National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1884-01-12
Eau Its OF THE BILL.
An IntervieI W With Cen Birney on the Defects
Of the License Measure
Some VeI Odous Features Which Can
not be Tolerated.
II Will Have effect Of Driving Poor Men Out Of
Business.
An Intervie
IL Is Escn tion for the Rich, but the
Cha n Gang for the Poor.

Said REY 'UBLICAN reporter to Gen. Bir-
ey last nj ght "Haye you examined the
proposed lie ensed law ? Is it good or bad?'
at is Xix IL the image dreamed of by Nebu-
hadnezzarV; its hea d is of fine gold, but its
Get are pa rt of clay"
What is the fine goldY
sit sui iects to license some occupations
which he generally and ought to be always
lnder Vpolice supervision because of their
,ery Mature, and others to which special
are granted. The persons who
oil Nv these cannot complain. Under the
irE H. class fall manufact urers Of and dealers
IN Intoxicating liquors, pawnbrokers, &e.; and
u lder the second gas, street railroad, tele-
W one, telegraph, electric, and other com
MES requiring the use of the streets or
lor property; also, owners ofvehicles which
20 the costly asphalt pavements and ought
90 contribute to their repair"
",rhe tax on the second class ought to be
very light In some cases, MS in that of the
street railroad companies, tho public would
be more benefited by reduction of fare than
by tax. In fact, the public pays the tax,
the poor man OH his way to daily labor us
well as the richest banker. And so, with the
other companies namod-all of them public
cunyenicnces and benefits. The public has
more interest in low charges than in high
taxes These companies should not be liable
to arbitrary interference by the local author
| ties The number of cars and times of run
ming might be regulated by the courts on
| complaint of private parties or OF tho COM
missioners.
| "The tax on tho first class ought to be
heavy enough to regulate, restrain. and keep
them from doing harm to the community,
and to bring in revenue enough to pay the
| eNpcnses of prisons and courts, caused d.
rcctly or indirectly by them. Excluding the
! star route and similar cases, the liqur-
saloons are justly taxable with ut least tn
fourth of the expenses OF the The
and criminal c99nHhrity. 'hG staten tense tax
jnilS, Calculated so as to make them pay
Ii'pDHaln-ssy 100000. Under the existing
! Stem, the tax on liquor sellers yields COM
paratively little 1t costs the tax payers at
least 100000 yearly to support them in their
business; and it would be cheaper probably
to support them all in the work house. Ger
tainly, there would be less trouble with ar
rests, trials, taking care Of abandoned fami-
lies &C., caused by drunkenness.
The 100000 could be had, probably, by re-
ducing the number of grog shop privileges to
100 and putting them up to the highest bid
der. They are certainly worth $1,000 each.
The commissioners propose to charge only
$3.50 each.
At that rate it would take 1888 grog shops
to raise the revenue, but this is impossible, as
the pOpulatlOn numbers only lSU,UUU. we
have now only Lbs drinking places count
rag wholesale and retail shops and drug
stsres, and that is aE many as We can carry,
being one to every $50 men, women, and chill
drek Under congressional legislation WASH
irgsnn has more facilities for making drunk
arls than any other city in the union. Nearly
evbry family residence has saloon in sight,
auN quito convenient for the sons to drop into
asI they so to school and church. But 100
saloons scattered over the city would afford
Reasonable facilities for all persons whose
apbctites have taken away their self-control.
With that number only parents would know
where to go to find their sons, wives would
krbw where TO get their drunken husbands
at midnight, and children could bring home
thd besotted father At present to discover
am png 1900 the particular grog shop in
which the drunkard lies, is like hunt
Thd reduction of the number TO
1OO| would please everybody except the
wholesale dealers in adulterated, drugged
LIQUORS, and it would make easy tho inspec-
tom of the liquor sold. This ought to be
provided for in the bill. As it costs few
cent only to make n gallon of adulterated
lidINr, and five times as much to make the
pu III stuff, and there is no inspection, it goes
viii put saying that there is no pure liquor
sdWn Washington. man who is sunk so
MI iorIly as to make his living by cor
.ESlplGAbout selling adulterated liquors. 1t
'&argued that poor men ought to be allowed
to make their living in this way, and that
reduction would throw the business into the
hands Of monopolists. TO this the answer is
that it would be better for the community if
tho poor men, prevented from running our
families by being snatched out from their
barrels of poisonous whisky, should go
into some other form of crime. |
would much rather one of them
should burglarize my house than make my
son drunk. In the former case | might get a
shot at him in the latter, have no remedy.
1t is to be hoped the commissioners will
change the bill so as to limit the number Of
whisky shops. and raise handsome revenue
from the few licensed"
Have you any other fault to find with the
bill%
"Yes. 1t oversteps the true principles of
| such legislation, singing out few Occupa-
lions for taxation. | should like to know
whether the following are either under police
| supervision or have special privileges from
the district corporations Real estate agents,
bankers, lecturers givers of fares, con-
! certs and exhibitions, keepers of hotels
| and eating houses, insurance agents cattle
dealers brokers, job printers, junk dealers,
4 owners of skating Kinks and produce dealers.
| Why are those occupations followed by poor
| and comparatively unintluential people tex
cept the bankers) singled out for taxation,
while the wellthy and influential escape scot
| rec? Why are not the lawyers, claim agents,
| Judges, contractors, and oihceholders made to
| pay their share? | am not surprised that the
| bankers are willing TO submit to this license
tax. They are men of great public spirit,
willing to do anything for the district; be-
sides, they submit more willingly because,
under this bill, they escape the personal
property tax altogether, and pay only one
| tenth Of per cent. upon capital stock and
average deposits, after deduction made of the
assessed value of their real estate. 1t is con-
| soling to know that these philanthropic gem
tlcmon will not be ruined by the proposed
| law. The proposition that bank
shall not pay less than 800 is
! full of quiet humor whom compared
with the provisions requiring sunk dealer
or peddler to pay $50. Each street car is to
pay $50 and II bank not less than 800. The
| want of uniformity is striking. A poor devil
| of u street huCkster who uses his entire
| capital to buy bushel of potatoes which he
| peddles out i'll the sleet or rain, trying to
earn enough to support his wife and children,
is to pay $50. If he protects himself from tho
storms by getting inside of market house
| he must pay $50; but his competitor over the
way, rich enough to occupy big store and
use 81 900 capital escapes with tax of $l5,
! What do the commissioners mean by taxing
bath houses? Are tho people too clean now
Would 1t not DO better to put up
about three free public bath houses
! on the Potomac instead of taxing
out of existence those owned by private
i