Olympia's Whole City Government Quit Rather Than Face the Voters Again
After a botched bond election sank the city in debt, the mayor and councilmen resigned en masse — and the Tribune says the incoming administration must come clean about the finances before asking for another dollar.
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.
"Acted like gentlemen," says the Tacoma Globe, with reference to the mayor and city councilmen of this city resigning their offices. It was the only thing to do here, and it ought to be copied after in the other cities of the state where mistakes were made in the recent election. It does away with the considerable expense of holding another election and gives the people a chance next time to re-elect the whole city government if they are found worthy, or to sweep them out of power if found worthless.
Our new city government will soon apply itself to righting the blunders of the last: getting the finances in some sort of shape, so that people can understand how much the indebtedness of the city amounts to; calling for an election to bond the city at as early a day as possible; starting street repairs and evolving a system of sewerage and drainage. We believe the new city government has plenty of good timber and will take Davy Crockett's advice, "Be sure you are right, then go ahead." It will be remembered that the TRIBUNE pleaded with the last city council to take this advice before going ahead with the bond election, but it went along blindly and plunged the city in debt for a worthless election, paid for a decision to show that the bonds were no good, and squandered money for printing bonds never issued. Some of the retiring members seemed to think they have been unduly criticised by the press of Olympia. As a matter of fact, they were shielded in many shortcomings for the good name of the city. There was never known in the history of Olympia before such a blundering administration. But what is the use of talking about it now? The people settled Corporal Murphy and his awkward squad at the polls.
“There was never known in the history of Olympia before such a blundering administration.”
In 1892 Olympia's entire city government resigned rather than pay for another election after a bond measure failed — a fight over debt, transparency, and who pays for streets and sewers. The names and offices are gone, but the argument is deeply familiar: how much a city owes, whether voters got the truth, and what gets fixed first.
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