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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 4 |
| 1858 | 1 |
| 1861 | 2 |
| 1863 | 2 |
| 1871 | 1 |
| 1872 | 16 |
| 1876 | 31 |
| 1877 | 16 |
| 1878 | 8 |
| 1880 | 2 |
| 1882 | 7 |
| 1883 | 12 |
| 1884 | 15 |
| 1885 | 38 |
| 1886 | 13 |
| 1887 | 4 |
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| 1889 | 21 |
| 1890 | 2 |
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| 1892 | 35 |
| 1893 | 27 |
| 1894 | 41 |
| 1895 | 34 |
| 1898 | 3 |
| 1899 | 8 |
| 1902 | 1 |
| 1903 | 22 |
| 1904 | 14 |
| 1905 | 1 |
| 1909 | 26 |
| 1910 | 4 |
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| 1912 | 3 |
| 1914 | 3 |
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| 1916 | 5 |
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| 1925 | 2 |
469 stories matching moral
- The Moral Gatekeeper: Snohomish’s New Battle Over Who Gets to Sell Liquor
A new state law requires liquor license applicants to prove 'good moral character,' turning county commissioners into judges of private virtue and sparking a fierce debate over who gets to define morality in the Territory.
- The Lieutenant Governor’s Moral Steamroller
Lieutenant Governor M. E. Hay asserts his influence in Olympia, taking a hardline stance on public morality and political accountability.
- The Editor Who Sold His Paper to a Brothel Keeper
A scathing letter in the Puget Sound Dispatch exposes the corrupt alliance between Seattle’s Republican party and its most notorious vice kingpins, asking: 'What of that newspaper publisher... who for a palm share in the wages of prostitution gives his aid and influence?'
- A Mother Taken From a Spree: Seattle's Temperance Crusade Fixes on One Family
A well-dressed mother of three is found drunk and taken to the city station to recover — and the Post-Intelligencer turns her private ruin into a sermon on marriage, appetite and the duty of the state.
- The Pulpit vs. the Tax Assessor: Seattle Pastor Fights a Bill to Tax Church Property
Rev. Clark Davis told his congregation that a proposed state law would punish churches for doing the state's moral work—and warned that saloons and 'unbelievers' were cheering it on.
- The 'Fanatical Old Ass': A Local Political Feud in 1876
A fiery editorial from the Seattle Daily Tribune attacks the federal appointment of General Robert H. Milroy to a territorial post, painting him as a moralizing carpetbagger who failed to earn the respect of his own neighbors.
- The Sheriff Who Would Be Governor
A political endorsement of John H. McGraw, framing his tenure as sheriff and his 'moral courage' as the ideal preparation for state leadership.
- There's "Dough" in Every Street Contract: A Preacher Takes On City Hall
Rev. Napoleon Hoagland reads the nation's municipal record aloud — reeking streets, a million-dollar franchise given away, councilmen who elsewhere would count themselves lucky to stay out of prison — and asks why democratic America breeds more thieves than the Tsar's Europe.
- The Dairy Commissioner’s War on Adulterated Food
A Washington dairy official warns that fake honey, poisoned candy, oleomargarine and brewers’ grain are cheating farmers — and demands stronger pure-food laws.
- The Battle for the Sunday Morning Calm
When Seattle’s businesses first debated the secular 'day of rest,' local editors questioned if the city’s newspapers should be forced to observe the Sabbath.
- The License Law: Who Gets to Drink in Snohomish?
A new interpretation of the Territory's temperance laws gives local boards sweeping power to deny liquor licenses based on 'moral character,' effectively letting neighbors veto their neighbors' businesses.
- The Vice Capital of the Sound: Seattle's Moral Crisis
An outraged local editorial condemns Seattle as a haven for gambling and prostitution, blaming the influx of 'dissolute classes' and corrupt officials for the city's scandalous reputation.
- The Business Men's Counter-Rally
Proponents of industry and economic development rally at Occidental Square against the 'moral reformers.'
- The Seattle Liquor Board's Battle for Moral Standing
A landmark 1886 legal challenge in King County forces a judge to define the limits of civic power when local officials refuse to grant a liquor license based on a claimant’s character.
- The Warden Fights Back: Prison Labor, Jute Sacks and a Seattle Newspaper Scandal
Accused of selling prison-made sacks to middlemen and brutalizing convicts, Walla Walla’s warden answers his critics with a detailed defense—and a challenge to inspect the prison.
- The Saloon at the Race Track
A legal battle over liquor licenses in the Duwamish precinct reveals the limits of civic power when faced with the relentless machinery of the law.
- The City's Sudden Morality Raid Targeted the Wrong Women
A Yakima letter-writer asks why licensed saloons kept their protection while women were fined $5 a month in police court.
- The Postmaster’s Morality Purge
A Port Townsend postmaster suspends a Methodist minister and mail carrier, citing the moral tone of the department—while his own divorce scandal simmers.
- The Daily Parade of Moral Rottenness
A fed-up Seattle resident petitions City Hall to end the brazen practice of parading sex workers through the city's main streets by carriage and brass band.
- Judge Lewis Seeks Revocation of Snohomish Liquor Licenses
After a grand jury report, Judge Lewis urged revoking liquor licenses from tavern owners operating brothels and corrupt establishments in Snohomish.
- The Reverend’s Unholy Reputation
A former San Francisco pastor arrives in Washington to lecture on 'morality' while dodging local rumors of scandalous affairs.
- The Speaker’s High-Stakes Balancing Act
Speaker Meigs stacks the House Public Morals Committee with an even split of prohibitionists and anti-prohibitionists, leaving the committee’s crucial legislative decisions deadlocked.
- The Strict Moral Geometry of the Schoolroom
Teachers debate the merits of strict discipline, the threat of school suspensions, and the 'moral atmosphere' of the classroom.
- A Freethinker Takes On the Pulpit in Olympia
At Liberal Hall, P. D. Moore answers a minister’s sermon on law with a call for a religion of nature, reason, and good conduct rather than wrath and dogma.
- Tacoma’s Epworth League Wants the Bible in Public Schools—and the Saloons Gone
A thousand church reformers gathered in Tacoma planned a moral crusade against liquor and for Bible reading in the public schools.
Also about this, in other words
- The Art of Moral Discipline in the 1885 Classroom
A look back at the rigorous and often controversial methods of classroom management and character building in 1880s Seattle schools.
- The Unreasonable Burden of Moral Regeneration
A bold editorial argument for women's suffrage, dismissing the 'degradation' objection and the notion that men need women to save them from their own vices.
- The Ethics of Prohibition and the 'Beastly' Public
An editorial critique of a prohibitionist’s sermon that labels the common public as cowardly and corrupt.
- The Moral Case for Unions
A defense of organized labor’s role in society, citing the need for collective bargaining to counter corporate power.
- The Eight-Hour Day as a Moral Mandate
A fiery editorial argues that the eight-hour movement is the most significant moral and social reform of the age, transcending the 'superior intelligence' of lawyers and editors.
- The Fight Over the 'Moral' Climate of Seattle
A scathing editorial decries the Commissioners' decision to permit a 'disreputable' business in a respectable community, sparking a debate on whether law can dictate morality.
- The Case for Naming an Olympia Street After Judge Hewitt
A memorial sermon for a territorial judge becomes a plea to carve his name into Olympia's street map—and a meditation on what makes a public life worth remembering.
- The Mobbing of the Moralizers
When four prominent temperance leaders and a local businessman tried to close down a suspected illegal saloon, they were met on the street and pelted with rotten eggs.