Seattle Rallies for the Delegate to Washington
Citizens and veterans bid a fervent farewell to William H. White as he leaves to challenge the Northern Pacific Railroad’s control of public land.
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.
William H. White, the delegate chosen by the citizens of Seattle to represent their views at Washington regarding the forfeiture of unearned lands held by the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, departed on the George E. Starr. Last evening, his comrades of Stevens Post, Grand Army of the Republic, and a number of citizens met at their hall and marched to Mr. White’s office. Refusing a decorated carriage, White chose to walk with his comrades to the dock. Richard Osborn, of Stevens Post, addressed the crowd, asserting that the people had a right to be heard by the nation's lawmakers. He compared the 'Ship of State,' saved by veterans during the war, to being handed over to a 'piratical crew' of corporate interests. Mr. White responded with a stirring pledge to represent the people's interests, condemning the influence of corporations on national and territorial legislatures. 'For my part,' White stated, 'I believe that there ought to be and that there can be harmony between capital and labor... but it can never be so long as those who control the corporations of the country manifest that imperious bearing which has characterized them.'
“The ship of state was in the hands of an incompetent and worthless crew; she was beaten upon the rocks of treason and disunion... Now they want to hand over the ship that we saved into the hands of a piratical crew.”
This 1884 protest against the Northern Pacific Railroad's land monopoly captures a recurring Seattle tension: the battle between powerful corporate landholders and the public interest. Much like today’s debates over the influence of major developers on Seattle’s housing and land-use policies, citizens in the 1880s were acutely aware of how 'unearned' land grants affected the possibility of local homeownership and affordability.
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