The Newsboys' War Against the Ledger
Tacoma’s newspaper war turns street-level as organized newsboys mobilize to block the sale of a scab publication.
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.
There was considerable commotion on Pacific avenue this morning. The Newsboys' union herded the lads who accepted a bribe to sell Ledgers, and marched them down the street with the din of fog horns and catcalls in their ears. They made a sight of the non-union boys. Most of the boys took the situation good-naturedly, but one boy cried because the union boys teased him. If any of his tormentors had misgivings, they were dismissed by adults who told the little non-union tot that he ought to be teased if he hadn't any more sense than to sell the Ledger against the wishes of his friends. The boys who teased him were threatened with arrest by the Ledger employees, one of whom was charged with slapping the boy's face. Everyone seems to be making it unpleasant for the Ledger; one railway man pointed to a water-soaked bundle of their papers and declared, 'Well, it will remain here till it rots before I'll carry it on my car.' The Newsboys' Union, led by President Nagle Henry, has elected to boycott the paper, and the union has been bolstered by significant community support, including from the rival Morning Union.
“It will remain here till it rots before I'll carry it on my car.”
This 1893 labor struggle highlights the deep historical roots of the organized labor movement in the Pacific Northwest. Today, the platform of the 'newsboy' has shifted to digital gig work, yet the tension between platform owners and worker collective action remains a central feature of the local economy.
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