The Tacoma Ledger Labor Dispute
A scathing report on how the Ledger imported scab labor from California after union printers resisted wage cuts and automation.
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 Tacoma Daily Ledger office has been 'ratted,' scab labor having been imported from California for that purpose. The Ledger has always secretly opposed organized labor, and now it has come out openly against it. Since the day it was started it has been a leech upon the treasuries of Tacoma and Pierce county, and thousands of dollars of the taxpayers' money has annually been blackmailed from the county officials by that paper. Since Nelson Bennett, the old Chinese employer, bought the paper it has been much worse than before. Bennett objected to pay an honest day's wages for an honest day's work, and instead of $4.50 for 9,000 ems composition, he wanted 40,000 ems set for that price—so he put in machines. A few weeks ago the foreman received orders to cut expenses $100 per week, and in order to do so each man took extra work upon himself. Seeing that $100 per week could be saved Bennett wanted to save $400, so he ordered a cut of 20 per cent. in wages, although knowing that such wages would be lower than those paid in any legitimate daily office in the West; and also knowing that the printers would not accept the cut. Result: The printers walked out and cheap labor from California has taken their places.
“Bennett objected to pay an honest day's wages for an honest day's work.”
The tension between technological automation in the newsroom and the living wages of printers is a classic labor history narrative that predates modern gig economy struggles.
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