The Battle for the Soul of Seattle’s Police Department
In 1885, a local editorial called on women, who held significant civic influence, to reject a mayoralty candidate beholden to the 'saloon interest' and elect a law-and-order candidate to clean up the force.
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.
These are the men who seek your suffrage today, and women, who hold the balance of power in your own hands, remember. Have for the chief of this department a man whom every saloonist, gambler, and prostitute in town supports, or a man whom they all with one exception detest? Mr. Woolery is emphatically disqualified for office by the support of the saloon interest. Mr. Thornton, the Law and Order candidate, is in every way eminently suited for the position. He has identified himself with the Law and Order movement, and is the object of saloon opposition. If he were infinitely less suitable than he is, this last qualification should suffice as between him and Woolery. If you disapprove of these things, if you want an honest, fearless and efficient Chief, a well-ordered, clean and wholesome police department, express that womanly impulse at the coming election by that most honorable means, the ballot.
“Have for the chief of this department a man whom every saloonist, gambler, and prostitute in town supports, or a man whom they all with one exception detest?”
The 1885 debate over whether Seattle's police should be subservient to the 'liquor interest' or uphold civic law remains a perennial struggle in city politics. Today’s arguments over the autonomy of the police department and its responsiveness to community standards mirror the political tension found in this 19th-century editorial.
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