The Fight for Seattle’s Land and Labor
In 1885, as railroads tightened their grip on territorial land, Seattle’s local press warned that monopolistic control over soil was a direct threat to the prosperity of future generations.
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 platforms of the day reflect a growing concern over the land-grant policies of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company. The company, through its control of vast tracts of land, has engaged in practices that mirror the aristocratic land-monopoly systems of England and Ireland. The territorial platform effectively declares that because of the breach of several conditions upon which the grant was made, the entire grant has become forfeitable. The current policy of the company involves the management of complex businesses—railroads, land, town sites, politics, and general brokerage—which fritters away its energy. It would be in the best interest of the government and the people to resume control of these granted lands, holding them in trust to be sold under existing laws, and thereby releasing the soil from the dominion of monopolies. The company would be better served to focus on its business as a common carrier, which would bring back the confidence and goodwill of the people. Continued control of the lands by the company will almost inevitably be attended by so many abuses, exactions, and contentions that friendly relations between the company and the people will be out of the question.
“The freedom of the lands from monopoly control is of so much more importance than their mere money value.”
This 1885 editorial captures the early tension between corporate land developers and public interest in Seattle. Just as the Northern Pacific Railroad’s 'land grant' system triggered a debate about monopolistic control over housing and soil in the 1880s, Seattle remains in a perpetual struggle to ensure that land is managed for public benefit rather than private speculation.
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