The Seattle Republican. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1???-1915, 1901-04-26
POLITICAL P0T-PIE y


There is no denying the fact" said
prominent Republican one day this
week, but that the affairs of the Re
publican party in this city are in q
pretty bad condition just now, so baG
that l fear the next Republican nomi
nee for mayor will be beaten so badly
that he will not know that he has
been a candidate. The next mayor
of Seattle in my opinion will either
be a municipal reform protege or q
good Straightforward Democrat. Nc
man nominated by the Republican
party, who does not declare against
the wide-open policy as has been prac
ticed under the Humes administration
can ever be elected at the polls And
if Tom Humes succeeds in getting
nominated at the hands of the Repub
hcan convention for vindication sake
it will simply mean that the oppos
ing candidate Of some party, class, OF
description, will be elected, and such
a candidates support will not come
from any particular political faction
but from the general vote of the pub
lie that is unalterabIy opposed to the
methods that have been practiced
since he has been mayor"
According to the White River Jour
nal, Hon. E. L. Blaine, who is in the
public'S eye at present from the fact
that he is the president of the Law
and Order League that is so persist
emily fighting the vice of this city, is
to be the candidate of the reform ele-
ments for mayor next spring. That
may be true, but the Pie-maker is in
clined to think that Mr. Blaine will
ask for no such honors, and, if he is
nominated, the nomination will be
thrust upon him by the better ele-
ment of this city, who will be looking
for a political Moses" No better
man for the place could be found than
E. L. Blaine, and it is to be regretted
that he himself does not enter enthu-
siastically into the proposition and
help his friends to get the nomina-
ton and thereby prevent some man
who may turn the city over to general
vice and wickedness from getting it,
One of the chief reasons that the city
is in the condition that it now is lies
in the fact that good men absolutely
refuse to accept the nomination for
mayor, owing to the fact that they
find it difficult to run city that is so
badly innoculated with all manner of
crime and vices as is Seattle.
Speaking about the mayoralty re-
minds the Pie-maker that not long
since Hon. George N. Gibson, who is
at present one of the county commits
sioners of King county and chairman
of that board, announced himself as a
Republican candidate for the mayor
atty of this city, but since the Law
and Order League has caused so much
CONSERVATION in the political affairs
of the city, he has declared that he
would not accept the nomination
though it be unanimously rendered
him. Evidently Mr.. ellison realizes
the awkward position in which he
would be placed should he accept the
nomination, and it would be impos-
sible for him to please all elements
even if he was elected; but should he
receive the nomination and not make
a most decorative statement against
vice, the moral element would fight
his election, and, if he did make such
declarations the vicious element
would fight his election, which would
mean that he would be defeated per
haps, no matter which issue he cham
piOned Believing that he has some
thing of political future before him
in this city and county, Mr.. ellison has
acted wisely land early announced his
withdrawal from the race Unfortun-
ately most good men do likewise, and
as result some scheming ambitious
politician gets the nomination for
mayor of this city, and if elected gen
orally runs things to suit his own po-
litical ambitions or his own pocket
book
The Pie-maker notes that wide-open
gambling is still running in this city,
Notwithstanding tie fact that some
twenty-five or more warrants have
been sworn out against gambling
house keepers and a vast amount of
their property seized and held until
further orders. 1t seems utterly i'm
possible to close gambling in Seattle,
Notwithstanding the fact that it is
done in open violation to the state
laws and likewise the municipal ordi-
nances. This impossibility arises
from the fact that the city authorities
not only wink at gambling, but open
ly champion it. There is not police
man in Seattle that would arrest a
gambling house keeper for conducting
gambling games for the public in gen
eral, and simply because he knows he
would lose his head if he did do so.
The chief of police would not issue
such an order, and if a policeman
would suggest to him the issuing of
such an order such policeman would
not be a policeman many days there
after, all because if the chief would
do so he would lose his official head.
This is the way that men who are
sworn to uphold the majesty of the
law do it, and yet, when they are cen
sured and criticized for not dOin0 so,
they speak about having duty to per
form as a public citizen which does
not permit them to be held up to pub
lie ridicule by newspapers"
81 am sure" said a prominent mem
Der of the last legislature one day
this week, that the next legislature
will pass the direct primary law by
an overwhelming majority. The meas