The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1877-08-07
Temperance Apostles On Excise.

The temperance people are indignant
because, as they allege, the Excise law is not
enforced and the sale of liquor in the city
is as free as before the recent decision of
the Court of Appeals. The complaint is
not without foundation. There is not any
pretence on the part Of the Excise Board
or at least there is nothing more than q
mere pretence-to enforce the law as it
really exists. Not that there is any diff
Guilty in understanding just what the
law is. That is Us plain as the let
tiers of the alphabet. The law OF 1870,
in section 4, provides that any person OF
good moral character, approvedb by the Com
missioners of Excise, may obtain license
to sell and dispose of liquors and wines in
quantities less than five gallons at a time at
any one place named in the license. No
doubt the intent Of the law was to allow the
wines and liquors thus sold to be drunk on
the premises, but it omits to say so. AS
section of the law of 1870 provides that the
law of 1857, except where inconsistent, shall
be taken and construed rs II part of the former
act, and as the law Of 1867 expressly provides
that none but inn, tavern or hotel keepers
shall be licensed to sell liquor ''to be drunk
on the premises, the Court of Appeals has
declared very properly that the latter provis.
ion is still in force. Now, no person who does
not keep an inn can legally be licensed to
sell liquor to be drunk on the premises, and
if the Commissioners of Excise wilfully vio-
late that law they commit misdemeanor
They may, under the law Of 1870, license
person OF good moral character to sell
liquor, at any one place. in quantities less
than five gallons, but not to be drunk on
the premises and if person hold
ing an inn suffers liquor to be
drunk on his premises he is liable
to arrest by the police. Moreover, before
licensing an innkeeper the Commissioners
must satisfy themselves that 'an inn, tavern
or hotel is required for the actual accommo-
dation Of travellers ut the place where such
applicant resides or proposes to keep the
same" and must require of the licensed
party bond in the penal sum of two hun
bred and fifty dollars with two sureties,
who shall justify in the sum of five hundred
dollars, conditioned that during the time he
shall keep an inn he will not suffer it to be
disorderly or permit any gambling therein
We do not suppose the temperance people
are far wrong when they charge the Excise
Commissioners with evading this law.
But for the muddle and its consequences,
the impetus it has given to the liquor bust
ness and the disrespect it is bringing on all
laws, the temperance people are responsible.
Their objects are no doubt praiseworthy,
but their fanaticism blinds their judgment.
A lady ut temperance meeting held at
the Cooper Institute last Sunday declared
that it was evident God had not meant men
to drink whiskey or considered it whole
some, as, if He had, He would have
made it flow in rivers and streams
as freely rs water. But roast NUT
ton is unobjectionable food, and yet God
only gave us the sheep from which we OBJ
tain it just as He gave the corn and rye
from which We distil whiskoy. This ladys
argument is no less unsound than the po-
sition taken on the liquor law by the tenn
perence people. If they had suffered us to
have good, sound, stringent excise law
enacted last winter the liquor business
would now be under restraint, and public
officers would not be found endeavoring to
discover how they can best evade the en-
forcemcnt of the law.
The Maine Republicans.