The Press: Waiting for Itchy

To earn its reputation as a strong union town, Seattle ran a grim gamut of labor trouble, from a bitter citywide general strike (1919) to bloody waterfront wars (1934). Last week a strike made news which the newspapers could not report.

Seattle, for the first time in 82 years, had no newspapers.

Out on strike were 209 union printers, who walked out of their cluttered composing rooms at the Star and Hearst's morning Post-Intelligencer, their spick-&-span one at the Times, demanding a $2.95 a day raise. In the old days publishers had met such crises by hustling scab compositors into town, and paying reporters extra to double in linotyping. This time, they shut down.

Seattleites queued up at newsstands to snatch out-of-town papers. Even the shop ping newspapers—which added a stickful of world news—were read. A rally for General Wainwright flopped for lack of buildup. Broadcasters expanded their news staffs, put classified ads on the air, free. But, as in St. Louis (TIME, Aug. 27), the disturbing fact was that most people seemed to get along without papers.

Publishers unhappily watched retail sales boom, without benefit of ads. (Seattleites, hearing that Labor Boss Dave Beck might call a strike of store clerks, did their Christmas shopping early.) After three newsless weeks, the thing people missed most, it appeared, was the latest on Dick Tracy v. Itchy.