The Hop King's Defense
Ezra Meeker pushes back against public criticism, defending his company’s labor practices during the hard times of 1894.
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.
To the Editor: The Puyallup Hop Company raised a crop of hops on 120 acres during the season of 1888 that sold for nearly $40,000. This whole crop was sold to English consumers and returns were received in gold. Of this $40,000, only about $2,900 was sent out of the country. Nearly all of the money accrued to residents of the United States and the state of Washington. A man or a newspaper that tries to ferment discontent among employees is an enemy of that class. An obscure paper recently published the statement that the Puyallup Hop Company (Meeker’s) was oppressing the poor man, paying but 75 cents a day in time checks. The facts are, the company has paid and is paying $1 and $1.25 a day on their farms, instead of 75 cents, and is paying its time checks in cash, and not store pay. At Puyallup, begging from door to door was becoming general. Finally, I made a rule to furnish meal tickets for work. Notice was given that food could be had for two hours’ labor. This stopped the begging, yet there were but very few meal tickets called for. The facts developed that there were but very few cases of genuine need, and such cases were relieved and mendicancy was nipped in the bud.
“A man or a newspaper that takes occasion to try to cause trouble between employers and employes, or tries to ferment discontent among the employees, is an enemy of that class to be shunned.”
Ezra Meeker, the pioneer hop king, here defends his corporate practices against accusations of wage theft and exploitation—a familiar friction between Seattle’s labor force and capital. His attempt to manage poverty through 'meal tickets' in exchange for manual labor mirrors ongoing debates over conditional aid and the stigmatization of the unhoused in the Pacific Northwest.
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