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174 stories matching option
- Temperance Forces Move to Vote Stevens County Dry
Local-option workers in Colville petition for a September election that could close saloons across the county and set off a dry campaign across Eastern Washington.
- The Governor’s Veto: A Political Backstory
A defense of Governor Henry McBride’s 1903 veto of a local option bill, shifting blame from his personal stance to legislative corruption.
- The Prohibitionist's Flip-Flop
A key Everett anti-saloon organizer publicly declares local option a failure, calling for high license fees instead.
- The Constitutional Question of Local Option
A landmark court ruling in Dayton challenged the constitutionality of Washington's local option liquor laws, sparking a debate on police power and contracts.
- The Battle Over Local Option Prohibition
As the Washington State Senate debates a new 'local option' liquor bill, a fierce lobby of brewery interests and prohibitionists descends upon Olympia.
- The Millionaire Who Wanted His Waterworks Back
A California capitalist offers Seattle $16,000 for a sixty-day option on the water and light plants the city bought two years ago — as a damage suit over the deal heads to court.
- Clark County's Country Districts Will Vote the Saloon Up or Down
A local-option petition puts license-or-no-license on the November ballot outside the incorporated towns—where only Battle Ground has a saloon.
- A Temperance Bill Debate Turns Into Two Fistfights in Olympia
A Spokane legislator and a Spokane newspaperman trade blows on the House floor over a local-option petition.
- The Mayor and the Water Works Scandal
After securing an option to buy the local water plant, the mayor of Chehalis faces a political firestorm for attempting to profit from a municipal contract.
- The Drys Won Newport. Then They Built a Machine to Keep It.
A new Municipal League aims to protect the local-option victory—and the city hires counsel as opponents challenge the election in court.
- Labor Keeps Its Distance from the 'Wet' Fight
State Federation of Labor leaders refuse to take sides in the brewing local option prohibition fight.
- The Republic Mine Option
A potential three-million-dollar mining deal in Republic, Washington, sparks major industry rumors.
- The Scent of 'Unmarked Coin' at the Capitol
As local option battles intensify, rumors of a slush fund designed to sway legislators circulate through Olympia.
- Newport Would Vote Itself Wet or Dry
A local-option petition with 80 signatures forced a September 7 election to decide whether saloons could operate in Newport—and Idaho's border loomed over the fight.
- Stevens County Sets a Date to Vote the Saloons Out
With the petition deadlines cleared, the county auditor orders a Nov. 9 local-option election — and the dry forces, organized out of Colville, are predicting the small-town saloons are finished.
- Dry Districts, Wet Phone Lines: The Loophole in Washington’s Local Option Bill
An Anti-Saloon League official says the bill targets door-to-door liquor canvassing—not a telephone order from a thirsty household.
- The Dry Vote Is Blocked by 74 Missing Signatures
A Stevens County judge sides with a saloonkeeper and halts a countywide local-option election—but Newport and three other towns still vote Sept. 7.
- The Water Superintendent Who Brought Down a Mayor
After the local option election, Colville's mayor fires the man whose inside knowledge of gambling and cooked books wrecked his administration — and the victors plan a clean sweep in December.
- Dry County? Newport Saloons Take Local Option to Court
Stevens County's rural voters prepare for a no-license election while Newport saloonkeepers challenge the September vote and Springdale's dry petition dies on a technicality.
- The Looming Legislative War Over Temperance
A local editor warns that stalling on the anti-saloon 'local option' bill will only lead to future political ruin for state lawmakers.
- Dry Forces Gather Steam in Stevens County
Backers of a local option election say they have more than 30 percent of registered voters signed on — and they vow to keep pushing.
- The Ministers' Quarrel That Split Colville's Temperance Fight
A local-option campaign turned personal when the Rev. W. A. Diggins claimed all the town's ministers were behind temperance—and the Rev. G. H. Wilbur publicly called that a lie.
- Newport Will Vote on Going Dry
A Baptist church meeting launches a petition drive to put local option before Newport's 210 electors on September 7, 1909.
- The Petition That Put Stevens County's Saloons on the Ballot
Local option forces filed 1,398 signatures to force a September 7 special election on liquor sales across rural Stevens County, with Newport organizers claiming momentum and Springdale and Northport holding out.
- The Case for Ending Local Option Prohibition
A 1909 editorial argues that 'local option' is an ineffective, demoralizing policy and suggests an elected board of excise commissioners as a better way to regulate the liquor trade.