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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 1 |
| 1879 | 1 |
| 1886 | 1 |
| 1887 | 1 |
| 1891 | 2 |
| 1893 | 2 |
| 1894 | 2 |
| 1903 | 2 |
| 1910 | 1 |
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21 stories matching middlemen
- The Warden Fights Back: Prison Labor, Jute Sacks and a Seattle Newspaper Scandal
Accused of selling prison-made sacks to middlemen and brutalizing convicts, Walla Walla’s warden answers his critics with a detailed defense—and a challenge to inspect the prison.
- The Farmers' Alliance Grain Gamble
Facing falling prices, Washington wheat farmers looked to circumvent middlemen by storing their own grain at the Seattle docks to hold out for better market rates.
- The State's Secret School Fund Battle
The Board of State Land Commissioners strikes back against allegations of corruption during the financial crisis of 1893.
- The War for the Valley's Fruit
A cooperative of 1,360 growers hits back at the agencies and middlemen trying to dismantle their organization.
- Free Wool, Free Lumber: Washington's Mill Towns Brace for the Tariff Shock
Seattle and Tacoma manufacturers warn that the new Havemeyer tariff will cut wages, ruin sheep raisers and hand the lumber trade to Canadian timbermen.
- The Shingle War: Mills vs. Middlemen
Washington shingle manufacturers declare a fight to the finish against brokers who control the market price, forcing local mills into indefinite closures.
- The Price of Living in the Desert
A scathing editorial calls out the discriminatory rail rates that forced Columbia Basin farmers to subsidize Puget Sound middlemen.
- The Boomtown Hype of 1870s Tacoma
A booster-style editorial from the Snohomish Eye argues for a direct shipping route to New Tacoma to bypass Seattle's influence.
- The Lumber Industry Consolidation at Port Hadlock
A major expansion of the Washington Mill Company signals a shift in the regional timber market as operators consolidate production to cut costs.
- The 'Chisel' Game: How Seattle's Working Class Fought Labor Exploitation
A scathing report from 1887 reveals the corrupt 'ticket' system that allowed middlemen to siphon wages from laborers—a century-old echo of modern gig-economy wage theft.
- The Apple Market Revolution
A local lecturer urges Kennewick fruit growers to bypass traditional middlemen and adopt large-scale auction houses to fix stagnant apple prices.
- Richland Strawberry Growers Organize Against Middlemen
Strawberry farmers in Richland are banding together to bypass established marketing associations and are calling for Kennewick growers to unite with them to control local fruit prices.
- A Farmer’s Scathing Critique of the Economic Machine
A North Yakima farmer writes a letter to the census bureau expressing his outrage at the plight of the working class versus railroads and trusts.
- The True Cost of Middlemen
How the Kennewick-Richland Marketing Union learned a hard lesson about shipping produce on consignment versus securing fair prices through cooperation.
- Hanford Apples Take a Bite Out of the Big Apple
Dissatisfied with local middlemen, a group of Hanford growers bypass the regional market to ship a test car of fruit across the country.
- Kennewick's Global Apple Ambitions
Local fruit agent Chas. H. Collins looks beyond the domestic market to South America and the Panama Canal, eyeing new trade routes for the 'Early Fruit Belt' harvest.
- The Great Apple Price Mystery
Local orchardists notice that while they receive pennies for their fruit, consumers pay dollars, leaving a massive profit gap to be absorbed by middlemen.
- Seattle's Fruit Brokers Declared War on the Shrinking Apple Box
In a market where every Puget Sound mill cut its own crate, Seattle commission men pushed a uniform standard—and growers demanded $5,000 bonds to keep the middlemen honest.
- Farmers Take On the Commission Men—and Demand Weekly Checks
Yakima growers propose a $5,000 bond for produce brokers, while Sumner farmer W. H. Paulhamus recalls how organized producers stopped getting 'did' by middlemen.
- Branding the Valley: Why Yakima Fruit Needs a Label
A local observer warns that Yakima’s high-quality peaches are losing their identity in big-city markets to Walla Walla branding.
- The Labor Vulture: A Radical Manifesto in a Seattle Pawn Shop
An anonymous editorial titled 'Capital vs. Lamb' appeared in the Seattle press in 1876, arguing that laborers are currently enslaved by capitalists and must unite to seize all profits of their work.
Also about this, in other words
- The Conman of the Grand Pacific
A hotelier’s prank turns into a headline as a fake British investor tricks a local reporter.
- Counterfeiting Scheme Uncovered in Gilman
Two coal miners are arrested after allegedly being caught in the act of minting counterfeit currency.
- Counterfeiters Caught in Gilman
A raid on a hotel room in Gilman reveals a makeshift mint producing fake gold coins.
- The Gilman Counterfeit Ring
Federal marshals catch two men in a Gilman boarding house, caught in the act of minting bogus coins by the light of a stove.
- The Confidence Men of Leschi Park
A visiting Wells, Fargo express agent is fleeced by a trio of notorious swindlers in a elaborate 'bunko' game near the sea lion pavilion.
- The Tailor-Made Confidence Man
A clever grifter leaves a trail of unpaid bills and stolen suits across North Seattle.
- The Old Man and the Confidence Men
An elderly traveler is swindled out of his watch and checks by a pair of smooth-talking con artists in a Seattle saloon.
- Con Men Target Ranch Owner With Locked-Box Poker
A Spokane County farmer loses his life savings in a classic confidence scheme involving a locked box and a mysterious stranger.