The Fight Against 'Indecent' Print
Tacoma authorities move to criminalize the sale of 'indecent' newspapers and tabloids.
Indecent publications are to be suppressed in Tacoma. Some time since, the chamber of commerce passed resolutions condemning the publication of certain Seattle and Tacoma sheets, and it is proposed hereafter that it be a criminal offense to deal in such trash. Tacoma has never supported such papers and does not propose to allow any such offal here for sale.
“Tacoma has never supported such papers and does not propose to allow any such offal here for sale.”
This reflects the late 19th-century struggle between moral guardianship and press freedom, a recurring tension in PNW civic life where local boosters often tried to sanitize the city's reputation to attract investment.
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