The Struggle for Labor's Voice in Olympia
A scathing critique of Washington's 1909 legislative session, highlighting failures in labor protection and the growing influence of corporate lobbyists.
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 record of the session of the legislature has been made. Upon the statutes of the state of Washington will appear a number of new laws, amendments to existing laws, and the repeal of some obnoxious statutes, as a result of one of the most disappointing sessions in recent years. The legislature's extravagance was its conspicuous feature. Its failures will live long in the memories of thousands of human beings in this state who looked, and looked in vain, to it for relief. We saw the legislature fail to enact an eight-hour law for women workers—a failure driven by the 'bird spielers' for department stores and canneries who warned of business panic. Yet, we celebrate the new mining laws which require safety lamps and better ventilation. Now is the time to begin the work of organization and education of the voting thousands in the workshop, mill and mine, so that when another political campaign shall have arrived, every working man will know who is for us and who is against us.
“The man who digs the earth's interior is comparable only, in the risks he undergoes, to the deep sea diver. Each risks his life a thousand times in a day's work, and risks it for others.”
This letter, written by Charles Perry Taylor, captures the perpetual tension between legislative lobbying by corporate interests and the advocacy for workplace protections. Over a century later, the battle for fair wages and labor standards in Washington remains a central pillar of the civic landscape.
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