Wilmington daily commercial. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1866-1877, 1875-03-19
FIRST EDITION.
The Proposed License I.aw---LeIteI
from Mr.. Dean to MIR. Baldwin.

e. IL. -. HtdTih, E1.:
Sir the copy OF ii bill you sent to me with the
title " An Act regulating the Hale of intoxca-
ting liquors" came duly to hand. II sent to
me Tor The purpose of getting my opinion In re-
gard to it i will give 1T as freely us possible.
Sections l. 2, and g. may be all right Section 4
Is nearly the same as section of the present
law and is of no account, neither would it be un-
der the law now proposed unless you get an en-
tire new get OF officials for our county. My ex-
perience as member of tho Grand Jury for the
last year makes me say | never came in contact
with single official
WHO DARED DO HIS DUTY
in enforcing the present laws Manyof the Off
cials are elected by the people, while others get
their appointment from those just elected by
the people, and al their terms of Office are but
for short periods and they soon expect to be
again before them for their suffrages to get re-
elected to their present or some higher position,
they have not the moral courage to honestly
perform their duty in accordance with their OBJ
legation taken.
Section all right Section Of no effect for
the same reasons as sectien 4. Section will
prove Of no account for the reason that grand
Jury cannot get the assistance of those officers
whose duty it If TO assist them i'll the peffor-
nance of their duty and for this reason had bet
ter be stricken out. for by it you impose upon
the grand jury duty and oblgate them to per-
form it, yet they are placed in position that
makes it almost impossible to perform their du-
ty Section s is
ALI. MooEspINE.
In the first place, men of sobriety and good
moral character will not like to be arrayed along
side OF the mass of persons who will get licen-
ces granted under the provisions OF this act
All that is required to obtain license is to get
a recommendation of twelve citizens of the hum
dred. Now there will be no difficulty in getting
this, HI you can at any time, i'll any hundred,
pick up dozen or more besotted stool pigeons
1a.. f1r
som one to come in who will call up all hands
to take drink. These persons are requisite
not only as signers but as persons to
BRING oRIsr TO THE MILLS
OF those who get licences, and get their mills in
operation. This section might be amended
and be made much more applicable for good by in
serting in the 9th line after the words no dealer
in," and before " or SELLER" the word user Of"
The section would then read " no dealer in. user
of, or seller Of Intoxicating liquors shall be in
cluded in the number sgners required under this
section"
Section says any person of full age and good
moral character may be licensed to do 30, but
it does not prohibit persons Of an immoral char
acter from obtaining license who shall have
got the twelve sgners no matter if they are only
his own stool pigeons or hangers on Tor free
wliskey. When an application signed as above
ance with the provision of this act
no discretion is given to the clerk
of the peace to refuse to grant a license, no
matter what the character OF the applicant may
be, but you rather Induce him to grant all the
applications made. as he gets fee of one dol
lar for all applications granted and nothing if
refused could we expect an
OFFICER WITH OUR HUMAN FBAILTIEs
to refuse an application under such circum
stances
Now if it is the intention to pass such law as
the copy Of the bill sent me contempates, allow
me to suggest an amendment to section s, in
line 6, aftor the word "l.quors, and before the
word "at, by inserting the following That
each and every applicant for license to sell in-
toxicating liquors shall upon making application
to the clerk of peace file with his application
Joint bond Of the applicant and some freeholder,
in the amount of two thousand dollars which
bond shall be liable to be collected to make good
any infraction or violations OF the provisions of
this act.
you might add the following as an additional
section: 1.-THE holder of any license to sell in
toxicating liquors under the provisions of this
act shall be responsible for any act committed
by any intoxicated person npon any person or
property upon proof that the person having
committed the offense got his liquor from said
dealer who il charged with having sold the Ii
quor which caused the person to commit the Of
fense."
This last suggestion may be
SAID TO DE TOO sTRINaENT.
but it wonld be for the interest and protection
OF ne men of sobraety and good moral character
who obtain license under the provisions of this
act against those persons who obtain a license
and are not mon OF sobriety and good moral char
acter.
The above arc some Of the things that have
suggested Themselves to me upon reading the
copy Of the bill sent me. and ! give them for
what they are worth and at the same time want
it distinctly understood that am as much in
favor of a well kept hotel as any man in the
State and would like to see such law enacted
regulating the sale of intoxicating liquors as
might admit that class OF men into the business
that the provisions CT the bill appear to CON
template
WITHOUT CAUSING THEM TO BLusH
| mean the men OF sobriety and good moral
character. The rlle heretofore has been to the
contrary; the exceptions are the cases wherein
the laws have been complied with To me it ap-
pears to be useless waste of the time of the
Legislature by being occupied in enacting laws
regulating the sales Of intoxicating drinks, for
have yet to find the first official in my recollec-
ton that was willing to take the odum OF en-
forcing the law against their sale, and the men
engaged in it, in a large majority of the cases,
would Just as soon violate the law as try to live
up to it, have found some honorable excep-
tions to the rule by men of character.
Respectfully.
Nm