The Filthy State of Seattle's Bakeries
A state labor inspector finds local bread shops in 'vile' condition, prompting a push for stricter sanitation laws and oversight.
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.
Seattle: Labor Commissioner William Blackman has inspected twenty-four of the thirty bake shops in Seattle as required by the new bake shop law. He found not a single shop entitled to a certificate of compliance. Commissioner Blackman noted that two shops needed only slight improvement, but the others required major alterations in ventilation and cleanliness. He described conditions in some shops as 'vile.' The commissioner argued for the creation of a dedicated bake shop inspector, noting that he spent two days inspecting only a fraction of the city's bakeries. The new law requires proper drainage, plumbing, air shafts, and separation of sleeping quarters from bake rooms, and prohibits the employment of anyone with contagious skin diseases or tuberculosis. The shops have been given thirty days to comply before legal action is taken.
“The condition in some of the bake shops was vile. I never realized until this trip the necessity for such a law.”
This 1903 report highlights the early, messy era of food safety regulation in Washington. Today's public health inspections, while more routine, still trace their roots to these first, often contentious, efforts to regulate urban industrial labor conditions.
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