The Times Compositors Walk Out
A labor dispute over 'narrow measure' typesetting and contract length leads to a strike at the Seattle Evening Times.
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 union printers in the employ of the Evening Times went out this morning. The paper, through the efforts of the editorial force and some non-union printers, made its appearance at a late hour this evening in a much reduced form. Ten days ago, the business manager and part proprietor, Thomas H. Dempsey, was informed by a committee of the union that beginning with this morning the Times would have to pay its compositors thirteen em price for eleven and one-half ems of matter set. That is to say, they demanded a bonus of one and one-half ems. The reason given was that the Times, being a narrow measure paper, compositors could not make as much money upon it as they can upon papers of wider measurement. This was not the cause of the strike, however. This morning they refused to work unless Mr. Dempsey would sign a six-month contract, which he could not consent to without consulting his partner, Col. G.G. Lyon. They declined to wait for his arrival, and the strike ensued.
“None but robbers seek to get anything which they have not earned.”
Newspaper labor strikes were common during the 1890s, highlighting the tension between the skilled craft of typesetting and the business imperatives of rapidly growing urban dailies. The language of 'robbers' used against the union reflects the fierce anti-labor stance of publishers during the era.
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