City Hall Launches New 'Disorderly' Tax
Tacoma officials move to turn police regulation of vice houses into a monthly revenue stream.
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.
Sam McQuick was arrested Wednesday on the charge of running a disorderly house. McQuick gave a cash bail of $300 and was released. When his case was called in the police court yesterday, he failed to appear and the bail was declared forfeited. Police officers will not talk about the case, and there is a well-defined rumor that the same citizen will be arrested every month and put up $300 bail, which will be forfeited the next day. In other words, Mayor Wright’s fining system is beginning to take effect. Mayor Wright, in his address to the council several weeks ago, stated that the practice of fining disorderly women was soon to be put in force. Two members of the police force have made the rounds of the disorderly homes, taking the names of the occupants, and in a few days the women will be taken to the police court and fined $10 each. This proceeding will occur once each month.
“There is a well-defined rumor that the same citizen will be arrested every month and put up $300 bail, which will be forfeited the next day.”
This article highlights how cities historically leveraged 'morality' laws not to end illicit activity, but to institutionalize it as a tax base. The tension between police revenue generation and the management of vulnerable populations remains a recurring, if evolving, theme in municipal oversight.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.