This day in history: Environmentalist made bold prediction on cars; ‘king of bootleggers’ arrested as teachers flock to Spokane
Spokane’s “King of the Bootleggers,” Charley Dale, was in jail again was indicted by a federal grand jury on conspiracy to violate Prohibition laws, the Spokane Daily Chronicle reported on April 8, 1925. The newspaper also reported that ,ore than 2,000 teachers were expected in Spokane for the 27th annual meeting of the Inland Empire Education Association. (Spokesman-Review archives)
From 1975: David Brower, the best-known environmental leader in America, made some bold predictions during a Spokane appearance.
He said that by 1990, “there will be less than 20% of the cars on the road in the U.S. as there are today.”
Why?
“It is going to boil down to a question of whether we want to feed our cars or feed our people,” said Brower. “Feeding our people is going to win.”
He said agriculture had become increasingly dependent on oil products and “the country by necessity will have to restrict the use of oil products for automobiles in favor of using them in agriculture.”
He believed that mass transit would have to be revitalized as a result.
Brower would turn out to be correct in saying that the nation would need to decrease its dependence on fossil fuels. But a drastic decrease in cars on the road? Not even close.
From 1925: Charley Dale, Spokane’s “King of the Bootleggers,” was in jail again.
Dale and three confederates were indicted by a federal grand jury on conspiracy to violate Prohibition laws.
In particular, he was accused of supplying moonshine to the Atlantic Bar, which was raided earlier in the year.
In an ironic twist, federal agents said that the tip which led to Dale’s arrest came from those same “confederates,” who were angry that “Dale had failed to make good on promises to protect them with bond money and attorneys.”
From the school beat: More than 2,000 teachers were expected in Spokane for a the 27th annual meeting of the Inland Empire Education Association. The opening session at Lewis and Clark High School’s auditorium was kicked off with a speech from Walla Walla schools Superintendent W.M. Kern, whose speech defended America’s youths.
“The elder generation today commits crimes against society and violates the Constitution of the United States, while they criticize the youth of the country for joyriding, pool playing and other things unquestionably of a minor nature,” Kern said.