Past opinions provide perspective
Looking Back reviews opinions published in The Spokesman-Review during this week in history.
War bonds – Sept. 29, 1918
An S-R editorial urged citizens to buy bonds to aid the U.S. war effort.
“American soldiers are falling on the fields of France. What are we doing to sustain that heroic sacrifice?
“To buy Liberty bonds is small service compared to theirs. It is easy patriotism, but essential. The country’s money must back the country’s cause. It is needed in the billions – to buy food for our fighters, to equip them with rifles and ammunition, with cannon and machine guns, with gas masks and surgical supplies, with clothing and shelter, with ships to transport reinforcements.
“The American government, which is but the agent of the American people. Has put those boys in the dread ordeal of battle. If the American people should fail to buy Liberty bonds for their support and protection, the American people would not be worth fighting for.”
Nixon-Kennedy debate, Sept. 26, 1960
After the first debate between Vice President Richard Nixon and Sen. John F. Kennedy, the S-R wrote this editorial.
“The vague way in which Senator Kennedy has been trying to downgrade the strength of America is likely to fool a few of our citizens. His vague way of characterizing millions in this country as hungry and poverty-stricken is also likely to win a few votes among our less fortunate citizens.
“What the Democratic presidential candidate is now doing, however, is to emphasize his own lack of faith in the foundations of American freedom.
“Vice President Nixon is not unaware of our national deficiencies. But he has demonstrated time and again that he is the positive candidate for the presidency, that he knows the sources of our strength, that he has the capacity for national leadership in the trying times that lie ahead.”
Gang graffiti – Sept. 30, 1992
A S-R editorial weighed in on an issue related to gang violence in Spokane.
“Gang-related violence has increased alarmingly in the past four years in Spokane, and along with it the graffiti that gangs sues to spread their silent message of fear.
“If police can control the graffiti, they hope, they can undermine the gangs’ credibility in the territories they try to stake out. Thus, Chief Terry Mangan has asked the Spokane City Council for an ordinance that would require private property owners to remove gang-related graffiti within 48 hours of its appearance.
“Any plan to force property owners to spend money to keep police happy will be controversial. Yet this one may be necessary if the community is to avoid the random, indiscriminate gang warfare that turned some cities into war theaters.”
It concluded: “As the city moves to give Mangan the tools he needs, it must also make a broad-based commitment to removing the conditions that foster youth violence.”