Democrats Try to Buy a Newspaper, but The Times Won't Be a 'Party Organ'
Local Democratic leaders, unhappy with the Ledger and the News, scout for a morning daily to call their own — and get a flat refusal when they ask whether The Tacoma Times is for sale.
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.
There is some talk in Democratic political circles of starting a new morning paper to be an organ of the Democratic party.
The politicians who are urging the project state that they cannot depend upon either the Ledger or the News to continue to work for the party, although both papers espoused the Democratic cause in the recent city election. They claim that when it comes to state or national politics the two Perkins papers will certainly be shifted over into the Republican party again.
The Democratic politicians sent a man to see The Tacoma Times, to ascertain if the paper could be bought and changed into a Democratic daily. The answer given was that The Times could not take a partisan stand, either for the Democrats or the Republicans. It was first, last and always a NEWSPAPER for the people, and would print the news without regard to whom it helped, or hurt, politically. It would give Mayor Wright's administration a fair deal. It would always treat every official of the city and every citizen with the spirit of fairness. It would not become an organ of any political party or any corporation.
The politicians were hardly satisfied with this answer. They wanted an organ. Just now they are engaged in an effort to see whether they can secure pledges for enough money to try an experiment of their own. They cannot secure a morning Associated Press franchise, as such franchises are controlled by Mr. Perkins. Their only recourse will be to haul telegraphic news by special, or make other expensive arrangements, which will involve an ultimate expenditure of $60,000 to $75,000 during the first year.
Whether any moneyed Democrats will stand for the great risks involved is the question now troubling the politicians interested.
“It was first, last and always a NEWSPAPER for the people, and would print the news without regard to whom it helped, or hurt, politically.”
Before consolidation and chain ownership, a city's politics ran directly through its newspapers, and party leaders openly schemed to buy one. The Times' refusal to become a 'party organ' — and the $60,000 to $75,000 price of going it alone — foreshadows a media landscape where whoever pays for the news still shapes what gets printed.
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