100 years ago today: League of Nations idea divides Spokane

The establishment of the League of Nations – an early attempt to form a United Nations-style organization – was a divisive issue in Spokane.

One one hand, a group of Spokane civic leaders was organizing a chapter of the League to Enforce Peace, intended to support ratification of President Woodrow Wilson’s League of Nations plan.

“The plan is altogether admirable,” said B.H. Kizer, one of the organizers.

On the other hand, U.S. Sen. Miles Poindexter, R-Spokane, announced his intention to lead opposition in the Senate to the League of Nations. He and a number of other senators believed that joining such a league would be unconstitutional.

From the streetcar beat: The city emerged victorious in its fight with Washington Water Power Co. over whether the company could abandon certain unprofitable streetcar routes.

WWP President D.L. Huntington announced that he would immediately resume service on the Hamilton Street line. The city had threatened to sue WWP and possibly revoke its streetcar franchise if it didn’t restore service. WWP was one of two private companies operating the city’s increasingly unprofitable streetcar system.

From the strike beat: Nearly 11,000 miners were back on the job in Butte after a contentious two-week strike.

Meanwhile, promising news arrived from Seattle. A compromise had been proposed to end the paralyzing shipyard strike, and optimism was high.

Nearly 25,000 metal trades workers were still on strike. This strike had been the direct cause of a larger Seattle general strike earlier in the month.