J.D. Ross, the superintendent of Seattle City Light, c. 1930.
Ross's public utility battled for business with the privately
owned Puget Power. Ross was fired by Mayor Frank E. Edwards in
1931, perhaps because Edwards feared he was gaining too much
power. City voters overwhelmingly passed a measure in favor of
public power, and Ross was reinstated. Click image to enlarge.
(Courtesy Museum of History and Industry)The Living Newspaper
One Third of a Nation presented a theatrical picture of the
American housing crisis, and was used in Seattle to depict
regional slums. (Courtesy of University of Washington Libraries,
Special Collections Division.) Power, a Living Newspaper, was
one of the most significant productions mounted by the Seattle
region of the Federal Theatre Project—a success due in large
part to its timely application to civic conditions and concerns
in the area. The Living Newspaper opened in New York in March of
1937 and engaged a national debate over the nature of public or
private utilities. Power