The Skagit Harvest Strike of 1878
A radical field hand pens an open letter from the Skagit River flats, decrying a race to the bottom in wages and the 'swine-like' conditions imposed on labor.
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.
Writing from the Skagit River flats in September 1878, a self-described 'Harvest Hand' issues a stinging rebuke to laborers who undermined local wage standards. In previous years, harvest labor on these flats—encompassing about a township and a half—commanded two to three dollars a day for a standard shift of 7 A.M. to 6 P.M. This year, wages were slashed to one dollar and a half. When laborers attempted to strike for two dollars, employers simply telegraphed Seattle, and the next steamer brought a surplus of men, breaking the strike. The author laments this influx of desperate workers, whom he fears are being 'drained out of California into the basin of Puget Sound' to ruin the local labor market. He warns that unless farm hands stand firm, refuse to work overtime, and insist on a fair quid pro quo, they will descend into a state of 'absolute serfdom,' eventually forced to scavenge on clam beaches during the winter just to survive. He calls for a new 'etiquette of labor' to maintain the dignity and sovereignty of the American citizen.
“A set of men that will allow such a custom to survive from old mining days... the custom of packing ones own blankets and hauling a place to sleep under the lee of a hay stack at night, is a thing we ought to indignantly rise and decide against.”
The 1878 struggle on the Skagit flats over wage stagnation and the influx of transient labor mirrors contemporary debates about how regional growth and labor competition impact the bargaining power of workers. The author's frustration with the 'race to the bottom' and his call for labor solidarity remain resonant in an era where Seattle's cost of living continuously threatens the stability of the working class.
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