A Constitutional Challenge to City Plumbing Laws
A local plumber has been arrested for violating a new city ordinance requiring all practitioners to pass a formal examination.
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.
John T. Ryan, a plumber doing business at 512 Pike Street, was arrested yesterday on the charge of violating the city plumbing ordinance. The ordinance in question was passed recently and requires that every plumber doing business in Seattle shall pass an examination at the hands of the plumbers' examining board. If he passes a satisfactory examination, a certificate is issued and a copy of the same is filed with the city comptroller. About 50 firms have complied with the order, but the others have either failed to come up to the standard or object to the examination on the ground that the ordinance is not constitutional. Ryan has given bail and proposes to make a fight on the constitutionality of the ordinance.
“Ryan has given bail and proposes to make a fight on the constitutionality of the ordinance.”
The tension between trade guilds/professional licensing and the freedom to conduct business remains a hallmark of Seattle's civic debates, showing how the city has long grappled with the professionalization of the trades.
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