New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-05-06
ONLY THE LATEST OF ITS KIND

The Police Commissioners, or some OF them,
were in consultation yesterday over Section 3S
of the new Excise law, Superintendent Byrnes
being also in attendance. This is the provision
of the law which was the subject OF their dis
cusSion:
Every officer authorized to make arrests on criminal
process In any city town In Which any licensed
premises situated may enter upon such licensed
premises while the same permitted by the license
to be kept open for carrying the licensed business
therein
If a Legislature of feeble minded persons,
incapable of understanding the uses of language
but impotently DESTROYS of doing their duty,
had made this enactment it would have been
merely ridiculous. Everybody would have
known that the gracious permission which it
contained was supcrfuous and meaningless, and
would have laughed at the harmless inani'y
which it eXcmplifed. OF course policeman
may enter barroom while it is lawfully open.
in the pursuance of duty. lie may likewise
attend church or 60 to "A funeral or wedding
or ball match when he is of duty. An UNI
necessary clause of the statute certainly. but
innocuous, is this Section 3S, if il is to be held
to mean only what it is seen to say.
But how did it come tc be where it is? Who
drafted it? And who made it part OF the
new Excise law? The Legislature was not
controlled by amiable imbccles. and the Excise
bill in particular was not an aimless and hap
hazard connection. II was prepared down To
the minutest detail by the clevercst and ciafti-
est men in Tammany Hall. Not word nor a
punctuation mark escaped their scrutiny. II
went from the Legislature into the Governors
hands in precisely the form which Tammany
=. baJ Will fa
vorable to the liquor dealers it would have en-
abled them to defy official backmailers. II it
had been more rigid in its prohibitions il would
have been embarrassing to those who must in
terprct it, What Tammany wanted was elias
ITCHY, and the expected results have begun to
appear
The President of the Excise Board, the high
souled and accomplished Koch. penetrated the
meaning of Section 80 on Tuesday without the
least difficulty or msgiying. lie perceived that
il converted the saloon into sanctuary, a
refuge for the oppressed, place of sweet Sc
cluson and security, where the wicked cease
from troubling and the weary are at rest There
couldn't be any doubt about it. he thought
common consent must follow his conclusion
but still it was Just as well tina; the Police
Board should make a formal proclamation OF
acquicscencc and hence the concavc at Head
quarters yesterday. The Commissioners there
present saw at once that Section 3s was capable
OF only one Interpretation. namely. STAT police"
men cannot enter saloons when they are open
at unlawful hours but like the ingenious Koch.
they desire to have authority as well as com
nonsense on their side and so they propose
to ask the Counsel t. the Corporation to de-
liver his grave and conclusive judgment. Mr..
Clark is now celebrating, and in due time will
discharge his obligation he understands il.
Who can doubt that his legal training will lead
him to precisely the same Interpretation of the
statute which the native sagacity of Koch
originally put upon il? Nobody need feel the
least uneasiness on that score. Moreover, Mr..
Clark has the great advantage OF long and
careful study of the law, prior to its passage.
and while it was in the Governors hands. In
such cases the intention of the lawmakers al
WAYS has great weight. Nobody knows better
than the Corporation Counsel just what Tam
many intended Section 3S to mean. lie was
It's representative AT Albany for weeks at a
time. Every phrase and word of the statute
was subjected to his anxious scrutiny. lie
cannot possibly be deceived.
Well what does it all mean? Simply this.
that one more detail of the comprehensive con-
spiracy which Tammany has been conducting
ever since the election of 1891 has been ex
posed to public view. To steal the Lcgis
lature and use it remorsclcssly for every pur-
pose Of plumber; b. means OF its creatures at
Albany to extend and confirm its supremacy
over every branch of government and every
agency of corruption-this was the design Of
Tammany. and this is what it has almost il not
quite accomplished. This audacious intciprc-
tation of the Excise law is merely the latest |
development of the plot. Others no doubt will |
follow There is just one consolation and hope |
of escape from this intolciablc thradom. The |
Tuesday Immediately following the first Mon
day in November is only six months distant.