The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1940-12-19
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leealized and the nation, states
and municipalities were looking
with hungry eyes al the reve-
nue. u Be obtained from tax
and license. il was a bit danger
Gus. Not 50 good 10 monkey
with something that interferes
with revenue.
What made IL 80 tough in
Tacoma was a picture that
appeared In the papers
showing a chap drinking a
bottle of beer he had saved
a. souvenir when this
state went dry in 1918. The
photograph showed him as
ne poured the beer, feaming
over the top of the glass,
and remarked, What a
collar" 1t was terribly
tantalizing.
In spite of the wide interest
in beer or whisky by Christmas.
the demands Of the hunger
marchers and the protests
against an avala nche OF
mortgage foreclosures all over
the country continued to break
on the front pages. Taxes also
shared the head lines. Passage
Of the 40 mill tax limit bill in
this state was taken as man.
date that the people wanted
lower taxes. The nation also
seemed to have an anti-tax COM
pick. Papers all over the
country, including The Tacoma
Times, in boldface editorials
declared the American nation
cannot go ahead under present
burdens" They didn't know
nothing then
III AAtf AAAN 6AAAAAAAF AiAt ~
propagandists were plaguing
a bewildered congress.
"Legalize beer and help
the iobless," they said. Sell
beer at cents glass
that will make work and
produce public revenue"
Congress flirted with the
beer for revenue" When the
idea seemed to have been sold
to a majority of the house there
was dispute over the alcohol
content. Should it be 80 per
cent or 2.75? That was a serious
rub.
While the fight continued
in congress a shipment of
so cases Of whisky was
divided among Tacoma
drugg Immediately
plenty Of persons with
parched threats rushed 10
the family doctor about =
prescription. But doctor
was cautious-wasn't quite
sure about this business
didn't want to get into a
jam. Nobody got a prescrip-
tion-that Is. hardly any.
Then the headline blared the
welcome news-house passes
Collier beer for revenue only
bill. Glory hallelujah! Beer for
Christmas
The rejoicing was turned to
sorrow two days later. The
senate became nosey about the
beer bill How was it to be
peddled? Was there any proba-
bility that legalizing beer would
bring back the saloon? The
answers were not satisfactory
and the senate killed the beer
for Christmas bill.
The senate was quite con-
cerned about the saloon. The
American people had been given
solemn promise that the
saloon would not come back. II
the saloon didn't come back,
what happened?
Mixed in with the news about
beer for Christmas or no beer
for Christmas was the tale OF
the gambling tout who couldn't
distinguish between tweedle-
dunn and tweedle-dee. 1t took
a judge TO point out the differ
ence. II seems that this chap
had been arrested on a vag-
rsncy warrant. with the specific
charge that he was a booster"
for gambling house. A couple
Of police officers testified for
the state and as the judge was
about to pass sentence the
defendant asked:
Mr.. Judge, Your Honor. if a
gambling house can run with
out no trouble. how come YOU
can send me to Jail just for
boosting ,"
Zone il tweedle-dee and
tOther tweedle-dum," or
words to that effect.