White River Valley Riders Boycott the Interurban Over a Fare Hike
Residents between Seattle and Tacoma refuse to ride, picket stations, and invite the same 'conspiracy' charge that organized labor faced in the Buck's Stove boycott.
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 residents of the valley towns between Seattle and Tacoma are up in arms over the raise in passenger fares by the interurban company. So in need are they that they have established what practically amounts to a boycott against the company. Not only do they refuse to ride on the road, but they have picketed the stations and tried to keep their fellow residents from patronizing the company. Probably ninety-nine men out of every hundred sympathize with the people in their fight against the raise in rates. And yet these same people "shy off" at the term "boycott."
The American Federation of Labor, a few years ago, concluded that they would buy no more Buck's stoves and ranges, because they were made under conditions repugnant to organized labor. They went further and told the people why they were refusing to patronize the Buck's Stove and Range Company and urged the working people to refuse to buy that product. The courts took cognizance of this "conspiracy in restraint of trade," and the ensuing events are history. Wherein was the difference between the refusal of organized labor to accept intolerable conditions in the case of the Buck's stove and range case and the refusal of the residents of the White River valley to accept the intolerable traffic conditions imposed upon them by the interurban company? The principle is the same, only in the public mind one is a "rising of popular indignation" and the other "an unreasonable demand by a few union fanatics." The fact of the matter is that "the boycott" is a weapon used by every class of people, but it makes a difference whose ox is gored.
“The fact of the matter is that "the boycott" is a weapon used by every class of people, but it makes a difference whose ox is gored.”
Transit fares and who controls the routes connecting Puget Sound towns remain live regional issues, and rider boycotts still raise the question of when consumer protest is legitimate and when it is called unreasonable. The 1909 White River Valley fight shows that the argument over private control of public transportation is older than the modern light-rail and bus debates.
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