The Dry Crusade Draws Its 1911 Battle Lines
Washington's Anti-Saloon League maps out its legislative program — county local option, import bans, and a pledge to publish the names of anyone holding a federal liquor license in dry territory.
The board of the Anti-Saloon League of Washington have mapped out the following program for the 1911 legislature, and all candidates for the legislature will be placed on record as to their stand on the propositions:
County Local Option. Prevention of Importation of Liquor Into Dry Territory. To Stop Manufacture as Well as Sale of Liquor in Dry Territory.
People holding United States revenue licenses and stamps in "dry" territory under the jurisdiction of the Washington State Anti-Saloon League will be under suspicion after June 30, according to a statement issued by L. R. Horton, of the league. After that date, when the government licenses now in effect become null and void, a list of all procuring them from the internal revenue office in Spokane will be secured and any digression will be "heralded" in pamphlets. This is the latest planned move of the Anti-Saloon League in its fight against "booze."
“A list of all procuring them from the internal revenue office in Spokane will be secured and any digression will be 'heralded' in pamphlets.”
Five years before Washington went dry statewide, the Anti-Saloon League was already using the tools of modern political pressure: candidate scorecards, public shaming lists and targeted pamphlets. The same playbook — publishing the names of those who defy a moral crusade — is recognizable in today's culture-war campaigns on every side.
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