Washington’s Governor Calls for a 'Bone Dry' State
Governor Lister’s annual message to the legislature includes a sweeping push for absolute prohibition and the overhaul of state government.
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Olympia.—Recommending the immediate consideration of calling a state constitutional convention, the abolishing of the permit system, and establishing a 'bone dry' prohibition law, and the passage of a non-partisan election bill for state, county and city officials, Governor Lister read his annual message to the 13th state legislature. The governor's message was the longest document he has yet submitted to the legislature. The governor also recommended that the books of the state auditor be examined for eight years back. Other recommendations were: a request for a 'bone dry' law, reducing the interest rate on delinquent taxes from 15 to 12 percent, an appropriation for a woman's building at the state penitentiary, and the creation of an office of state architect.
“Recommending ... the abolishing of the permit system and establishing a 'bone dry' prohibition law.”
Governor Lister’s 1917 push for a 'bone dry' state highlights the intense moral and political climate leading up to national Prohibition. Today, debates over the regulation of substances and the expansion of state government power remain echoes of this same push for legislative control over social life.
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