The Four-Inch Loophole
Everett officials reject an employment office application, citing a technicality that contradicts their own history of political maneuvering.
Two local union boys made application to the city council last Monday evening for a license to conduct an employment office on Grand, just at the rear of the Grand saloon. The saloon fronts on Hewitt avenue and the building the boys had rented fronted on Grand with a space of four inches between the two buildings. The council, however, refused the license because the buildings were adjoining. This strict adherence to the law on the part of the council is really funny in view of some of the stunts these same gentlemen have attempted to pull off—juggling with the city printing, for instance.
“This strict adherence to the law on the part of the council is really funny in view of some of the stunts these same gentlemen have attempted to pull off.”
Local government gatekeeping of labor services remains a friction point today, echoing this 1909 report of city officials using petty zoning and licensing rules to stymie worker-led initiatives.
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