The Prohibition Party's Bold 1892 Platform
King County Prohibitionists convene to nominate candidates, debate financial theories, and demand the restoration of women's suffrage.
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.
The Prohibition county convention, composed of forty-two delegates, assembled in Olympic hall yesterday and nominated candidates for county offices and the legislature, elected delegates to the state convention and adopted a platform. The plank which was most discussed was the one on the national banks. A resolution favoring the demonetization of gold and silver and the issue of greenbacks was stricken out without debate. The platform adopted includes: pledging to abolish the drunkard-making business, favoring legislation to insure the laborer a just reward, demanding the restitution of woman suffrage, and denouncing the use of armed forces by private organizations. Furthermore, they resolved that eight hours labor shall constitute a full day's work upon all public works and that they support the construction of the Lake Washington ship canal.
“We denounce the scheming trickery by which the womanhood of our commonwealth were robbed of the power of suffrage, and demand their restitution to a position of equality with men in all the rights of citizenship.”
This convention highlights a fascinating era where temperance politics were inextricably linked with labor rights and suffrage. The Prohibition Party acted as a third-party agitator, forcing mainstream candidates to address moral and civic issues they might otherwise have ignored.
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