Washington’s Economic Front at Risk
A proposed federal tariff bill faces fierce resistance from the Pacific Northwest, with warnings that removing duties on lumber will crush local industry.
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 new Democratic tariff bill is an iniquitous and unjust measure to the state of Washington, whose representatives here will stoutly contest its passage at every step. There is scarcely an industry in that great state that will not be dealt a heavy blow if this bill becomes a law. Senator Squire has already prepared and presented to the ways and means committee a lengthy and vigorous protest against the proposed removal of the duty on the principal products of the Puget Sound region, calling especial attention to the inconsistency of the policy of the administration in excluding Chinese for the protection of American labor, and at the same time enacting tariff laws that will bring every laborer in the Pacific Northwest into direct competition with the pauper labor in the already Chinese-flooded province of British Columbia.
“There is scarcely an industry in that great state that will not be dealt a heavy blow if this bill becomes a law.”
This 1893 report captures the historical roots of the Pacific Northwest’s protectionist leanings regarding the timber industry. The anxiety over foreign competition and its impact on local wages remains a recurring theme in the region's political discourse over a century later.
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