The Return to the Restricted District
Tacoma officials shift policy toward segregating the 'disorderly element' into a designated district, reversing previous attempts at city-wide enforcement.
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.
Prosecuting Attorney McMurray made the following statement to the Times: 'I favor corralling the disorderly element of the city in a restricted district and of keeping them there. I believe that a district for the social evil is the only remedy. After that element has been rounded up, all disorderly women found on the streets of the city will be arrested and prosecuted to the limit.' Without protest from the city administration or the new county prosecutor, the denizens of Tacoma's underworld are quietly assembling at their former haunts near Fourteenth and A streets. Houses that have been boarded up for months have recently seen the light of day. This assembling of the disorderly element into a restricted district will be received with relief by landlords and rooming house managers who have endured the presence of the characters since they were scattered by the numerous raids during the previous term.
“I favor corralling the disorderly element of the city in a restricted district and of keeping them there.”
This policy of 'containing' vice in a red-light district reflects the era's utilitarian approach to managing social issues. It serves as a reminder of how urban spaces were historically managed through forced segregation rather than public health or housing support.
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