Fifty Unemployed Men March on Port Angeles — and Ask the County for Work
Led by Judge W. Clark, they told commissioners they had cleared the old Port Angeles reservation but could not make a living on it. Without work, they said, they would demand county support.
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.
On Thursday morning fifty men headed by Judge W. Clark marched into the commissioners’ chamber at Port Angeles and requested that work be given them by the county. Their leader said that they had cleared up and redeemed a great portion of the public domain known as the Port Angeles reservation, making the same valuable, and that they were unable to make a living from the same, and stating further that if they did not get work they would be compelled to demand support from the county. The commissioners said they have expended about $1,000 of the county’s money during the past year to furnish work for the poor.
“If they did not get work they would be compelled to demand support from the county.”
Public relief and public works remain flashpoints: who deserves help, what strings attach, and whether the county or the market provides work. The 1894 marchers made the same claim—that land made valuable by their labor should not leave them destitute.
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