The Political Fight Over the Washington Hop Harvest
As local growers mobilized against a proposed federal tariff reduction on hops, an 1892 letter to the editor captures the early struggle between agricultural protectionism and corporate interests in the White River Valley.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
SLAUGHTER, March 24, 1892. To the editor: I desire to call the attention of all hop growers throughout this county and the state to a bill which has been introduced in the Congress of the United States by the Hon. A. P. Fitch (Dem.) of New York, a millionaire brewer, the object of which is to reduce the present duty on hops imported from 15 cents to 8 cents per pound. The hop growers of the state of New York are alive to their own interests and have unanimously resolved to do all in their power to defeat the bill. Without doubt it is to the benefit of our growers, equally with their New York state brothers, to get right into the war and by petitions and resolutions duly forwarded to Senators Squire and Allen, and also the Hon. J. L. Wilson, our congressman, get them to oppose the bill at every point. I don't believe there is a grower of hops throughout this White river, Green river, and Puyallup valleys that will refuse to sign a petition. As you all know, the business is sufficiently precarious to warrant all the reasonable protection that can be obtained, and any attempt to lower the prices by any person, more especially by legislation, should and I believe will meet with your strong disapproval. Petitions are now lying at Slaughter, Kent, O'Brien's, and Orillia for signatures and will be sent on immediately. Yours truly, James Hart.
“I don't believe there is a grower of hops throughout this White river, Green river and Puyallup valleys that will refuse to sign a petition.”
This 1892 dispute over trade policy and agricultural viability mirrors the modern tension between local Washington farmers and global market forces. Just as growers once feared the influence of East Coast 'millionaire brewers' on their livelihoods, contemporary farmers continue to grapple with how federal trade policy impacts the sustainability of local rural economies.
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