A Warning to Job-Seekers in New Tacoma
A desperate laborer cautions newcomers against the hollow promises of the growing rail boom in New Tacoma, where public work is diverted to outsiders while locals starve.
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.
I send a warning to men who intend to come to New Tacoma and intend to make a living: read these lines and think. The way business is at present in New Tacoma, the boom is a fake. For more than six months the School Board has been promising taxpayers to build a large and costly school house. The taxpayers granted the amount, and thereupon the work of the plans and specifications was given to a Portland architect. When the plans and specifications were complete they were placed in Portland for contractors to bid upon. After that, they were advertised for bids in New Tacoma. Why should public work, done with money squeezed out of New Tacoma taxpayers, be open to the competition of Portland workmen when there are over 500 unemployed men in New Tacoma? I have seen more privation and want in New Tacoma than any other town or city I have ever set foot in. Although I have a membership in good standing of three societies, I have not earned five cents in as many weeks. Every place is overrun with people coming here, in some cases families being forced to remain out of doors. It is impossible for all to get employment. Railroads, steamboat companies, hotel keepers and real estate agents will bring all the people they can, for it puts money in their pockets. No matter how many suffer, cold-blooded and white-livered people see only the mighty dollar.
“No matter how many suffer, cold-blooded and white-livered people see only the mighty dollar.”
This 1883 account of economic displacement and 'boom-time' exploitation in Tacoma resonates deeply with modern Seattle, where residents grapple with how development often serves external investors while pushing out the local workforce. The cynical observation that industry players profit from growth regardless of the human cost remains a core part of the Pacific Northwest's civic debate.
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