New Order of Cincinnatus
The New Order of Cincinnatus (NOOC) was a young men's political organization established in
The nature of NOOC
An outgrowth of Seattle's non-partisan
The NOOC also advocated a vastly increased state-level police constabulary, with no intermediate levels between the state and municipalities. This police force would consist entirely of men under age 40, trained by a State Police School, and enlisting for a military-style four-year term rather than being free to resign at any time.[2]
The NOOC restricted its membership to men ages 21 to 35,
History in Seattle
1934
NOOC formed in September 1933.
Seattle City Council offices are officially
The NOOC candidates were supported by the Washington Taxpayers Council, as was conservative incumbent John E. Carroll. Of the Cincinnatans, only Lockwood made it through the primaries,
Elected mayor at the same time Lockwood joined the council was Charles William Smith. Smith and his police chief, W. B. Kirtley, undoubtedly tolerated Seattle's then-longstanding police corruption. Lockwood further accused Smith of profiting personally from this corruption and tied Smith's toleration of corruption to his toleration of a growing budget deficit. Among the remedies he proposed were a fixed term for police chiefs, making the chief more independent of the mayor (and thereby separating the mayor from any system of police payoffs).[22]
Carried away by their success in Seattle and the interest in forming other chapters around the state, the NOOC contested the statewide November elections. Among their candidates were William J. Wilkins for U. S. Senate, Cecil R. Fuller for the 1st District congressional seat, and John W. Day for King County Prosecutor. Running with great enthusiasm but very little budget, they did not elect anyone, but did have the best third-party results of any slate since the
1935
In the 1935 election, the NOOC ran only two candidates for the three available city council seats, endorsing former
Incumbents William Gaines, Frank Fitts, and
Secure in the knowledge that they needed only one other council vote to override any mayoral veto,
Meanwhile, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer attacked Mayor Smith for running a "wide open" city, for refusing to make cuts in the departments controlled by the mayor's office, for being associated with a corrupt police-based political machine, and for a recent upsurge in illegal gambling, prostitution, and Sunday liquor sales.[31] The P-I was not alone in these views: The Argus compared Smith to the legendarily corrupt Hiram Gill and the United States Navy made it known that they were considering placing the entire city of Seattle off limits for sailors on leave. Further condemnations of this state of affairs came from the Clean Government League, the Morals Committee of the Council of Churches, and the Philippine-American Chronicle, which published detailed exposés of the "Chinese Gambling Syndicate" and the police's policy of closing down only the "small fry".[32]
In hearings, Chief W. B. Kirtley argued that the police were expending a great deal of effort dealing with numerous labor strikes and could hardly stand staff cuts. He acknowledged that the police made a "liberal construction" of city ordinances but said that he opposed "fanatical enforcement of the laws". He hinted broadly that some of the pillars of the church who opposed gambling actually profited from it as landlords, and might not be pleased with zealous enforcement. When talked of the material difficulty of raiding gambling dens (which usually had effective routes of escape), the Cincinnatans insisted on his accompanying them out of the hearing room to the openly operating Battersby and Smith's card room near First Avenue and Madison Street. Kirtley could hardly deny the evidence in front of his eyes: he ordered police to trash the establishment and to confiscate the money. None of the confiscated money ever made it to the police evidence room.[33]
1936 and after
All of this was dramatic, but had few concrete results. A five-year term was established for the position of police chief. Token arrests were made in gambling and vice, but the wave soon passed. In January 1936, 60 positions were cut from the department and three precinct stations closed,
Lockwood lost his council seat in the 1937 elections.
A resounding, unsolicited Communist endorsement for Meyers in the general election as the "
By 1939 the NOOC had disbanded and Langlie formally identified as Republican. He easily won re-election as mayor in spring 1940, and, as the Republican candidate, won the state governorship in the November 1940 election.[1]
The San Francisco chapter
The San Francisco chapter of the NOOC was founded by Pat Brown, later Democratic Governor of California, in 1935. It completely lacked the Seattle chapter's militaristic tendencies, but shared its call for an end to "partisan bickering". It quickly gained over 500 members and established a headquarters on Market Street. The San Francisco chapter soon launched an effort towards the ousting of incumbent members on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, seeking to root out the corruption of those on the Board. After offering enforcement and assistance to a group of rival candidates, the chapter was successful in deposing four of the bureaucrats on the Board and in placing one of their own candidates (Dewey Meade[47]) on the Board.[48] Its main long-term political effect was to bring Brown to prominence.[49]
Other chapters
In addition to Seattle and San Francisco, among the towns and cities that had Cincinnatus chapters were Bellingham, Bremerton, Chehalis, Everett, Kirkland, Spokane, Tacoma, and Wenatchee, all in Washington;[15] and Portland, Oregon.[50]
Cincinnatus' platform
According to Ralph Potts writing in 1955, Cincinnatus' platform was:
- To bring about a renaissance in politics and to promote a Spartan-like devotion to honesty, cleanliness, efficiency, and economy in government.
- To clean out graft, corruption, and hypocrisy in our public offices.
- To modernize state, county, and local government and to eliminate all duplicating phases thereof.
