The Economic Anxiety of 1888
A fiery editorial warns that proposed national tariff reductions threaten to collapse Seattle's burgeoning industries and ruin the working class.
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.
Nothing could be more damaging to the interests of Washington Territory than the enactment of the Mills bill. Our industries are of the sort that require protection. Iron, coal, timber, and wool, the four cornerstones of our industrial life, cannot compete with foreign products. With the mills shut down, with the mines closed, and with sheep ranges abandoned, Washington Territory would present the melancholy spectacle of a ruined commonwealth. Legislation looking toward free trade in iron would stop those operations which promise soon to make this one of the greatest centers of iron industry in the world. Free timber would put the vast timber fields of British Columbia into competition with our own, demoralizing our lumber industry and cutting the value of timber lands in half. Furthermore, the Mills bill proposes free wool, which means nothing less than the absolute destruction of our vast wool interest. Washington Territory would be hard hit, and its growth would be paralyzed. The growth of Seattle within the last two years has been at a rate that is almost marvelous, and yet this measure would strike a blow at the very heart of this prosperity.
“With the mills shut down, with the mines closed, and with sheep ranges abandoned, Washington Territory would present the melancholy spectacle of a ruined commonwealth.”
This 1888 editorial captures the classic Seattle anxiety over global competition, echoing modern debates about how international trade policy impacts local manufacturing and housing affordability. While the specific industries have shifted from timber and wool to tech and logistics, the fear that federal policy might 'paralyze' regional growth remains a constant thread in the city's political identity.
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