Tacoma's Temperance Women Declare Taxes Without the Ballot Tyranny
At their annual meeting, the Pierce County W.C.T.U. demanded full suffrage and called out newspapers for printing crime and divorce details.
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.
The Pierce County W. C. T. U. usually does its work quietly and without much comment, but the annual meeting this week resulted in considerable animated gossip. The association managers adopted the following resolutions:
Resolved, That we do solemnly protest against the assumed right of any government, state or municipality to levy and collect taxes from disfranchised, unrepresented citizens.
Resolved, That we will, in future, do all we can by means of lectures, literature and petition work to create sentiment favorable to the restoration of our full suffrage.
Whereas, the public press is the educator of the people and should educate up and not down:
Resolved, That we earnestly protest against publishing the details of crime, reports of divorce trials and other demoralizing matter; at the same time recognizing that reports of honorable deeds is just as much news as reports of crime and more worthy of record by the press; and,
Whereas, the press of our country is most potent for good or evil, according to the power behind the editorial throne:
Resolved, That we will hereafter put forth every effort to enlist its sympathies for our glorious cause.
Much sympathy with the W. C. T. U. workers is manifested by both sexes in these resolutions. "But why," asks a jolly society woman, "didn't they say something about hoopskirts?" After the resolutions were adopted officers were elected as follows: Mrs. J. B. Croake, of Sumner, president; Mrs. E. P. Spinning, of Puyallup, corresponding secretary; Miss Elizabeth A. Cole, of Tacoma, recording secretary; and Miss Putnam, of Steilacoom, treasurer.
“That we do solemnly protest against the assumed right of any government, state or municipality, to levy and collect taxes from disfranchised, unrepresented citizens.”
Washington women had won the ballot in 1883 and lost it in 1887; this 1893 resolution shows the local, years-long work of winning it back. The demand against 'taxation without representation' still echoes whenever voting rights are narrowed—and when newspapers are asked to answer for what they print.
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