The Last Chance for a Legal Drink
As Washington's state 'bone dry' law faces a referendum challenge, officials find the petition drive is losing steam due to duplicate signatures.
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.
Patrons of the pink slip counter at the auditor’s office read with not a little disappointment an Olympia dispatch in today’s news to the effect that the referendum petition by which the operation of the state bone dry law has been held up, is steadily losing signatures. The petition had a margin of 633 names when filed, but the margin has been gradually cut down by duplications discovered by the official canvass. The secretary of state has completed two-thirds of the canvass of the petition and expects to have the job finished within the next ten days. Meanwhile, the permit mill is once more grinding in Pasco and Prosser and there is yet time for 'another little drink' regardless of what happens to the referendum petition.
“Meanwhile the permit mill is once more grinding in Pasco and Prosser and there is yet time for 'another little drink'.”
This reflects the volatile period just before national Prohibition took hold in 1920. The struggle over the 'bone dry' law mirrors modern political battles over state initiatives and the slow, bureaucratic erosion of grassroots legislative efforts.
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