Henry McBride (politician)

In later years and until his retirement, McBride was president of the Provident Savings & Loan Association, which he co-founded with Herbert S. Conner.[13][6] He wanted to pursue a career in Episcopal ministry,[9] so he went to study in the preparatory school in Trinity College, located in Hartford, Connecticut.[18][7][10] Coming to Washington, McBride was "literally fighting for existence" until he passed a teacher's examination and started teaching in Oak Harbor on Whidbey Island.[9][6][20] McBride entered the practice alongside older specialists, whose "reputation and patronage were already assured," and received essential experience and skills in the field.[18] In 1886, McBride was a nominee for the position of Probate Judge in Skagit County on a Republican ticket, but he lost the election to Democrat Harrison Clothier.[22] McBride proceeded with his legal practice, and the following year moved to Mount Vernon to partner with E. M. Carr and Harold Preston, co-owners of a law firm in Seattle.[30][20] Over the years, McBride gained recognition on the state level due to his part in a number of important court proceedings and sensational murder cases.[19] Starting his term as governor, McBride believed the Legislature was throttled by "certain interests" and that "business meddled too much with politics.""[41] Despite the fact that Democrats as well as Republicans supported the creation of the commission at first,[42] the opposition, led by powerful railroad lobbyists and influential politicians,[39] "restrained" the Legislature from any action in regard to it.[20] Legislature failed to pass a number of commission bills, and some "questionable rulings in favor of the anti-commission" were met with near-riots.[42] McBride's campaign against the railroad lobby caused the most notable gathering of "famous transportation chiefs" in the history of the inland Northwest on August 4, 1902.The meeting discussed softening McBride's hit on the railroad lobby and soothing "people's clamor" in regard to regulating common carriers.[40] However, that campaign promise disappeared from the official committee report presented at the convention, and was replaced by one in favor of "equitable railroad legislation.[44] McBride decided to "take the issue to the people,"[36] building his 1904 electoral campaign around the question of railroad regulation and the commission making it the main controversy of that year's election.[50] Trying to win over some votes and break up the railroad's agreements in the west, McBride's steering committee tried to make a deal with the King County delegation.[50] J. D. Farrell, vice president of the Great Northern Railway, spokesman for railroad political interests, and one of the men leading the anti-McBride's campaigns, found out about the deal and rushed to the Tacoma convention to veto it.[36][45][6][34][47][48][46] During the election of 1904, Albert E. Mead answered the Democratic party's demand for the Railroad Commission, stating he was ready to approve it if the Legislature passed it.[10] In early 1905, Mead proceeded to create the commission,[46][38] but it wasn't based on McBride's ideas and was mainly aimed in the railroads' favor."[36] On July 4, 1902, the keel was laid for the first Washington-built battleship, the USS Nebraska, and a special ceremony was held to celebrate the event.At the time, he was considered "the leading 'first choice' candidate" for the gubernatorial nomination on the Republican ticket, but eventually was defeated by Samuel G.There were two conventions held in Aberdeen; McBride took part in the one supporting Theodore Roosevelt's candidacy over William Howard Taft's in the presidential election.He was against the new governor, calling him an "inferior type of man," and complained about the deterioration of the political and electoral situation with the creation of the new direct primary system.[20] In later years, McBride continued to closely follow political events and actively support the Republican party, despite the New Deal's influence on it.[9][6][2][3] At the beginning of World War I, McBride left his law practice to become a Pacific Coast labor conciliator.They left the business after some time and founded the Provident Savings & Loan Association in Seattle, where McBride served as president.[55][9][13][58] Although McBride officially retired from business by 1933, he still regularly attended shareholder meetings of the Provident Savings & Loan Association.Its first issue was published under the name of Wenatchee Republican on September 8, 1898, and it changed owners a number of times both before and after McBride's ownership.