The Firing of a Labor Advocate
Organized labor in Washington wages war on the state labor commissioner after he fires a deputy who actually enforced the law.
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 discharge of Deputy Labor Commissioner Mrs. Blanche Mason by Commissioner Charles F. Hubbard has ignited a firestorm of protest from organized labor across Washington State. Secretary Charles Perry Taylor of the State Federation of Labor and President Charles R. Case have both issued blistering public denunciations of Hubbard, labeling him an incompetent, spineless 'do-nothing' who prioritizes the interests of railroad bosses and manufacturers over the welfare of workers. Governor M. E. Hay, who sanctioned the firing, cited 'lack of harmony' as the official reason, admitting that Hubbard was 'satisfactory to merchants and employers generally.' Labor leaders argue that Mason was dismissed specifically because she successfully enforced labor laws regarding women and children, cutting into the profits of greedy employers. The incident has spurred a growing movement to reform the office of Labor Commissioner from an appointive position to an elective one in the 1912 election.
“Any jellyfish would be equally satisfactory.”
This 1911 dispute over the political capture of labor regulatory agencies highlights the perennial struggle to maintain worker protections against corporate-friendly administrators. The call to make the Labor Commissioner an elected office reflects the era's Populist-era belief that direct democracy was the only shield against institutional corruption.
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