The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1912-11-01
The Wet and
Dry Question
EFFECT OF SO-CALLED DRY
REGIME UPON BUSINESS
AND MORALS ARE ONLY
PHASES TO BE CONSID-
ERED.

One of the most Objectionable features
of these local option campaigns is the
animosity and bitterness of feeling which
seems to be inevitably stirred up Car
ried away with the fervor of the mo-
mcnt, the most eXtravagant claims are
made and accusations couched in intem-
perate language There are dry ia
natics and wet" fanatics, men and
women who seem incapable of crediting
any worthy motives to their opponents.
A fanatical "dry" classes all the ''wets"
with the riff raft of society, while. on
the other hand, a rabid wet classes
all "drys" with the early Puritans Both
views are wrong. Why may not men
and women honestly differ on the ques-
ton of local option as well as on every
other public question without losing the
entire sense of perspective?
There are several thousand voters in
Everett who will 90 to the polls next
Tuesday and vote wet from a conviction
that local option is a failure as a means
Of dealing with the liquor problem. The
great majority of those voters will be
absolutely honest in their conviction.
There will be other thousands who will
vote dry, believing that local option is
a remedy-if not a cure-for the evils
of intemperance and should be contin-
ued in effect. The majority of them
will be honest in their convictions. This
question can be approached in a spirit
of liberation. but it very seldom is, if
the experience of every town which ever
had "wet and dry" campaign is any
criterion by which to Judge.
There are only two phases of this wet
and dry fight which assume any import
ance: First, the effect of dry regime
upon the business life; second, the effect
of the same regime upon the moral life
of the community. All argument, both
for and against local option, will lead
to these two propositions. The famous
evangelist, Billy Sunday, painted a
glowing picture of the stimulating effect
the closing of the saloons would have
upon Everett People would flock to
this city from every part of the country,
here to make their homes and rear and
educate their children in an atmosphere
free from the debasing Influence of the
open saloon Business men, manufac-
turers. men of affairs and enterprise,
would locate factories and business es-
tahlshments in Everett because of the
moral atmosphere surrounding us. In
"drv Everett" the salaries of the work
ngmen would 90 into legitimate ave
nues of trade No Saturday night drunks
nor Monday morning headaches A clear
eyed, clear Drained working class would
appear for work Monday morning and
the wheels of industry would spin as
never before The census of 1910 gave
us a population of 25,0O0. Would
census of 1912 show any increase in
that figure? If you have nothing par
ticularly to do tomorrow morning, walk
up and down our residence streets with
a notebook in hand and mark down the
number of empty houses you see in
your mornings stroll. Nor can these
empty residences be explained away by
an assertion that "many new buildings
have been erected by home owners who
have left the rented houses for their
own homes" Throughout the year of
1912 the supply of carpenters has been
30 per cent under normal; bricklayers,
plasterers, lathers, plumbers, from 30
per cent to GO per cent under normal
Building tradesmen by the score have
been compelled to leave their families
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