The Temperance Storm Brews in Seattle
Prohibition advocates take to the stage in 1886, igniting a fierce debate over morality, city control, and the role of the working man in a changing Washington Territory.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The discussion of the local option, known for being one of the most important as well as the most pressing issues of the day, continues to hold the public interest. On the evening of June 25, 1886, a large audience gathered at the Yesler Opera House to hear Thomas Fitch speak in favor of prohibition. Upon the platform, beside the speaker of the evening, were Rev. J. M. Denton, Dr. G. A. Weed, H. B. Ward, Col. W. T. Prosser, A. Mackintosh and Orange Jacobs. The speaker, in opening the address, stated that at no time in the past had he been a party to a prohibition platform, but he had come at last, and he had come to stay. He combatted the idea that it was wrong to interfere with personal liberty by enforcing prohibition. He argued that prohibition was the best salvation for workingmen from their grinding appetites. The lecture abounded in apt stories and witty anecdotes which kept the audience in good humor, while he let fly quick, volleys of hot temperance shot. The speaker called for young men to save their youth and make the most of their days by practicing total abstinence.
“He combatted the idea that it was wrong to interfere with personal liberty by enforcing prohibition. He argued that prohibition was the best salvation for workingmen from their grinding appetites.”
The 1886 temperance movement in Seattle mirrors today's debates over public health, morality, and the reach of government intervention. Just as Victorian-era reformers sought to 'save' the working man through prohibition, current Seattle civic discourse remains fixated on using legislation to solve the social ills manifest on city streets.
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