The Price of the Eight-Hour Day
A Seattle merchant faces threats and a physical assault for defying a boycott and keeping his shop open to protect his clerks from sixteen-hour shifts.
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.
Mr. P. Davies, of Davies & Co., was attacked yesterday on the street by two men who struck him from behind, resulting in a bruised and black eye. Mr. Davies had been targeted for harassment by an organization because he refused to close his place of business at 6 o'clock in the evening. He stated, 'For years I have conducted a retail business, and I have always believed in the fairness of short hours and have granted the same to my clerks. The boycott movement in this city was organized for the benefit of the clerks, and I am in full sympathy with that, but the method employed by the Clerks' Protective Association and its sympathizers is nothing but cowardice.' A handbill, titled 'An Appeal to the Public,' was circulated claiming Mr. Davies was taking advantage of his clerks by keeping them at their stations for sixteen hours while others were enjoying their liberty. Mr. Davies has identified his assailants and intends to prosecute them to the full extent of the law. Meanwhile, Myrtle Assembly No. 8, Knights of Labor, has adopted resolutions supporting the early closing movement and promising not to patronize any merchant who opposes it.
“The tariff, in a nutshell, is the difference in wages abroad and in America.”
This 1888 clash highlights the long, often violent history of labor organizing in Seattle. Today’s debates over the 'gig economy' and retail scheduling mandates echo this struggle from over a century ago, proving that the tension between business owners and the collective power of workers remains a central theme in Seattle's civic life.
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