Seattle Citizens Organize Against City Corruption
A committee of seventy-five residents gathered at the M.E. Church to demand an end to gambling and the illegal sale of liquor.
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.
A committee, consisting of about seventy-five of our best representative citizens, met last evening in the M.E. Church and adopted a number of resolutions which will be submitted to a meeting as a platform to be used in the coming municipal election. The resolutions speak for themselves and the demands therein set forth are what any community should expect. It was decided that a call be made to all legal voters of the city of Seattle who are in favor of reform in city government and desire that the affairs of the city be administered by honest, intelligent, sober and efficient men. The resolutions include: we are in favor of the enforcement of all statutes and ordinances touching the regulation and restraint of intoxicating liquors; that the licenses of all persons who permit gambling, drinking or game playing by minors be revoked; that we are in favor of a vigorous yet intelligent enforcement of all statutes and ordinances against gambling and the social evil.
“It seems almost ridiculous that the enforcement of such good and necessary laws are made a political issue in this city.”
This 1884 meeting mirrors the perennial Seattle struggle between moralist reform movements and the city's permissive, 'wide-open' culture. While the issues have evolved from gambling and liquor licenses to land use and policing, the tension between 'best representative citizens' and the city's governance remains a hallmark of local politics.
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