The Saloonkeeper’s Open Letter to Walla Walla Voters
An unapologetic endorsement of Mayor Hunt from a local saloon owner who argues that city officials should ignore 'blue laws' in favor of prosperity.
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.
Editor Statesman: The American people, irrespective of their condition in life, delight in fair play and the citizens of Walla Walla are not exceptions to the rule. I am a saloon keeper and pay a heavy license to operate a business that is not illegitimate, yet the state has passed a law making it a criminal offense to open my place of business on Sunday or to allow innocent games to be played on any day of the week. At the present time we are told that Mayor Hunt, who is a candidate for reelection, has profited by contracts forbidden by the law. Now I have no complaint against Mayor Hunt. He has been a tolerant mayor and has in no wise interfered with me or my place of business. He has never sent any smelling committee around after night or on Sunday to see whether or not we were observing certain puritanical blue laws. He recognizes that such laws are unfair towards an honest business undertaking, and for that reason has freely permitted us to sell our goods on Sunday and to conduct such games as we saw fit, and in return therefor I shall do all in my power for his reelection. Saloons are as essential to the happiness of the people as any other business or calling, and we as factors in the general prosperity should be permitted to share in the favors granted. What do we care if he does ignore the law prohibiting an official from entering into contracts or selling supplies to the city? Let us consider this law, like the others, as obsolete and dead. — FAIR PLAY.
“He has never sent any smelling committee around after night or on Sunday to see whether or not we were observing certain puritanical blue laws.”
This letter offers a rare, candid glimpse into the intersection of local commerce and political patronage in 1903. While the saloonkeeper frames his support as a plea for 'fair play,' it highlights how deeply the liquor industry was embedded in Walla Walla's civic life—and how willing they were to trade election support for the suspension of state-mandated 'blue laws.'
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