The Lynden tribune. [volume] (Lynden, Wash.) 1908-current, 1921-12-29
HISTORY OF PROHIBITION
IN WASHINGTON
By EZRA MEEkER.

teeth them and did all l could to re-
sst. After he desisted and ordered
me to my seat instead of minding
(for he was drunk, or at least had
been drnking) and reached home in
great rage.
little later in life, in Indiana, !
can remember when it was fashion.
able in certain circles to entertain
with whisky on the table, upon cas-
ual call. Whisky was cheap then, 25
cents a gallon with corn at Is cents
bushel: but let me be just to the
pioneer tipplers, boisterous drinkings
were not as prevalent as when later
the entising gilded saloon came so
prominently to the front. Still later
in life | witnessed disgraceful scenes
in pioneer days in our Washington,
when whisky was comparatively
cheap. If the reader will turn to an
other "reminiscences he will find rec
ord of where a bushel of potatoes
could be exchanged for a gallon of
whisky.
1t was the gilded saloon that did
the deadly work of enticing the young
| men to their destruction and under
mining the morals and welfare of the
nation.
Once upon a time in pioneer days
| stood in my door of the block house
we had built in Indian war times in
| the town of Steilacoom and, which,
by the way, is one of the very few of
| the seventy-fve built, yet preserved
and saw more than twenty drunken
and half drunken men pass on their
way to cast their vote in the election
then progressing. This gang" shall
! call them. was herded by a stalwart
descent could give his name, but
refrain One of his victims. too drunk
to stand alone, had to be supported
| by two assistant herders. | followed
a safe distance and at the polls saw
those who were steady in balance
enough TO hand the tickets to the
election officers and for those too
drunk the ballot taken from their
hands by third party finally to be
deposited in the ballot box. ! have
seen in more recent days right here
in Seattle and also in other cities OF
the state saloons with counters filled
by men. drinking. talking uproarious-
ly. part of them young men just out
of their teens and yet we hear
rumble of words from the boosters
arrayed against Progress to restore
their right of self-destruction and
decentralization of the nation.
True, Johnny Barleycorn dies
hard" as expressed in common par
lance, but nevertheless is dead
though perhaps we might say, figura-
lively. not buried.
We still hear the rumble of words
that would have the nation go back
to pre-prohibition days; to the time
when over two billion dollars annu-
ally were expended for liquor; when
the outlay for intoxicants was more
than double all the expenses of the
federal government. One standing
argument, IL we ma. AUNT IL aS oil
argument for the sake of discussion
is, that prohibition does not prohibit;
that the law is continually being VIC
lated; that the craving for stimulants
induces men to become criminals who
otherwise would be law-abiding citi-
zens. in a word, that prohibition is a
failure.
If prohibition is a failure. because
the law is violated, then our civiliza-
ton existing under a code of laws is
failure because all man made laws
are broken.
1t was my good fortune to be in
that never to be forgotten and mem
orable battle of ballots that crushed
the life out of the anti-prohibition
party in the state of Washington in
fiercely contested election with 9S,-