Washington Votes Dry
Benton County joins a statewide landslide for prohibition, leaving only two 'wet' counties in Washington.
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.
When the people of Benton county voted Tuesday almost two to one for statewide prohibition, they joined the march that has written Washington in the dry column by a decisive majority. Incomplete statewide returns show the dries leading by about 14,000 votes. In Benton county, the unofficial count shows 1,572 dry and 824 wet. The total vote in the three wards of Kennewick was 352 dry to 172 wet. Oregon also voted dry, while Colorado and Arizona followed suit; only Ohio and California remained in the wet column.
“As went Benton county, so went the state.”
The 1914 prohibition vote was a defining moment for Washington, preceding national Prohibition by six years. The cultural divide between the 'wet' urban centers and the 'dry' rural interior during this period is a classic study in the state's political geography.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.