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 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.
In a homily upon the subject of temperance and advocating the enactment and enforcement of prohibitory laws, the writer uses some very strong expressions. 'The public,' says this dogmatist, 'is lazy, beastly, cowardly and faithless.' These are very serious charges. They go to the bottom of our social and political system and include every man and woman of the land. The public is the aggregated community, the combined population, the people. A charge against the public is a charge against the inhabitants of the community, State and nation, individually and collectively. The assertion of this writer is the slander of an extremist, the published libel of a would-be autocrat who, assuming superiority of judgment, bravery, intelligence, energy and morality, decries the rest of the human race because they fail to fully agree with him. There is as much bravery in opposition as in attack. The public is opposed to crime, but it is not cowardly to insist that it shall be punished legally.
“The public will fight for its convictions, but it must be united on the mode of their enforcement, else the struggle will be factional and fruitless.”
This editorial captures a perennial Seattle struggle: the tension between moralizing crusades and the messy, democratic process. Just as in the 1880s, Seattle's modern debates over drug policy, public order, and housing often boil down to whether we view our fellow citizens as 'beastly' problems to be solved or as a 'living, breathing, energetic body' of neighbors.
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