Jim Kershner’s This day in history » On the Web: spokesman.com/topics/local-history

From our archives, 100 years ago

A lawyer representing the Royal Arch, a saloon, made several arguments against a proposed Spokane city ordinance banning tables and chairs in saloons. The idea behind the ordinance was to discourage men from loafing for hours in saloons and neglecting their wives and families. But it also had an ulterior motive, seized upon by the Royal Arch attorney.

“If you want to drive the saloon men out of business, this is a good ordinance,” he said, sardonically. “You are going to work this so there will be prohibition in Spokane.”

That is exactly what proponents of the ordinance were working toward. The prohibitionists believed that saloons were the root of society’s evils. If they couldn’t ban alcohol altogether, they were determined to eradicate the saloon culture among the lower and working classes.

This, also, did not escape the notice of the Royal Arch attorney.

“The saloon is the poor man’s club,” he said. “You have no right to say where a man shall spend his evenings.”

Unhappy “saloon men” filled the city council chambers, but that didn’t prevent the council from passing the ordinance on first reading.

It still had several other steps to go before it became law.