The Seattle Doctrine: 'Live and Let Live' in 1876

There is a bit of true mettle and a vein of homely sense and genuine manliness in the line of the above heading, 'Live and Let Live.' The composition may not be a model of literary art, but the author had the root of the matter in him. It is not essential or wise to tear wages down to starvation rates. The security and perpetuity of the nation requires that all its people shall receive the highest rate of remuneration for work that is compatible with the development of industry. It is the nature of monopoly to break down all independent interests and to suck the blood of private tributaries. Such things ought not to exist on the soil of a free country. Where ancient communities are overcrowded, weakened by old age, and enervated by the effects of plethoric riches and luxury, it may be found easier to gain a living by mutual plunder than to create it; but in a new, free country, any dog-in-the-manger spirit or bitterness of rivalry, or disposition to undermine and suppress neighbors, is a discredit to any citizen. There is no occasion for any who can work to enact the role of a vampire or parasite by preying upon others. The poor need not itch to plunder the rich, nor the rich to leech the poor. None need turn their weapons of attack against their struggling neighbors for place or pelf. These reflections are prompted by a statement made to us by a representative of one of our leading houses that they were doing a vastly larger business this year than ever before, notwithstanding the fact of the large number of new stores that have been started here within the year, which have only made more business for them. This is in accordance with what we have all along claimed: that every enterprise established only helps to open the way for more. So come along everybody, Seattle is the place.