Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-07-18

acoordinely besh convened for the purpose. A joint special committee of the senate aud house having the consideration of the matter in charge reported to the assembly on Tuesday, and it is hoped that in a few weeks at most law will be enacted that will do away with the free rum that has fowbd since the state was tricked into voting prohibition.
 In some respects the new law proposed
 icepse law that prevails in Connecticut, while in other respects it is radically diff ferent It is an extremely rigid measure, and as the majorities in the two houses are of different complexions l it is extremely probable that some notifications will be made in the bill before it is enacted into law. The lower house has 0 democratic minority who are naturally inclined to deal fairly with the liquor traffic which the people have shown they want to legalize, while | the. senate is controlled by republicans | who favor extreme restrictive measures,
 probably with the hope of holding the prohibition vote in future elections. The
 bill as reported provides that wholesale dealers shall pay license fee of $500 to
 $1 ,000, with the privilege of doing retail business in liquors not to be drunk on the premises. The retail fees are: For Proyi- dehce, $4O0; all the other cities and towns having 15,00O population, s350 towns of from (, 1000 to 15,OOO inhabitants, $500; all other towns from $20O to $500. In no case is there to be graded license. Where vote is fixed for city or town it will apply alike to every applicant. There is a clause which allows residents and people holding property within two hundred feet of 1 proposed location of saloon to oppose
 the granting of license, and if major
 ity of them are so opposed the license is
 not to be granted. The sale of two gal
 Ions of any kind of liquor or beer is to be
 a wholesale transaction, which is an effort to do away with the business of rushing the grow1er" as well as to reach the class of dealers who supply the illicit and kitchen barrooms with small quantities of all kinds of intoxicants. No licensed dealer is to go bail for any unlicensed person arrested for
 infraction of the law, nor sell intoxicants to. any person who does not have license;
 and any violation of any part of these
 regulations will annul the license which the offender holds, and sub ject him to fine and imprisoom
 aud disqualify him for holding any kind of liquor license in the state for the next
 succeeding five years. To eject drunken person entails fine of S20 and loss of
 license for one year. To sell to minor
 or to a woman, if the latter drinks while
 on the premises, means fine of $1O0, three
 months in jail, and debars the dealer from
 eyer again holding license in the state. There are no special licenses to be granted to apothecaries or lager-beer saloons. All
 must pay S400 each. All saloon windows
 are to be free from screens all day Sunday,
 and whoever allows a woman or minor to 16iter about his premises is to forfeit $100. No action ct law is to be maintained for liquor sold contrary to law, and no mans
 wages can be attached for liquor sold on credit to him or his wife or to anyone in
 his name, if the same is sold over a bar
 and drunk upon the premises. Excepting
 in the case of licensed taverns, no licenses
 gre to be granted for places which do not
 Have entrance directly from public trav-
 eled highway, and no saloon is to be con
 dected with a dwelling house so that it can
 be entered from the tenements. The mat
 ter of granting licenses is to be left in the hands of the town councils and boards of
 license commissioners in the four cities of the state, ,and in the cities the commissioners
 are to be appointed by the mayor and re-
 moved by him for cause. At least 15 per
 cent in the towns and 10 per cent in the
 cities of the total number of voters partici- pating in the last preceding state election are required in order to request the town
 or city clerks to put in the WATTS nts a l license fee.
 It is not at all likely that when the as- sembly has finished with the bill all of the provisions noted above will be preserved,
 but enough are likely to be kept to deter
 mine the character of the law. It will be feen that it is high license of the most rigid kind, and that many. of it's features
 are altogether too exacting. With fair lspirit of compromise, however, there is every reason to believe that Rhode Island Twill have a law that will do away with free rum and compel persons who wish to sell and persons who wish to drink to pay for the privilege. It will be much better
 for the moral and financial welfare of the Estate than the kind of prohibition that has prevailed for the last few years.
 E SOUND AND SAPiEN1.
 WHAT your glass tells you will not be told
 by counsel.