Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1884-02-22


q one-which would repeal il so far
a. 1t !, ieFU4naH 10 the latter. The
! cry charter of 1853 has as its last
s@cIl.n ii clause, lie provision of
which, Is " that all acts and parts of
acts III conflict with any Of the pro>I-
slons of this act he and the same
a." hereby repealed"
Ce' tainly no one will claim that it
was the intention of the Legislature
by this clause to repeal Section OF
the act of 1873 in regard to hcenses
and thus abolish all law and author
lt,v to regulate the liquor traffic out
side Of Olympia, and other towns, if
there are such having similar powers,
for this would he he inevitable eff
feet of such repeal.
If the city charter in any way re-
p'a's or mobiles the provision OF
said Section of the act of 1873,
which fixes the maximum TO be paid
for retail liquor license at $500 and
the minimum at 500 per annum, il,
Is because the power conferred upon
the corporation to fix the rate OF
such license" is repusnant to said
provision. Taking both laws to-
gether, is there anythinelin the Lower
given to the corporation - to Xix the
rate of such license" repuSnant to
the provision of the general law
which defines ami limits the maxi
mum and minimum amount which
shall be charged thereupon? The
City Council shall have power to fix
the rate of such license" is to
say they may fix it at any sum not
over $50 nor under 500 per an
rum, just as it always has been and
still may lie fixed under the same
law by the Board of County Commits
sioners outside the limits of Olym-
pia, and is there any reason in the
nature of the thing itself why the
Council of Olympia should have I'M
limited power to fix the amount of Ii
cense to be paid within the city,
whilst the Board of County Commits
sioners are confined within the limits
of the maximum of $500 aud the
minimum OF 500?
Certainly there is no reason. The
history of previous legislation upon
this subject shows clearly that the
Legislature have never intended to
give the corporate authorities O!
Olympia greater power in fixing the
rute of license within the city limits
than were given to the County Com.
missioners. The act of 1867 See
Session Laws of 1867, page 10, Sec.
ton II first gave oil moneys collect.
ed for licenses within its corporate
limits to the town Of Olympia as u
municipal fund for the use of said
town, under which law and up TO
1873 all licenses continued to he
granted by the Board of County
Commissioners, whilst tho amounts
received therefor within the corpor-
ate limits were paid into the treasury
of the town of Olympia. The Leg
islature of 1873 so amended its char
ter as to give the Board Of Trustees
of the town of Olympia "power to
license persons to keep drinking
houses or saloons within the corpor-
ate limits OF the town of Olympia, in
conformity with the requirements of
the general law regulating the issue
of such license" and vesting the
Board of Trustees with the same
power within such limits rs is con-
ferred by the general law upon the
County Commissioners" under
which provision the Town Board
has continued to grant licenses, fix
the rate thereof and receive the funds
therefore up 10 the present time.
See Laws of 1873, page 526, Sec
ton 10. And it seems impossible
to construe the words of the new
charter giving the Town Board pow
er to fix the rate of such license in
any other sense than that it shall fix
it within the limits prescribed by
law; under this construction and
none Other full force may be given to
every word of both statutes, the gen.
cral law of 1873 and Section Ii of
the charter of 1888
1t has been claimed by member
of the City Council, who supports
the view, that said Council may fr
the rate of liquor licenses without re-
gard to the provision of the general
law of 1873, establishing the maxi.
mum to DO charged for such license
at three hundred dollars and the
minimum ut one hundred dollars per
annum; that ploviso contained in
Section II of said act sustains his in
terpretation of that part of Section
16 of the city charter of 1888 which
gives the city OF Olympia power to
fix the rate" of such license.
think. however, that upon a fair
consideration, said Section IL of the
act of 1873 will be found irreconcil-
able with this view. Said Section II
is as follows:
Sec. II. All fines and forfeitures
collected under this act, and all
moneys paid into the treasury of any
county FOR licenses, as aforesaid,
shall be applied to school or county
purposes as the local laws of such
county may direct;
Prorided, That this act shall not
affect or apply to any private or To-
cal laws upon the subject Of license
in any county in this Territory ex-
cept King county, and no license
shall be construed TO mean more
than the house Or saloon kept by the
same party or parties;
"Prorided further, That no part of
this act shall in any way apply to
the county Of Island;
"And prorided further, That all
moneys for licenses within the cor
porate limits of the town of Olympia
shall be paid directly into the town
treasury of said town as a municipal
fund for the use of said town."