Newport Votes on Whether the Saloons Stay
With 254 voters registered and temperance workers canvassing the streets, Newport prepares for a close local-option election that could shut down licensed saloons.
Tuesday, Sept. 7, the town of Newport, Washington, will decide whether it will drive the licensed saloon out of business. A total of 254 voters have registered, more than at any previous election.
The anti-saloon workers have made a very careful canvass of the situation and will conduct an active campaign with street meetings until election day. The saloon forces have not made a very vigorous fight, evidently feeling content to let the voice of the public control.
What the outcome will be no one seems to have the knowledge to speak with decision. That it will be very close and that all the votes will be gotten out seems a certainty.
“What the outcome will be no one seems to have the knowledge to speak with decision.”
In 1909 Newport asked voters to decide whether licensed saloons could operate — a local-option dry fight that previewed Washington's statewide prohibition in 1916. The question of who gets to regulate vice, and how a small electorate turns a neighborhood issue into a public referendum, still shapes local politics.
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