strictly a mill settlement, to be governed by the county board instead of by the local council.' To forestall this, the element opposed to the action want the townsite annexed to Aberdeen, to be governed by the Aberdeen council. There is hardly a man in Aberdeen who would not favor the proposal of annexation.
“The Grays Harbor Commercial Company would be glad to disincorporate the municipality and make it strictly a mill settlement.”
This reflects the classic Washington struggle between independent civic governance and corporate hegemony in 'company towns.' The fear of annexation being used as a survival tool against a dominant local employer remains a highly relevant local political theme.
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