100 years ago in Spokane: Labor group issues a resolution condemning U.S. military preparedness

From our archives,

100 years ago

The People’s Forum, a Spokane labor group devoted to what it called “the cause of international peace and justice,” issued a resolution condemning U.S. military preparedness.

Why would anyone oppose preparedness?

Because, said the forum, it was merely a cloak for militarism and war – and, by extension, for involving the U.S. in the great war in Europe.

The group passed a resolution saying that “history proves preparedness for war has been a temptation to seize upon every international disagreement as grounds for war.”

The group further resolved that “the time has come for civilized nations to discard butchery as a method for settling disputes, and a substitute therefore for international arbitration.”

There were about 75 people present in the People’s Forum.

From the medical beat: An epidemic of “grip” – as in the grippe, as in the flu – was holding sway in Wallace.

Physicians reported “hundreds of such cases,” which were “handicapping all lines of business” and the schools.

It was, in fact, “the worst ever known here.”

“A continued spell of damp, rainy weather” was the cause, doctors said.