City Engineer Fires Bachelors to Save Money
In a wave of municipal cost-cutting, Seattle's city engineer decides that single men are the first to be let go.
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.
Yesterday there was a considerable reduction in the force of the city engineer, including one field crew, consisting of one transit man, two chainmen and two axmen. The surveyors were laid off because the work is falling off, and City Engineer Thomson combined two field crews into one, giving the preference to married men in making his selections. Those let out are W. J. Rust, H. B. Hicks, J. Atwood, B. Reed and W. H. Saunders. Some of them have been in the city's service for a long time and there is no complaint as to their efficiency, and they feel aggrieved at having to give place to 'a lot of old married fossils.'
“Some of them have been in the city's service for a long time and there is no complaint as to their efficiency, and they feel aggrieved at having to give place to 'a lot of old married fossils.'”
While municipal hiring today is governed by strict labor laws and union contracts, the 1893 bias against 'unmarried' workers reflects the era's view of marriage as a prerequisite for civic stability and reliability. Today, Seattle faces a different kind of affordability crisis, where being single or married makes little difference in the face of skyrocketing costs of living.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.