City Leaders Take a Stand Against Gambling
Tacoma citizens pack the First Presbyterian Church to demand the legislature pass Ole Hanson’s bill to ban racetrack betting.
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Declaring racetrack gambling to be the cause of widespread vice, dishonesty, immorality and business demoralization, Tacoma citizens in mass meeting last night endorsed the Ole Hanson anti-gambling bill now before the legislature and urged its passage. The meeting was held in the First Presbyterian church and was largely attended. Representative Ole Hanson told the church people to talk less and do more in politics. 'The average saloonkeeper controls about three times as many votes as the preacher,' said Hanson. Praying is a fine thing he said but it is votes that count at Olympia. Mayor John W. Linck remained away from his wife's birthday party to speak for the measure and Prosecutor J. L. McMurray declared he was heartily in favor of it.
“The average saloonkeeper controls about three times as many votes as the preacher.”
This meeting highlights the powerful intersection of religious moralism and early 20th-century progressivism in Washington state, showing how political figures like Ole Hanson used reform movements to build influence.
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