The Price of Rent in the Underworld
A local editor exposes how landlords exploit marginalized women through extortionate rent, turning a police court spectacle into a sharp critique of societal hypocrisy.
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.
In the justice court the other day, two men stood accused of committing assault and battery upon a diminutive Japanese man. The man was carrying a tray of dishes to some of the denizens of the underworld, and the boys—accidentally, they claim—knocked the tray off his head. Then there was a collision between white and yellow that resulted in the arrest of the white men. Three of the inhabitants of a notorious street were dragged into court to testify against the Japanese man. 'Dragged' is the proper word, for the Japanese restaurant keeper who owns these buildings in which these unfortunate girls ply their trade, by a system of extortionate rentals, owns these women just as surely as he does the miserable shacks they inhabit. And the fact that these women, outcasts and objects of public scorn, were to be exhibited to the public gaze added zest to the entertainment provided in the police court that afternoon. As the lawyer for the defense mercilessly plied them with questions which brought out their degradation and shame, the spectators leaned forward in their chairs and thoroughly enjoyed the show.
“The sorriest spectacle and the saddest in this world is the degradation of womankind and we are brutal and callous enough to make it a jest.”
This piece highlights the historical intersection of anti-Asian sentiment and the exploitation of sex workers in early 20th-century Everett. It serves as a stark reminder that housing instability and predatory landlord practices have deep roots in the city's urban development.
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