Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1886-02-13
MEETING OF THE CITIZENS, PRO
TECTIVE ASSOCIATION.

L
| TECTIVE ASSOCIATION.
The Questions OF Prohibition, Local
| option and High License.
| To the Editor Of the EVENING STAR.
| For some time past the questions of prohibi-
ton, local option and high license in this Dis
| trict have occupied the public attention and
have been discussed in Congress. Bills have
| been proposed Tor Congress, absolutely prohibit
Ing the sale Of liquor In the District of Co
lumbia, and exacting very high license tax;
| and within few days past some Of the daily
papers have published the substance Of q bill
providing for submitting the question of prohi-
billion to vote of the people Of the District, res
ident and transient, and the opinions and COM
ments OF various persons, more or less promi-
nent both in Congress and in this city, have
been cited and quoted in the journals referred to
ject. WAS
In view Of these facts, and the fact that the
press has given no indication OF an opinion on
zens deeming that, before the measures pro-
posed were adopted, some action was necessary
In order to disabuse the minds Of our people and
advise the public of the views entertained on the
ABOVE questions by many of the most respecta-
BILE. useful and influential business men in the
Accordingly, at q meeting of the Citizens Pro.
tect1ve association, q business mans society,
bia, held on Friday, February 18th. 1855, the
do dg preamble and resolutions were
Whereas, movements are now on foot, both in
Congress and elsewhere, having for their object
prohlbluon, local option and an excessive H.
eense taS for the sale Of spirituous and malt
manifest tendency to degrade and disrupt the
special business Of many of our most enterpris-
Ing citizens and to injure business interests gen.
And whereas the illadvised agitation referred
70 is Kept alive for the most part by persons in
| identified with those OF the District, who pay
no taxes, maintain no families in our midst,
licenses for the conduct Of any business; in a
word, add nothing to the wealth or material
Advantage na Of the District in any way;
thus lmperilled are deeply interested both in
the present and prospective material welfare of
in, and contributed their money, energy and
enterprise to legitimate business in the District
OF OIL COUNT pa, and annually pay into its treas
for taxes about $50, 900 per annum for licenses
10 conduct their business, and also pend vast
sums 81 money In improving the real property
OF the District, In salaries to large numbers of
persons by them employed, whose interests
are seriously involved and whose employment
| at issue; and both the employers and the en-
pioyed LOT the greater part, maintain and edu-
| cate respectable and respected families in the
community and contribute literally, Of their
substance to progress, charity and education;
And whereas two Of our influential daily
newspapers published the subsistence OF pro-
posed legislation on the questions involved,
without All expression of sentiment in relation
thereto on the part OF said Journals;
there should be q full discussion and clear un-
Outstanding Of the radical measures proposed
but also highly necessary and important that
the views OF those most interested should be
made known TO the public before so serious
changes in our laws shall have been made: Now
BE Il reso,ved That while we .re orrosod 70
the enactment OF any law that will discriminate
In favor Of the rich against the poor or to the
and will give hearty cooperation to the Ell force
ment OF any laws that ,0iU correct abuses better
cne CONDITION Of the citizen and give greater
In favor OF law having for its object the gov
ernment and protection of respectable places
wnere liquors, wines and beer sold, and
which, to this end, will impose a reasonable,
uniform license tax of, not to exceed,
one hundred and fifty dollars per annum
upon all establishments where liquors, wines
and beers are sold in quantities OF less than a
PM, whlch sum, as we believe, is sufficiently
low resorts where drunkenness, vice and crime
are fostered, but not high enough to call into
existence, on the one hand. the place which ex-
cludes the workingman, or, on the other, the
and, fA'
Be it further resolved, That as all taxes are paid
In the end by the consumer, an excessive Ii
cense tax will necessarily work a hardship to
the working man by compelling him to pay an
at all events, or drive him to seek liquor OF q
meaner or cheaper quality, to the prejudice OF
his own health and that OF his posterity, as well
as TO the prejudice of his character in the COM
Be 1t further resolved, That the tax of $50,
proposed by these resolutions would enable tho
respectable dealer to supply a better class Of
liquors and more wholesome beverage for the
same money than could possibly be supplied if
a higher tax were imposed; and
Be further resolved, That experience teaches
us that laws of a prohibitory character have no
effect In Iestraining the use Of ANYTHING ar
deceit and violations OF law and consequent
breaking OF the moral sense, and that the strin-
gent law Is the parent of secret vice and spirit
ual and physical degredation and
Be further resolved, That it is our conviction
that the success Of prohibition in the District
of Columbia would, besides Withdrawing hun
dreds of thousands OF dollars from the business
capital Of the community, withdraw an inn
throw thousands of people out of employment
and embarrass or break up hundreds of fami-
lies. without producing any one good result;
framed form of government the exercise of the
right Of suffrage in the smaller component
parts OF q state or district, on subjects en-
braced by the uniform laws of each state or dis
trict, is salutary and favorable to liberty, but
that different and opposing legislation in said
part as well as OF the whole, and particularly
would this be the case in regard TO the sale of
liquors, as, if such sale is prohibited in our
county and allowed in another adjoining one.
the means Of Indulgence are so near that pro.
hibition has no effect, except to reduce the rev.
enue in the one while drinking is increased in
the other; and
Be it further resolved, That the laws now in
force In the District of Columbia which provide
that no bar-rOom or public place where LIQUORS
wines or beers are to be sold at RETAIL can be
opened in the city of Washington without first
obtaining the consent, in Uriting, of a majority
Of not only the householders. but also Of the
property-Owners in the locality where the BUSH
ness Is sought to be conducted, is much better
calculated to circumscribe and control the
traffic of spirituOus drinks in said city than
any other form OF local option law proposed or
contemplated; and
Be It further resolved, That as the city of Wash.
tngton Is the social and intellectual center and
political metropolis OF the United States to
which people from all sections gravitate, it is
our opinion that any sumptuary law made for
from narrow restraint and local prejudices that
people from all sections OF the country may find
the same facilities for enjoying themselves here
that they might find at home; and
stated, and many others equally good, we are
opposed to the enactment of any law providing
for total prohibition of the liquor traffic in the
District OF Columbia, tor excessive licenses tax
and for the submitting of these questions or
any OF them. TO q local popular vote of the
transient population Of the District of Column
bia, protesting. at the same time, our reverence
for law and our desire tor the maintenance of
order and sObrtety, which we believe the pro.
posed legislation tends rather to subvert than
TO sustain.
FRD. HUGLE, President.
Attest: JULIUS EIsENBEIss, Secretary.
FINED FIVE DOLLARS FOR CowHIDING Hrs
DAUGHrER.-SOlomon Bell, colored, q tele-
graph ltneman, who resides at 731 New Jersey
avenue northwest, was arraigned in the Police
Court this morning, charged with cruelty beat
Ing his dfteen-year-old daughter Teresa. The