The Brewery Bill Comes to Kennewick
Campaigners visit Kennewick to promote an initiative to allow the brewing of beer within Washington State despite Prohibition.
As a forerunner of a strong campaign which will be conducted this fall to secure the adoption of initiative measure No. 24, Wm. Corcoran and James M. Quilter, of Seattle, visited Kennewick Saturday. Initiative No. 24 is a proposed amendment to the state prohibition law and is commonly known as the brewery bill, as its passage would admit of the manufacture of beer in the state. The measure does not contemplate the re-establishment of the saloon as the beer is to be sold direct to the consumer from the brewery in limited quantities. The Seattle men expressed themselves as very hopeful for the success of the measure. 'One of the chief arguments in its favor is that it is intended to correct some of the economic weaknesses of the prohibition law without disturbing its moral features,' said Mr. Corcoran. 'The purchase of beer in limited quantities is permitted under the present law but the purchases must be made outside of the state. This is an economic mistake which can be corrected by the adoption of this amendment.'
“The purchase of beer in limited quantities is permitted under the present law but the purchases must be made outside of the state of Washington.”
This event reflects the persistent tension between moral regulation and the local economic interests of the alcohol industry in the Pacific Northwest, a struggle that defined the era leading up to national Prohibition.
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