The Newspaper Boycott of 1884
A Seattle newspaper fights back after liquor interests threaten an advertising boycott over municipal election coverage.
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.
The Post-Intelligencer, during the past few days, has been made the butt of a number of attacks, or threatened attacks. Three of these were of personal violence to men on the staff; one was of a libel suit against the paper itself, and another was the boycotting referred to by us in our last issue. The boycotters received a number of sharp snubs from the more respectable class of dealers, and their miserable scheme was finally squelched by the circulation of 4,000 dodgers throughout the city. The notice stated: 'It has been currently reported that a movement has been instituted by some of the liquor dealers of this city to boycott the Post-Intelligencer as a punishment for the stand it has taken in regard to our approaching municipal election. Reader, have you any sympathy with such methods in politics? Shall it become in this city financial ruin for a man to give an honest expression of his opinions?' The committee pledged a perpetual withdrawal of all patronage from any firm that encouraged the boycott.
“Shall it become in this city financial ruin for a man to give an honest expression of his opinions?”
This 1884 struggle over journalistic independence and corporate power captures an early moment in Seattle's long history of civic friction between 'law and order' interests and the city's nightlife and labor elements. Today, the tension has shifted from newspaper ads to digital discourse, but the core issue—who controls the city’s political agenda—remains a defining, unresolved Seattle theme.
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