The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-04-08
FIGHT OVER COMPTROLLER.
The Campaign Committee and "Te1t
graph" at Odds Over Appointments.


The Campaign Committee and "Tele-
graph" At Odds Over Appointments.
The appointment of J. NJ. Carson as
city comptroller has not yet been con-
firmed, though the city council has acted
favorably upon two other of the mayors
appointments made at the same time
those of B. E. Bennett as park commits
sioner, and w. A. Beck as clerk of the
municipal court. 1t does not now seem
likely that the council will force the with
drawal of Mr.. Carson's name, as 1t did
that of E. +. Whittier, though it is an open
secret that the breach between the mayor
and the council is so wide that many OF
the members would like to pursue such a
course of active hostility.
The appointment of Mr.. Carson, like
several others made by the mayor, has ez-
cited deep discomfort among the workers
of the Democratic party. They had no
particular objection to Mr.. Carson, except
that they wanted some one else, L. d.
Ross. They did not love Cesar less but
Rome more. The Democratic municipal
campai gn was managed by young men,
Percy w. Rochester, L. d. Ross, L. B.
Hart, ]. F. McElroy and C. G. Heifner,
whom some of the older men derisively
dubbed the "kid committee" The "kids,
however, did the work. and the fact that
their party organ, the Telegraph, was
weak ally in the fight was subject of fire.
quent comment among leading Democrats.
But full week after the election was
safely over and the victory won, the 1ele-
graph pranced out with great flourish of
trumpets. and after remarking that the
battle had not been one of "rival spouters
at ward meetings" or of ''finesse and sharp
practice between party committees" pro-
ceeded to claim tor itself most of the glory,
saying:
All these things (spouters, committees, etc)
are the inseparable adjuncts of every campaign;
some of them are necessary evils which ap-
parently cannot be shaken of. The contest In
this city was of different sort. 1t began two
years ago, when the Telegraph made stand
against ring rule aud open alliance with vice,
and its party took up the issue. All
that was needed was to guard against whole
sale frauds on election day. That was the sole
important work of the managers of the cam
paign.
In short, the election had been carried
by the Telegraph. and the committee and
the workers were mere excrescences of
the campaign-'necessa evils" In the
same editorial the Telegraph demanded
that the members of all Republican
boards and commissions should resign at
once and clear the way for the Democratic
office-seekers The inference was easy
that the Telegraph was after the spoils,
and the editorial was plain notice to the
committeeman that they had no business
to make any suggestions as to the distri-
button of the cake and candy.
The Democratic campaign committee
was not particularly pleased by these ut
terances, and when Mayor J. T. Ronald
paid no attention whatever to the commit
tees recommendations for office, the feel
ing of pain in the breasts of the faithful
deepened perceptibly.
The final issue between the Telegraph
and the committee came over the appoint
ment of city comptroller. The Telegraph
insisted that ]. NJ. Carson was the man.
The committee on the other hand, urged
with all the strength in its power the
appointment of L. D. Ross. He was the
only committeeman who was a candidate
for any place; and he was put
forward as representative of the
young men who had led the
fight from beginning to end. But ]. I.
Ronald is talked of as candidate for con-
gress in 1894. Whether or not he really
has that ambition, the fact remains that
he was unwilling to antagonize the Tete-
graph. the only paper in the city likely to
give him enthusiastio support, and so he
threw the young Democracy's. candidate
far Inside of the breastworks. The COM
mittee and Mr.. Ross lie bleeding without,
while the Telegraph is helping the mayor
carve the 'possum.
But the fight isn't over yet.