Sword and shield., 1885-10-31
Prohibition Prohibiting.


Prohibition Prohibiting. A,
The Board of Mayor and Alder
man of the City Of jackson we're
called together on Oct. 18th to con-
sider the application of Mr.. A. J.
Atklsson for whisky license. The
attorney Of the Prohibition Union
and other lawyers friendly to the
cause were preS sec that the
proceedings We Conducted accord
ing to law. The point WIS clearly
shown to the Board that the petit
lion failed t. ccertify6 6hat the appli-
cant was a person'OI good reputrtion
as the statute provides, only declar-
ing that he was a Suitable and
sober person toreceiye such license.
a Suitable person to receive such IL
eense might mean simply man
skilled in mixing drinks, or man
who had no reputation to lose by
embarking IN such acause and could
not be understood to reter to . mab's
cter save 8S an lnftIFl glassl lni igilt
choose 10 50 W
pressly provides ha SIC
Sill be certified to be goUd
ta6ion. The petition iif question
failed to show TINS, therefore a mo-
ton was made to refuse to grant it
ON the score of ilfegality, which mo-
tion was summarily voted down by
the Board, only one Alderman vot-
ing in the affirmative. Several MEM
bers Of the Beard were restive and
impatient under the application and
clearly showed by their manner that
they regarded the effort to defeat
the whisky petition as sort OF i'm
pertinent interference with their
prerogatlyes. 1t was then charged
that at least one hundred and sixty
nine names on the whisky petition
were invalids, some because they
had not been registered. others did
not reside in the corporation, others
had moved away, others had died,
and so forth. The operation of YER
flying the signatures then cOmmenc-
ed, and quite a number were strikeu
off. The process was tedious, as the
registration books had to be examin-
ed, and also the petition IN each
case. Some Of the members of the
Board seemed indisposed to 90 into
1t and manifested their opposition
by such remarks as ''it will take all
next week to do this" and ''some-
times forbearance ceases to be vir-
tue" It appeared that the Board
were determined to grant the petition
despite any plea that might be made.
So the attorney served upon them
an injunction which he had provided
from the Circuit Court, summarily |
prohibiting them from issuing the
license, which injunction they dared |
not disregard.
Several questions were forced upon |
the mind Of the editor Of this de-
partment as he sat by a silent, but
deeply interested listener, why |
should any of the members of the
Board of Alderman show impatience
when citizens come before them to
prevent the violation cf the statute?
The law guarantees that right to all |
citizens.
Why should any members OF the
Board of Mayor and Alderman con-
slider themselves the champions OF
the whisky men? 1t is presumed
that the tribunal which represents
the interests of the people of the
city should simply mete out justice
to everybody, and see that the law
is faithfully administered without
favoritism to one class or prejudice
to another. Why is it that the COM
mittee appointed by the Board to ex-
anime and report upon whisky peti-
tions, should report faYorbly upon
those petitions which have a great
Of bogus names upon them?
The members of the Board have
taken an oath to do their duty, and
citizens ought to feel perfectly satis-
fed that all their proceedings are
according to law.
Recent investigations have proved
that there is scarcely single saloon
in Jackson which has been licensed
according to law, and that if the
names on whisky petitions We're
subjected to a rigid test, so many of
them would be stricken off in each
case as to destroy the required ma
iority. Let all good citizens give
lad i'll exposing these shameless yio-
lations OF law.-Rev. G. g. Andrews
il Temperance Department Of
Clarion.