The Forgotten Radicalism of 1880s Seattle
When an influential Washington territorial politician argued that land monopolies were a threat to labor and that women's suffrage was the only path to a fair society.
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.
At 11 a.m., Hon. Edward Eldredge was introduced to the audience, and after a very happy reference to the genius of Chautauqua, said: 'The land which has produced the brightest people of the century is in danger of being less attractive to the moral people than many parts of the old world. The discovery of gold in California gave a shock to the world. It was mainly from California that Washington pioneers came... But it is our duty to arrest the evil tendencies and customs which we may see. In the land where I was born nine out of ten laborers would die in the same condition. I saw that this condition was but temporary and would pass with the transient conditions now present. The rulers of this land have no more right to place the land beyond the reach of laborers than William the Conqueror to his minions. The nation or individual who pays tribute to another is not independent. Will 90,000,000 voluntarily give their rights into the hands of 10,000,000? Let us free woman from her shackles, place her on an equality with man, and then the principles of our creed will be carried into effect... How can intelligent Americans hold the Declaration of Independence and deny the ballot to woman? If the consent of the governed is necessary to the sanction of government, woman certainly has the same right to the ballot as man.'
“The rulers of this land have no more right to place the land beyond the reach of laborers than William the Conqueror to his minions.”
Edward Eldredge’s 1886 speech highlights how long Seattle has grappled with the tension between rapid economic expansion and the basic rights of laborers and women. His call to 'arrest the evil tendencies' of land monopolization mirrors contemporary debates regarding the city's housing crisis and the influence of concentrated wealth on public policy.
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