Seattle's Merchants Band Together Against Freight Rates
Leading shippers in the city convene at the Bailey block to form a new organization to challenge discriminatory transportation costs.
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About twenty of the leading shippers in the city held a meeting Monday evening in the office of Southwick, Peters & Van Wyck, in the Bailey block, to consider the feasibility of organizing a transportation bureau for the protection and development of the shipping interests of the city. The general objects of such an association were to act as an arbitrator and back up individual shippers in cases where they are discriminated against or dealt unfairly with by transportation lines, and to bring about a unity of action among shippers in securing the best possible rates for Seattle freight. George B. Adair, of the Gordon Hardware Company, was chosen temporary chairman and J. S. Goldsmith, of the Schwabacher Bros. Company, temporary secretary. A committee was appointed to formulate a definite plan of organization and prepare by-laws, including members from the Seattle Hardware Company, Fischer-Macdonald, MacDougall-Southwick Co., Gordon Hardware Company, Stewart-Holmes Drug Company, and the Washington Iron Works.
“It is high time the courts should say to these worthies that it is just as much larceny to steal political rights as it is to steal private property.”
The struggle for fair freight and logistics costs is a historical constant in Seattle, which remains a major port city dependent on global supply chains. This 1892 effort reflects the city's early transition from a boomtown into a sophisticated commercial hub organizing to exert power against powerful rail and steamship monopolies.
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