The Firing of the Deputy Labor Commissioner
Organized labor in Washington wages a public war of words against Commissioner C.F. Hubbard after he fires his female deputy for actually enforcing labor laws.
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.
Members of organized labor in this state are reacting to the removal of deputy labor commissioner Mrs. Blanche Mason on October 15. It appears that a lack of harmony existed between Mrs. Mason and her chief, Mr. Hubbard, largely due to Hubbard's refusal to enforce laws under his jurisdiction and Mrs. Mason's insistence on performing her duties faithfully, particularly regarding women and child labor laws. Governor Hay confirmed that he supported the dismissal, stating that while Hubbard did not always suit him, he was 'satisfactory to merchants and employers generally.' Charles Perry Taylor, Secretary of the Federation of Labor, sent a caustic letter to Commissioner Hubbard, labeling him an incompetent 'jellyfish' and declaring that organized labor intends to make the position of labor commissioner an elective office in the 1912 election to ensure the removal of such political appointees.
“Have you no recollection of numberless other occasions when you, being notified of violations of law, had business elsewhere, the farther away the better?”
This 1911 dispute over the regulatory capture of a state department mirrors modern tensions in Everett regarding the balance between protecting workers and satisfying corporate interests. The campaign to shift from an appointed to an elected commissioner foreshadows ongoing civic debates about who is accountable to the public versus who serves the donors.
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