The City’s Call for Child Labor
A 1892 classified section reveals the casual exploitation of youth, alongside a frantic city infrastructure project that mirrors modern growth pains.
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.
WANTED—BOYS FROM 12 TO 14 YEARS OLD AT AM. DIST. TEL. CO.’S OFFICE.
WANTED—YOUNG MAN IN OUR DRY GOODS DEPARTMENT. Nordhoff & Co.
WANTED—WRIGHT OF NOTES to take care of an office; must have some knowledge of bookkeeping and be a good penman. Apply P.O. Box 1549, giving age, salary expected, and references.
WANTED—WANTING TILLERS AND men, and tunnel men, $2 to $2.50 per day; two cooks; three in city. Bennett & Byers, 110 West Main street.
WANTED—EXPERIENCED TRAMWAY WORKERS, after 4 o’clock. Room 37 Occidental building.
WANTED—GRAVEL TRAIN MEN, hoacers, ax men and teamsters $1.75 to $2.50 per day; free pass; cedar bolt choppers $1.25 per cord; brickyard men, $1.00 to $1.25 per day, board $4 per week. George W. Crane, 100 Washington street.
“WANTED—BOYS FROM 12 TO 14 YEARS OLD AT AM. DIST. TEL. CO.’S OFFICE.”
This 1892 clipping captures a Seattle in the midst of a violent growth spurt, echoing today’s housing and labor pressures. The casual inclusion of 'boys from 12 to 14 years old' alongside notices for brickyard and tunnel workers underscores the era's brutal, unregulated labor environment, while the page's overwhelming focus on real estate sales shows a city already fixated on land speculation as a path to fortune.
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