The Sunday Dry-Out at Wenatchee
A local liquor dealer meeting is hijacked by churchgoers, escalating a fierce civic battle over Sunday business closures.
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.
Wenatchee, Oct. 17. It has just developed that the meeting called by the local lodge of the Washington State Liquor Dealers' association was packed so tight by the Methodists that the only thing the liquor men got was the organization. It is the funniest thing that has happened in the local closing, or dry Sunday fight, for years. Business men, who fear to offend either the church people or the liquor men, are using much valuable time explaining why they were not there, and between explanations they laugh. The last skirmish for a dry Sunday has been the most effective of any ever made by the Drys. This is largely because the Wets have started out to help the Drys in this way: The saloon men have closed tight, but they have also made everyone else close. Sheep ranchers from the Okanogan country, who have been in the habit of outfitting here Sundays, have been compelled to wait until Monday. Fruit growers who have heretofore driven into town Sunday to dispose of their fruit can't do that any more, and the oldest inhabitant says that last Sunday was the dryest ever known in this valley. Now the liquor men will begin to retaliate more than ever. There is serious talk of closing Leavenworth, Peshastin, Chelan, and then to go over to Douglas county and close up Quincy. A number of the more hot-headed ones have declared that they will take the fight into the big cities, and that if the church people here insist on keeping the town closed they will go into Spokane, Seattle and Tacoma and compel 'dry' Sundays over there.
“The oldest inhabitant says that last Sunday was the dryest ever known in this valley.”
The tension between moral reform movements and the local economy is a recurring theme in Washington history. While the 'dry' Sunday of 1903 focused on liquor, it highlights how religious-driven mandates can ripple through local supply chains and trade, echoing contemporary debates over business regulations and public mandates.
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