The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1875-01-01

The people of the city may rest assur-
ed that as long as they have no policy
on this question the city government
h will be unable to establish one. WheE
Z the people at one election vote tc
grant licenses, and at the next turn
!. right around and elect ticket oppos-
4 ed to granting them, we can't expect
: harmony to prevail.
al In respect TO this question members
, of the council and city officers will mol
yield their opinions as to what they
believe to be the best interests of the
city. And, IL equally divided or near
ly so, so they will stand until the peo-
!, pie choose q council and mayor more
of one mind on this question. The
people are to blame for the ridiculous
. action of the mayor and some menu
bers of the council. In the results of
our last three elections the people have
shown as much inconsistency as some
Of the city officials. The true policy
tor the people Is a policg. Even a
poor one is better than none at all.
Adopt 3 policy and stick to it. In my
opinion that policy should be the IL
: cense policy. Why? Because intox-
icating liquors VIII be, Is they always
have been, sold and drank. Under q
: stringent license law abuses can be
more completely checked, and temper
ance promoted. According to the
provisions of our city license Ordi-
mace saloon keeper is prohibited, IN
der a bond of two thousand dollars,
from selling to any person who is in
the habit of beco ming intoxicated; he
can't sell to minor, nor allow gamb-
ling on the premises, nor sell on cleo
ton days, nor on the 4th day of July;
he must keep an orderly house; he
must close up his saloon by ten o'clock
p. m, and not open again until the
following morning; and many other
restrictions are thrown around his ac-
tions to prevent intemperence. If he
violates any of the provisions of the
ordinance he fOrfeits, upon conviction,
the two thousand dollars mentioned in
the bond; he forfeits his license to
sell. which cannot be renewed during
the year; and he forfeits the amount,
two hundred and fifty dollars, which
he paid for his license. The amount
forfeited upon conviction, $2,250.OO, all
goes into the city treasury for the ben
eft of the city and to the relief of the
taxpayer. Thus the city by this pol
| lev nr0an OfaS tho aOIIaa Of
puts into the city treasury for licenses
81 800 or $1,000 annually, with the
chances, If the saloon keepers sell con-
trary to the ordinance, of putting in
six or eight thousand dollars more of
forfeit money. 1t is just as easy to
prosecute saloon keeper for selling
in violation of his bond as it is to pros
ecute him for selling without license.
In the latter case the saloon keeper
can be fined, If convicted, only one
hundred dollars, and heretofore the
city has paid seVenty-1lve dollars of
this amount as attorneys fees, and not
a cent from all the prosecutions has
yet been paid into the treasury, while
i
paid out of the treasury to attorneys,
thousand or twelve hundred dollars
of costs will probably have to be paid
by the city. All these costs and heavy
attorneys fees have been made when
the "no license" policy prevailed.
Now, desire to call the attention of
our citizens to the fact that we must
do one of three things: We must have
the law Of the state changed so the
council can levy ten, instead of five
mills, or the council must levy a spe-
cial license tax upon the general bust
ness of the city, or grant licenses to
the saloons. One of these things must
and will be done. The anti-lIcense
members of the council brought for
ward an ordinance this last summer,
laying special license tax on the mer-
chants, livsrymen, contractors and all
other establishments and branches of
business in the city; but the license
members voted it down for the time
being. "Coming events cast their
shadows BEFORE" and if the no.
license policy shall prevail, such au
ordinance becomes a financial necessi-
ty. If not this, then, as above stated,
an increase of the tax levy or license
policy. If none OF these things shall
be done, then the only alternative is to
bond scrip at the end of each year, and
any fool can see where this will lead
to. But.yOu say reduce your expens-
es. A very easy thing to say, but
quite different thing to do. The
mayor and councilmen are not paid a
cent. The marshal gets 1888 per
month; the city teamster $40; the
clerk $2o. The amounts paid are az
small now as they can be made. The
marshal's salary is too low. But you
may abolish the above salaries entire
iy, and the levy, now limited by law 70
five mills, will not meet the current
expenses Of the city. You may then
ask in Gods name, what is the money
expended for? Allow me to inform
you once more, and, if your mind is
capable of receiving an impression,
wish to impress it that one of the heav-
lest items of expense Is costs and attor-
neys' fees in liquor cases, prosecutions
for selling foithOnt license, from a
thousand to two Thousand annually,
all the time paying ont and nothing
coming in. l say to the people of EN-
porla that it is not creditable to their
ordinary intelligence to fool around
with this anti-license delusion any
longer. You may do 1t, but you will
bring up against a stump in a year or
two more with such a crash as win
cause yOu to realize at least where you
are. We might possibly for few
months longer stand Cooks nonsense
In string-halt rhyme, or the cratic,
spasmOdic scribiings of Vinegar Bitters
7 jay, who buys his beer by the keg and
keeps It at his house, but to continue
. this antl-license policy for even few
months Is not only nonsense, but the
evidence of an imbecility that is al
most if not quite the next thing to idi-
Ocy. agree with the Rev. Mr.. Boy
anton, an eminent Congregational cler-
gyman of Ohio, who is an earnest and
, eloquent advocate of Temperance, and
3 was actively connected with the cru
: SADIE movement in that state, that after
years of thought and labor in the
l cause of temperance he had come to
! the conclusion that christians must re-
!, argue the whole question from Ii
: cense stand point. He was undoubt-
! edly brought to his senses by the re-
: cent elections in Ohio, Massachusetts