![]() Front page of the February 3, 1919 issue | |
Type | Union newspaper |
---|---|
Publisher | Central Labor Council of Seattle and Vicinity |
Editor | Harry Ault |
Ceased publication | 1928 |
Circulation | up to 80,000 |
The Seattle Union Record was a union-owned newspaper edited by Harry Ault. [1] The paper was published weekly from February 20, 1900 to April 2, 1918 and was published daily from April 24, 1918 until it discontinued publication in 1928. [2] In its own words, the newspaper was "Published for Principle and Not for Profit". [3] [4]
Harry Ault was instrumental in the temporary success of the Union Record. [5] Prior to working as the editor of the Union Record Ault worked for various other newspaper organizations. As a child, he worked as a newsboy selling the Kentucky Post. [5] At 11 he started the Amateur's Friend and was selling the Weekly People the next year. [5] He would later publish The Young Socialist and at age 19 became the editor of The Socialist. [5] Nine years later, in 1912, he began to work as the editor of the Union Record which had a circulation of 3,000. [5]
The Union Record went daily on the afternoon of April 24, 1918, launching with a daily circulation 40,000 — a number equal to about 90% of the trade unionists in the city of Seattle; [6] this made it the country's first daily labor newspaper. [7] The paper obtained wire service from United Press International, posting $100,000 security with the firm in the form of bonds to guarantee the costs occurring through telegraphic news reporting. [6] Economical production was made possible by the company's ownership of three fast web printing presses. [6]
From its humble origins with a print run of 3,000 copies, circulation of the Union Record would ultimately peak at the 80,000 mark. [5]
The paper would play a large role in organizing and supporting the Seattle General Strike of 1919. [2]
The name was revived in November 2000 as the name of an online newspaper run by the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild when journalists from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and Seattle Times went on strike. [8] [9] It ceased publication in January 2001. [10] [11]