Newport's "Dries" Organize to Take Over Stevens County Politics
A new Municipal League endorses a full dry ticket for county office, regardless of party — the temperance movement pivots from the saloon to the ballot box.
According to the following, which appeared in the Spokane Chronicle, Newport "dries" are planning to take an active part in politics, a policy which is to be pursued by the dries all over the state:
The Newport Municipal League has passed resolutions indorsing S. J. Appleman, of Newport, for state representative from Stevens county, and A. W. Anderson, of Addy, Wash., as state senator for Stevens county.
These men have announced their candidacy at the primaries for the nomination on the Republican ticket.
Further indorsements were postponed pending investigation as to who the proper candidates may be. It is the purpose of the league to work for an entirely dry ticket for Stevens county, regardless of party lines. The league is composed of the dry voters of Newport.
“It is the purpose of the league to work for an entirely dry ticket for Stevens county, regardless of party lines.”
Six years before Washington went dry statewide, Newport's temperance voters were already building a nonpartisan political machine to control county offices. The strategy — organizing around a single moral issue and endorsing candidates "regardless of party lines" — is a recognizable template for modern single-issue political action committees.
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