The Seattle Star Newspaper, April 16, 1923, Page 1

© at Brattle, Wash. unde it ie His | Patio q OY Gn ow oY Affairs Are | Doing Chamber and Seattle Great Injury The Seattle Star March 9, 181%, Per Tear, by Mail, $9.50 “VOL. 25. NO. SE ATTLE, W ASH., MONDAY, APRIL 16, 1923, TWO CENTS. IN SE. ATTLE, consequence. Daniel Kelleher From out of the whole situation as it stands today there looms a mass of distressing charges and counter-charges. Mr. Waterhouse is accused of various financial misdeeds, criminal enough, if proved, to place him behind prison bars for years to come. On the other hand, Daniel Kelleher, chairman 4 _ of the board of the Seattle National bank, is accused of acts quite as seri- ous. Among these are an alleged threat that he would ruin Mr. Waterhouse and drive him in disgrace from Seattle. | The Star has refrained from passing judgment on these charges. In -- some cases the courts, in others, Public Opinion will in time decide. How- ; 4 ever, the people of this community have, for the most part, passed an in- = § ~ dividual judgment. Some of them believe Mr. Waterhouse guilty of seri- a ous offenses; others in their minds acquit him and staunchly defend his acts. Some believe Mr. Kelleher has been guilty of sinister work; others that he acted at all times for the good of the bank’s depositors and commend- ably from the public’s viewpoint. These sharp differences of opinion ona highly controversial subject, shot thru with intense emotions and tinctured with conflicting selfish interests, have worked grievous harm to Seattle. The business community has been split into cliques. The welfare of the whole city has been forgotten by many in the strife over disputed assets and quarrels over private acts. An ugly civic sore spot has begun to fester. Because of the prominence of these two men, because of the command- ing positions they hold in the city’s life, this result was inevitable. Mr. Wa- terhouse is president of the Chamber of Commerce. Naturally, today the membership of the chamber is harshly divided into pro-Waterhouse and anti-Waterhouse factions. Other business men who might enter into the work of the chamber keep out because of the division and the turmoil. Thus an institution which never did stand too high in the public estimation is robbed of its opportunity to do valuable public service. And there is big, important service of which the chamber is capable and which it ought to be doing. Mr. Kelleher is head of the city’s biggest bank, one of the Northwest's strongest financial institutions—an institution of ‘which Seattle is proud and which all Seattle wants to see prosper. In that position he wields a give TPaT eat MET ba bo bots bs bo ba be BS OS be be : DAN KELLEHER! ‘HE Star has told the story of Frank Waterhouse, of | his business rise, his financial crash and of the feud. which has developed in Seattle’s business world as a The Star told the story fully, fairly. Pleas and threats o : interested persons were both ignored. | We told the story without malice toward either Waterhouse or his foes. |cital was a straight journalistic portrayal of facts. that the people of Seattle and of the state wanted to learn what lay behind t smoke screen which both business camps have been continually sending up—and that they were entitled to kno pz Frank Waterhouse The r We published it because we felt great influence which radiates out into innumerable lines of the city’s lif By reason of these facts, the controversy in which he is involved becom a public issue. As a remedy for the harm which is being worked to Seattle by the feud between these men it has been proposed from various sources that Mr. Wa: terhouse ought to resign as president of the chamber. The Star believe that he SHOULD resign, so that animosities growing out of his affair might die and the important program of community development which 7 the chamber has outlined be pushed by a united city. But that is only a half-way step. Mr. Kelleher, too ought to resign. Hi: continued presence in the powerful position of chairman of the Seattle Na. tional’s board will only serve to prolong and intensify the trouble. He: accused of being behind a paid propaganda of detraction and vilificati which has followed Mr. Waterhouse in recent months and which has rea ed also against the chamber and against Seattle. He has often forgo public duty in fighting this private vendetta. Hatred and malice never build cities. Maybe Mr. Waterhouse and Mr. Kelleher have, as their respective f charge, deliberately injected their personal biases into the affairs of th chamber and the bank. Maybe well-intentioned but ill-advised friends di it. Maybe their foes did it. Maybe it came about simply thru the force of circumstance. BUT THE HARM HAS BEEN DONE. And Seattle’. business and civic machinery will not run again as smoothly as it ought run until they both retire from these positions. Mr. Waterhouse will do himself, the chamber and the town a service b resigning as president. Mr. Kelleher will do himself, his bank’s stockhold ers and depositors and the public an equal service by resigning ev official connection with Seattle National affairs. For the good of all Seattle, The Star today publicly invites and coun sels these two leaders both to retire. The wrangling over Mr. Waterho financial downfall and his remaining assets is doing the whole city ha It is time to turn over a new leaf and begin writing a new chapter of Sea progress,