Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

After years of emotional debate, the state of Washington voted to go dry three years before the nation at large.

The prohibition initiative won by nearly 14,000 votes statewide and constituted a huge victory for the temperance movement in the state. Spokane County went along with the rest of the state, but the vote was relatively tight. Most of the rural counties went strongly for prohibition, while the cities generally voted against it.

Under the terms of the initiative, the state would not actually go dry until Jan. 1, 1916. And even then, the law was ambiguous. It made the manufacture and sale of liquor illegal, but not all possession and consumption in a person’s home. The initiative’s main purpose was to get rid of saloons, which many considered an immoral and home-wrecking institution.

Meanwhile, the state’s voters thoroughly smacked down an eight-hour workday referendum, by about 53,000 votes to 16,000.

In the city, voters narrowly repealed a two-platoon system for firefighters, which critics said resulted in firefighters being paid for idleness.

Also on this date

From the Associated Press

1605: The “Gunpowder Plot” failed as Guy Fawkes was seized before he could blow up the English Parliament.