City Council Clashes with Clergy
An alderman takes the pulpit to task during a meeting, defending local liquor licenses and challenging clerical influence in municipal affairs.
Alderman Jordan called attention to a report in the Post-Intelligencer of the sermon of Rev. Wallace Nutting and said the preacher took advantage of the narrow curves of the pulpit. He attacked everything; nothing suited him. He thought the council too lenient with saloons; saloons paid taxes; churches don't pay any. As to the Madison street license, the people wanted it, and this was a government of the people. Mr. Nutting seemed to think nobody could govern except preachers. How was it the people didn't elect them to govern? The clergy, with its eyes in heaven, always hid its grip upon the earth. When the clergy governed, history now calls the dark ages. He thought it would be best for the gentleman to leave the city's affairs to the city council.
“When the clergy governed, history now calls the dark ages.”
The tension between moral crusaders and city officials over local development and revenue is a classic Seattle trope. The argument that religious leaders should stay out of municipal zoning and licensing remains a recurring, albeit evolved, thread in local civic discourse.
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