The Mayor's Pitch to Organized Labor
Mayor H.B. Hassell defends his administration's shift to day labor for city projects, framing it as a direct conflict between public interest and private contractors.
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.
Editor Labor Journal: I believe I deserve a line of endorsement in your columns, not because I have redeemed my promise of last fall to union labor, but because of the issues at stake. The banks and the contractors are vigorously opposing my candidacy. They know they will receive a square deal with everyone else if I am elected, but they have special interests against the interests of the people. City work by day labor has been inaugurated under my administration. Most property owners and laboring people believe this method of making public improvements should be thoroughly tried out. So far, we have made a success of it. I believe that under this method, large savings can be made for the taxpayer and better wages and conditions of labor secured for the wage earner. If elected, I shall go ahead with it. The opposition comes naturally from the contractors and those who finance their operations. I have said nothing about the city water works system, the ownership of the city dock, the free employment bureau, and other things which have had the favorable attention of my administration. These are the real issues.
“Labor is prior to and independent of capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor.”
Everett’s early 20th-century political landscape was defined by the struggle between municipal ownership and private contracting. Hassell’s emphasis on 'day labor' over private contracts resonates with modern debates over public versus private delivery of civic infrastructure.
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