The Price of Independent News
A local merchant reveals a campaign by competitors to silence The Tacoma Times through bribery.
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.
A well-known merchant of Tacoma informs The Times that he was approached several days ago by a representative of one of the daily newspapers of this city, who offered him $175 cash if he would withdraw his advertising from The Times. The offer was declined. Other business men who advertise in The Times have recently been told that they could have advertising space in other papers at half rates for sixty days if they would tell nobody and would stop patronizing The Times. Let it be said to the credit of the business men of this city that they have treated these propositions with silent contempt. The Times does not do business with mash and slungshot; it gives one and every merchant fair treatment and will pay no bonuses or offer any cut rates for sixty days to those who will not patronize other newspapers.
“Let it be said to the credit of the business men of this city that they have treated these propositions with silent contempt.”
This piece highlights the intense and often cutthroat nature of early 20th-century newspaper rivalries in Tacoma. While modern local news faces different pressures, the struggle to maintain a financially independent outlet against entrenched interests remains a contemporary concern.
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