The Political Fever of 1889
Thousands pack the Seattle Armory to hear a fiery orator champion the Republican cause, high tariffs, and the protection of local labor.
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Thousands gathered at the Armory to hear the Honorable John B. Allen, of Walla Walla, deliver an eloquent address. Mr. Allen began by noting that when he first came to the territory, he was told to wait for better times, but he had witnessed a transformation in the American continent. He spoke of the shift from a fledgling country to a great manufacturing nation, declaring that the government must protect American labor from the 'pauper labor' of other countries through a tariff wall. He argued that it matters little how cheap a suit of clothes may be if the laborer has no money to purchase it. The speaker noted that last year, the laborers of America put more money in the savings banks than the English workmen did in five hundred years. He also paid tribute to the pioneers and expressed his conviction that the Republican party was the true vehicle for Washington's prosperity.
“What matter how cheap a suit of clothes may be if the laborer has no money to purchase it?”
The 1889 debate over protecting domestic labor from 'pauper' global competition echoes today’s intense political discourse on trade policy and the cost of living. Seattle remains a city where the tension between rapid economic expansion and the struggle of the working class defines the civic identity.
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