- To eliminate waste in governmental machinery and to work for a substantial reduction in the tax burden the average taxpayer is forced to bear.[51]
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Kit Oldham, Langlie, Arthur B. (1900-1966)[permanent dead link], HistoryLink, January 11, 2004. Accessed online 9 August 2008.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Berner 1992, p. 330
- ^ "Guide to the Frederick G. Hamley Papers 1933-1963". Retrieved 16 August 2008.
- ISBN 0-385-01875-4. p. 209–210. Jones says "George Lockwood", but Seattle City Council Members, 1869-Present Chronological Listing, Seattle City Archives, accessed 9 August 2009, says "David E. Lockwood".
- ^ Chuck Taylor, Ralph B. Potts, Political Reformer, Attorney And Promoter Of The Arts, Seattle Times, April 19, 1991. Accessed online 9 August 2008.
- ^ Preliminary Guide to the Russell O. Vognild Papers, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections. Accessed online 9 August 2008. Cites for Tacoma.
- ^ Preliminary Guide to the Corbett McLean Papers, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections. Accessed online 9 August 2008. Cites for Portland.
- ^ Preliminary Guide to the George McLaughlin Papers, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections. Accessed online 9 August 2008. Cites for San Francisco.
- ^ a b c David Wilma, Depression, The Great, 1929-1939, HistoryLink, March 5, 2002. Accessed online 9 August 2008.
- ^ a b c d e Berner 1992, p. 329
- ^ Potts 1955, pp. 114–116; Potts gives a detailed account of discussions beginning in August leading to formal founding in September.
- ^ Frederick G. Hamley Papers, University of Washington Library, Box 18-1, quoted in Berner 1992, p. 329
- ^ a b c Berner 1992, p. 351
- ^ Berner 1992, p. 329 indicates that those who "enlisted" before the age of 35 were allowed to remain members until they turned 40, and that there was eventually a notion of "auxiliary" status for older men and for women.
- ^ a b c Potts 1955, p. 119
- ^ Berner 1992, p. 331
- ^ Potts 1955, p. 116
- ^ According to Potts 1955, pp. 116–117, Lockwood came in sixth in the primary, just making the cut; the other Cincinnatus candidates were in two of the next four places, out of a field of 35.
- ^ That is according to Berner 1992, p. 330. Potts 1955, p. 117 says he came in first and had the second-highest vote total recorded up to that time by any councilmanic candidate.
- ^ BOLA Architecture + Planning & Northwest Archaeological Associates, Inc., Port of Seattle North Bay Project DEIS: Historic and Cultural Resources Archived 2011-07-23 at the Wayback Machine, Port of Seattle, April 5, 2005, p. 13 (page 15 of the PDF). Accessed online 25 July 2008.
- ^ Berner 1992, pp. 333–348
- ^ Berner 1992, pp. 349–350
- ^ Potts 1955, p. 120
- ^ Potts 1955, pp. 120–121
- ^ a b c d Berner 1992, p. 350
- ^ Seattle City Council Members, 1869-Present Chronological Listing. Accessed online 9 August 2008.
- ^ "David Levine, former city councilman, dies", Seattle Times, May 9, 1972, p. C15.
- ^ "David Levine, Long Active On City Council", Seattle Post-Intelligencer, May 10, 1972.
- ^ Peterson, Lorin & Davenport, Noah C. (1950), Living in Seattle, Seattle: Seattle Public Schools, p. 145-146.
- ^ Berner 1992, pp. 350–351
- ^ Berner 1992, pp. 351–352
- ^ Berner 1992, p. 352
- ^ a b Berner 1992, p. 353
- ^ a b Berner 1992, pp. 354–355
- ^ a b Mayors of the City of Seattle, Seattle City Archives. Accessed online 9 August 2008.
- ^ Berner 1992, p. 397
- ^ a b c Berner 1992, pp. 398–399
- ^ a b Berner 1992, pp. 401–402
- ISBN 0-385-01875-4. p. 215–217.
- ^ Berner 1992, p. 400
- ^ a b c Berner 1992, p. 401
- ^ Berner 1992, p. 403
- ^ Berner 1992, p. 404
- ^ Berner 1992, p. 450
- ^ Walt Crowley (2000-09-19). "Interurban Rail Transit in King County and the Puget Sound Region – A Snapshot History". HistoryLink.org. Retrieved 2007-09-29.
- ^ Lorin Peterson & Noah C. Davenport (1950), Living in Seattle, Seattle: Seattle Public Schools, p.146–147
- ^ Potts 1955, p. 128
- ^ Schiesl, Martin. "Pat Brown: The Making of a Reformer". California State University.
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- ^ Preliminary Guide to the Corbett McLean Papers, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections. Accessed online 9 August 2008.
- ^ Potts 1955, pp. 114–115
References
- Berner, Richard C. (1992). Seattle 1921-1940: From Boom to Bust. Seattle in the 20th Century. Seattle: Charles Press. OCLC 26133085.
- Potts, Ralph Bushnell (1955). "Seattle Heritage". Seattle: Superior Publishing Company.
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External links
- Ralph Bushnell Potts Papers. 1903-1988. At the Pacific Northwest Archives of Washington, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections. Contains organizational papers and notes from Pott's time as a leader in the New Order of Cincinnatus. (Finding aid only, no content available online)