The Right to Peddle in Spokane
A local ordinance banning street vendors from the downtown fire district is struck down by the courts.
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 new peddler's ordinance in Spokane, excluding peddlers from the downtown fire limits, has been declared void by Judge Kennan, and Chief Woydt has been ordered to release Thomas Camp from custody. This ordinance was passed at the instance of Chief Woydt and has been the author of many of his troubles. Before the law passed, Mr. Woydt issued an order prohibiting peddling within the fire limits, and it was over that order he had a row in which he slugged Thomas Golden and was fined $10. The ordinance was subsequently passed and Golden and Camp combined to try to break it. Camp was arrested for violation and fined $5 and costs. The superior court held that the charter provision granting the council power to license and control peddling did not give it power to prohibit it altogether, and that the ordinance was void.
“The court held that the charter provision granting the council power to license and control peddling within the city limits did not give it power to prohibit it altogether.”
This 1903 legal struggle over street vendor access reflects the ongoing tension between municipal attempts to sanitize downtown business districts and the rights of independent labor to operate in public space. Similar conflicts over vending permits and 'quality of life' ordinances continue to shape the character of Washington's city centers today.
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