The Industrial War Between Seattle and Tacoma
Fresh census data is weaponized in a heated civic rivalry over wages, manufacturing growth, and economic dominance.
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.
The statistics of manufactures for the cities of Tacoma and Seattle for the census year 1890 have just been made public by the census bureau at Washington City. The total shows as clearly as it is possible that Seattle is far ahead of Tacoma as a manufacturing city. Diversified industries exist in Seattle to an extent more than quadruple the number in Tacoma, being sixty-one in Tacoma to 253 in Seattle. Labor is more extensively employed in Seattle than in Tacoma, and it is also better paid. The 1,921 men employed in Tacoma received $1,315,925, an average of $685.02 per annum. The 3,613 men employed in Seattle received $2,845,299 in wages, an average of $787.01 per annum. Capital also receives better returns in Seattle, showing a profit of 35.45 percent compared to 17.93 percent in Tacoma. Stated concretely, Seattle has four times as many industries as Tacoma, employs nearly double the number of laborers, pays them 14 percent more wages, and gives capital twice as much profit. Is it surprising that capital and labor seek Seattle more eagerly, or that Tacoma wages persistent war on Seattle, since it is devoured by the deadly malice and envy of failure against success?
“Is it surprising that capital and labor seek Seattle more eagerly... since it is devoured by the deadly malice and envy of failure against success?”
This 1891 report highlights the birth of the 'Seattle vs. Tacoma' rivalry, a civic tension that defined Puget Sound economics for decades. Today, while the competition has shifted to modern tech and infrastructure, the habit of using quantitative metrics to assert urban superiority remains a central feature of local discourse.
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