Fair Play for the Bandstand Builders
When businessmen whispered that the contractors erecting Olympia’s bandstand were outsiders, a letter to the editor insisted that a family man who had spent $600 waiting for work deserved a fighting chance.
Editor Tribune: I would like to correct through the columns of The Tribune a false report that has been circulated among the business men of the city concerning Messrs. Covington and Goodwin, the contractors who are building the band stand, to the effect that they are almost total strangers in the city and are therefore not entitled to an equal show with contractors who have lived here for several years. Mr. Goodwin is a property owner, tax-payer, head of a family and a citizen in good standing. He has been doing carpenter work and contract work in Olympia for the past three years. Mr. Covington is the head of a family and has lived in Olympia nine months. He came here from Little Rock, Ark., where he was one of the foremost contractors for eight years. Owing to the removal to this state of three grown sons and one grown daughter he sold out and came here with the full expectation of again going into business. Since his arrival here he has paid out over $600 in hard cash to maintain himself and family until work became more plentiful. If this does not entitle a man to a fighting chance for a livelihood, I don’t know what does. Yours, Albert Sidney Gregg.
“If this does not entitle a man to a fighting chance for a livelihood, I don’t know what does.”
Debates over local hiring and public contracts still turn on how long someone has lived in town and whether they count as a real member of the community. The letter’s plea for a “fighting chance” echoes current arguments about preference for local bidders and the line between protecting local business and shutting out newcomers.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.