The Fair Band Walked Out When the Pay Didn't Come
Fifteen Tacoma musicians said they quit the Interstate Fair band after management failed to arrange their wages — and they had brought players from Portland and Seattle at their own expense.
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, Sept. 30.—(Special.)—The following Tacoma members of Baill's Interstate Fair band have written a communication to the Tacoma bureau of the Post-Intelligencer, stating that their position has been misstated by the fair management, and that they were compelled to quit, much to their sorrow, because no arrangement for their pay was made by the management: J. W. Campbell, A. Nelson, R. K. Lender, W. R. Flaskett, Olof Bull, M. J. Murphy, W. Price, M. Fowler, C. Wardrum, Robert Johnson, J. C. Luppy, M. J. Leonard, H. Davis, W. Koch, C. Jenson. These musicians say they are particularly chagrined because they brought musicians here from Portland, Seattle and elsewhere at their own expense, and have been unable to continue satisfactory arrangements with them.
“They were compelled to quit, much to their sorrow, because no arrangement for their pay was made by the management.”
The walkout is a small preview of the gig-economy problem: workers recruited for a big event, promised pay, then left hanging when the arrangement fell through. The musicians' complaint to the Post-Intelligencer was itself a public-pressure tactic, using a newspaper to shame management into settling.
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