The Anti-Saloon League Plots Its Hottest Campaign
Bert P. Doty of the Anti-Saloon League of Washington lays out a three-part legislative push — county option, shipping restrictions, and the power to shut down breweries — and predicts the fight of 1910 will be the hottest in state history.
Bert P. Doty, superintendent of the Anti-Saloon League of Washington, makes the following statement:
"The fight we will make in our coming campaign will be for a legislature that will stand by three things: Adoption of the county unit, stringent provisions against shipping of liquor into dry territory, and to include the manufacture as well as the sale of liquor in the laws. The reason for the latter is that the breweries have made it hard to enforce the laws in the dry territories, and the people should have the right to put them out of business if the majority is in favor of it.
"We expect to hold conventions in every county in the state between now and the first of July, and I believe that the counties without exception will declare strongly for this advanced legislation. The result of our elections up to date show that if the county was the unit most of the 88 counties would be dry.
"The object of our conventions will be to establish a permanent organization, with a representative from every precinct on the executive committee. This committee will co-operate with the state league in sifting out the merits of prospective candidates, so that local option voters can vote intelligently and effectively.
"I think our 1910 campaign will be the hottest in our history, although politics are not as live a topic on the east side of the state as on the west side at this time of the year, which is probably due to the fact that both Seattle and Tacoma have had municipal campaigns. We expect, however, to see the entire east side of the state send to Olympia a strong county option delegation.
"The liquor men are thoroughly organized and are fighting every inch of ground, and we are further along at this time in our canvass of the situation than we were up to July in our 1908 campaign. We expect a hard fight, but have every assurance of making gains over our record of two years ago.
"There are 22 senators to be elected this year, as there were in 1908. In 1908 we succeeded in getting 14 of the 22 for the county unit, so that we start into the new fight with 13 county unit holdovers in the senate, as compared with 6 in 1908.
"We are in the fight to win. All we need is thorough organization and hard work, for the people are with us."
“The liquor men are thoroughly organized and are fighting every inch of ground, and we are further along at this time in our canvass of the situation than we were up to July in our 1908 campaign.”
Washington went dry statewide in 1916, four years before national Prohibition — and this 1910 organizing drive was a key step in that march. The League's precinct-by-precinct committee, candidate 'sifting,' and county-by-county conventions are a textbook template for modern ballot-initiative and get-out-the-vote machines.
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