100 years ago today: Spokane needs more clubs for young people

The Spokane Daily Chronicle lamented the lack of reputable clubs for the city’s working young men and women.

The result: “ruined masculinity, ruined girlhood, destroyed houses, lost honor.”

Young men and women were ignored by the fraternal lodges and clubs, and the “churches are strangely welcome,” which left the more nefarious options open.

“In the summer there are a lot of strollers in the parks ready to start a flirt,” said an editorial. “Indeed, a stroll along the riverside rarely reveals an abundance of funky youngsters willing to meet their own species. And the joyride, the midnight dinner, the room in a cheap hotel – getting there is too easy for dozens of boys and girls. The evils that follow such a chance acquaintance are as much the fault of Spokane as of the young men and women. “

The editors said that “a country town of 600 people has, in most cases, better ways of bringing the right young men and women together than Spokane.”

The editors urged clubs, churches and civil societies to address this problem.

From the school lunch beat: A new state law came into force, according to which every public school in the state must deliver half a liter of milk to every child under the age of 14.

This “milk bill” with the label “pure whole milk” would be handed out at lunch – and the schools would pay the bill.

Also on this day

(From the Associated Press)

1806: The explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, who had reached the Pacific coast, began their journey back east.