The Strategic Sabotage of Sunday Closing Laws
When Wenatchee saloon owners were pressured to close on Sundays, the statewide Liquor Dealers’ Protective Association advised a calculated move: force every business in town to close, too, and wait for public frustration to boil over.
The plot thickens in the Sunday closing fight in Wenatchee. It has now developed that the state association of the Liquor Dealers' Protective Association is taking a hand. Secretary Arthur Gerbel wrote to local secretary J. D. Cass, advising: 'In every case we have had where a demand was made on saloon men to close on Sunday, we advised the local associations to enforce the Sunday closing law against every business house. You can easily do it, and every time it is done, this Sunday closing proposition becomes a farce and lasts about two weeks.' Gerbel suggested that once business owners face the same restrictions as saloons, public sentiment would force a 'reactionary agitation' that would quickly end the enforcement. The letter also addressed the issue of slot machines, noting that the association successfully lobbied to categorize trade machines as a misdemeanor offense rather than a felony, allowing them to continue operating under a 'fine system' in cities like Seattle.
“You can easily do it because it was done in Chehalis, Centralia, Vancouver and Whatcom, and every time it is done this Sunday closing proposition becomes a farce and lasts about two weeks or so.”
This 1908 account reveals a sophisticated 'malicious compliance' strategy used by industry groups to undermine local regulations. It mirrors modern debates over regulatory capture and the way business lobbies use legal loopholes and public fatigue to roll back local ordinances.
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