The Fair Band Struck Over a Late Paycheck — and Management Wired San Francisco for Replacements
When the musicians' weekly wages arrived a day late, several players refused to perform; the trustees called it ingratitude, and a thirty-piece band from San Francisco was on the next train.
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This afternoon there was no music at the fair. The band struck because it did not get its pay promptly on the minute for the past week. Prof. Bull went to the secretary and asked for a check, and was told that while he had the money in the bank with which to pay them, he could not draw a check for the amount because the board of trustees had not authorized the drawing of a warrant for that amount; but that as soon as the board could meet and authority was given him, the money would be forthcoming. Mr. Bull repeated this to his men, and some of them were perfectly satisfied, but there were several members of the band who refused to play unless paid immediately. The men stood around the doorway for a while, and finally went out carrying their instruments in their hands.
One of the trustees said: "Prof. Bull came to us when the fair project first started and asked that he might be allowed to compete for the music at the fair. He said he could gather local musicians together from Tacoma, Portland and Seattle who would be able to give as satisfactory music as any band that could be imported. We told Mr. Bull that although there was a prejudice in favor of foreign musicians and noted leaders, in the interest of the musicians of the Northwest we would give them a good chance. We paid this band $1,300 per week, which is more than we would have had to pay for a well-known band from outside the state, with a noted leader. Over and over again there has been trouble between the band and the management, and two or three times there has been a threatened strike because the money was not paid the exact instant it was due. We have asked for no credit from the band and have paid full rates demanded, but there seems to have been a disposition to make things as hard for the fair as possible, and the action of this afternoon is a fitting climax."
Tacoma's splendid Midwinter band, thirty pieces and nine soloists, will leave San Francisco tomorrow morning to play at the fair, replacing the strikers. The arrangements were made by wire this afternoon, and the band will arrive in time to play Sunday evening, which is British Columbia Day.
“There were several members of the band who refused to play unless paid immediately.”
Before festival lineups and streaming royalties, a fair's band was contract labor, paid by the week and expected to play on the dot. When the check ran a day late, the musicians walked — and management instantly wired San Francisco for replacement players. The tension between 'paid the exact instant it was due' and 'we have always paid' is more than a century old.
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