Railroad Workers Plan Co-op to Survive Pay Cuts
Facing a 10 to 15 percent salary reduction, Northern Pacific employees in Tacoma consider starting a cooperative store to lower the cost of living.
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.
Tacoma, August 22—The employees of the Northern Pacific railroad here are planning to organize a co-operative store for the transaction of a general business. This is to be done in order to meet the reduction in salaries, which has gone into effect, and to be prepared for any further reductions. The cost of living is too great here; many people say that although wages are higher, it costs so much to live that it offsets the salary. A grocer who is consulting with the men says he finds a profit of 75 percent on some grocery items and promises that if given the trade, he can sell as cheaply as in Chicago or other Eastern cities.
“The railroad men... believe they are the backbone of the city, so far as ready money is concerned, and they are out for consideration in the adjustment of prices.”
The tension between corporate wage suppression and the rising cost of living is a cycle that defined the 1893 Panic and remains the central economic grievance in Seattle today.
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