Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1916-05-26
CITY OFFICIAL PAPER
COMMENTS ON THE DRY LAW.

Naturally. Washington 5 experience with state
out the country, and naturally, too, the presence
of one referendum measure on the ballot this fall
intended to restore the liquor traffic in a modified
way and the proposal of two or three initiative
measures on the subject, are creating lot of dis
cussion and comment throughout the state. But
running through all this talk on the question ap-
pears to be the sentiment that Washington has
not sufficiently tested its dry law yet to know
whether it wants to retain it or not, and the con-
clusion therefore is that, this sentiment contnu-
ing the balloting next November will not change
the present situation.
The discussion of the question is serving to
bring out some remarkable expressions of views,
and the past week has perhaps the most re-
markable of any of these-emphatic endorsement
of the prohibition law by Mayor Hi Gill of Seattle,
who fought it's adoption, and an equally emphatic
refutation of 'hard times" reports by c. b.
Blethen of the proprietors of the Seattle Daily
Times, the newspaper which led the fight against
the dry law. These statements are highly signif-
cant, not SO much for the opinions they express
as for the who made them, men who have al
ways heretofore figured prominently on the wet
side of the question.
Mayor Gill does not mince his words 81 write
this as who is ashamed to admit that he
voted wet he says in letter responding to
an inquiry from woman in Butte, Montana
"and will not repeat that mistake. have yet to
lind the first person engaged in legitimate bust
ness in this city, or the owner of premises which
had been used for the sale of liquor, who is not
In favor of the present law or one more strin-
gent. I" No crawling" is possible on that state
ment-it is fiat footed, unequivocal declaration
and it permits Of but one conclusion, that Hi is
as ardently 'dry" now as he once was ardently
"wet'
Z. b. Blethen's statement of the business side
of The. present situation followed the publication
OF letter in the ST. Louis Republic over the sig
nature OF the Missouri Wholesale Liquor Dealers
Association, painting gloomy picture of condi
lions in Seattle under the "dry' regime. Its
statements Blethen brands as deliberate false
hoods" and "a tissue of Misrepresentation. and
then he sums up the business situation in his city
by saying Instead of suffering greatly fnan-
cially, Seattle in bank clearings, bank deposits
and volume of business of every kind, except the
handling OF liquor, has vastly increased since the
coming OF the dry regime, January first of this
year. / am not attempting to say that the dry
law caused these things. l am merely stating
they have happened
On top of these statements by former swet y
leaders comes the announcement that Dean c. w
johnson of the college of pharmacy of the Uni
versity of Washington, president of the Wash.
ington State Pharmaceutical association will ask
the members of that association to take radical
action at their June meeting, calling upon the
governor to press the next legislature for law
taking away from all druggists the right to sell
lntoxicants even on prescription. Dean johnson
does not believe there any occasion for the sale
OF liquor in pharmacies, asserts positively that nc
drug store in the state can make enough from the
legitimate prescription business in liquor to pay
the fifty dollars in license fees which 90 to the
federal and state governments, and declares that
the reputable druggists Of the state will not only
agree with him in this but will be heartily in ia
vor of the action he contemplates
The state of Washington is closing the fifth
month of its dry regime. The prohibition ques
ton is being considerably discussed and will con
tinue to be more frequently discussed as the No
vember elections approach; but if the sentiments
expressed by these three leading men are suf
fcient index of the state of public opinion there
will be letting down of the bars next Novem
ber
Back of the request of the Agricultural Blu