A Dry County, a Thirsty Town, and the January 1st Loophole
Ione voted on whether to license saloons weeks after the county unit went dry. The Anti-Saloon League's superintendent said the law forbade it — and produced out-of-state precedents to prove the town had to stay closed until 1911.
A special election will be held at Ione on April 12, at which time the question of licensing saloons will be submitted to the voters. After the county unit went dry the new town completed its incorporation, and a petition was soon circulated calling for a local option election within the limits of the incorporation.
Some doubt has arisen as to the legality of this action. Supt. Doty, of the State Anti-Saloon League, takes the position that where a unit has gone dry no subdivision of such unit can vote on the matter of licensing saloons until the general election to be held in November of this year. While there is no decision from the courts on this matter in this state, citations from the courts of other states are to this effect, there having been such precedents established in several states.
Mr. Doty quotes section 6 of the local option law, which says: "If the sale of intoxicating liquor was not theretofore licensed within such unit, it shall be within the power of the city or town council, acting within the provisions and requirements of state laws or city or town charters, to issue licenses for the sale of intoxicating liquors within such unit, but such license shall not be granted to be in force earlier than January 1st following the vote at a general county election."
Ione was not a unit prior to Jan. 1, 1910, hence Mr. Doty holds the town has no authority to grant a license within the unit. He holds that the evident intention of the legislature was to fix January 1 as the date when all licenses should begin, and argues on the strength of this that no license could be granted in Ione until Jan. 1, 1911.
“Some doubt has arisen as to the legality of this action.”
Before statewide Prohibition in 1916, Washington's liquor map was a patchwork of county and town votes, and every newly incorporated town was a chance to pry one square mile of wet ground out of a dry county. The argument on display here — whether a local electorate can override a countywide ban — is the same fight that resurfaces today whenever a town tries to opt out of a state law it dislikes.
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