Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-01-05
THE PROPOSED LIQUOR LAWS.
What is said Of the Measures Now Before
Congress.

As set forth in TEE STAR there are four bills
now pending in Congress intended to give the
District an effective liquor law. As has been
shown by interviews in The STAR there are
WIDE differences of opinion a. to which meas
ure is the best. Liquor dealers and those who
are friendly to their interests favor the Camp
bell or Meredith bill. claiming that their pro-
visions are more just and easier Of execution
! than the Mcmillan bill, which provides high
license and stringent regulations. The District
Commissioners and those who have spoken in
the name OF temperance organizations have
as rule. favored the Mcmillan bill.
The present license law, which has been
, found imperative BY reason of its failure to
provide means for its own enforcement fixes
the license fee for retail dealers at 800 and re-
quires applicants for bar room licenses to OBJ
tain the consent in writing of q majority Of the
owners OF real estate and majority OF the resi-
dents keeping house on the same side of the
square where Ii is desired to locate such bust
hess and on the side Of the square fronting OPP
posite the same. The District Commissioners
are the officers empowered to grant licenses,
and the attorney for the District prosecutes
cases of violation of the law. New application
Tor license must be made every year and be &C
companied, as in the case Of the original appli-
cation, with the written permission Of major
lily OF the neighboring real estate owners and
residents.
The pending bills all have what are consid-
cred adequate penal clauses. The Hunton bill
simply provides what is lacking in the present
law TO give ii force and makes no changes in
its general provisions
THE MMILLAN BILL.
The Mcmillan bill, which fixes the annual
license fec at $500 for either wholesale or re-
tail dealers. has the same requirement regard
ing the consent of neighbors as the present
law, except that it includes Wholesale well
retail dealers; gives the power of granting
revoking licenses to the Commissioners, and
charges the attorney for the District with
prosecutions arising under the law. II makes
many definite provisions and regulations con-
corning points on which the present law is in
definite. IL provides for publication of notices
of applications and the hearing of persons who
object. and requires applicants to give bond,
with two more sureties, in the sum of
$4,000 that the applicant will comply
with the law. Provision ia made whereby
any father, mother. wife or child
of any habituaI drunkard can serve
notice through the chief of police on licensed
liquor dealers forbidding them to furnish
liquor to such ha bitual drunkard. The exhibit
ton of liquors in windows or the usual signs of
bar rooms are made By the bill prima facie evil
dence o! the sale of liquor Pharmacists who
sell liquor except upon a written prescription
of physician for medicinal purposes and ply
sicians who shall give such a prescription for
other than medicinal purposes are rendered
liable to the penalties for selling liquor with
out license. The bill makes many regulations,
such as forbidding the licensing Of q bar room
in or adjacent to any building used as a theater,
prohibiting games OF chance in bar rooms or
| the frequenting Of OF employment in such
places of immoral women.
THE CAMPBELL BILL.
The Campbell bill bestows the power Of
granting licenses upon an excise board, consist
ing of the chief of police. the assessor and the
| collector. The original application for a bar
room license must be accompanied by the writ
ten consent of majority of the neighboring
real estate owners and resident housekeepers, as
under the present law. but the licensee Is not
required to get this written consent to a re-
newal CT the license unless majority of the
owners and housekeepers unite in petition
stating that the bar room is not necessary and
Is Objectionable. No license can be revoked
except upon the conviction of the hcensse OF
keeping a disorderly and disreputable place
which is a nuisance to the neighborhood. Hotels
and duly incorporated clubs are exceptedDfrom
the requirement as to the consent of neighbors.
There are four grades of liquor licenses pro-
vided for. as follows: Hotel, tavern. bar room
or other retail place, $3.50 per annum; retail
grocers. to sell in unbroken packages or in
quantities not less than a quart. not to be
drunk on the premises $3.50; wholesale dealers,
Sl00: jobbers or bottlers. to sell in quantities
not less than three gallons, $3.50. Druggists
are not permitted to sell intoxicating liquors
except upon the written prescription of regu-
lar physician. The United States attorney for
the District is charged with prosecutionsf for vio
lations Of the act. The bill limits the number
of licenses to be issued to 500 and is the only
bill that fixes such a limit.
THE MEREDITH BILL.
The Meredith bill provides for fee of $50
for wholesale licenses to dealers selling liquor
as merchandise in quantities of not less than a
I pint and fee Of $50 for bar room licenses
| 1t provides for a renewal Of licenses without
| the consent of neighboring property owners
and residents. except in case a majority of these
property owners and residents present reasons
deemed sufficient by the Commissioners for not
| renewing it. 1t forbids pool playing in bar
rooms OF the employment in such a room to
sell liquor of any female except the wife or
daughter Of the proprie tor and constitutes the
usual signs of bar room prima facie evidence
District is named as the officer to conduct prose-
cutions.
COMMISSIONER DOUGLASS VIEWS.
In conversation with STAR reporter upon
the needs for liquor law and relative merits of
the several bills now before Congress District
Commissioner Douglass said: The Meredith
and Campbell liquor bills are not satisfactory
to me. Either of the two bills presented two
years ago by the Commissioners would be, or
what is called the Mcmillan bill, reported by
Senator Hansbrough. Waving the question
OF the amount of the license fee. as
fixed by the two first mentioned bills,
their serious fault is lack of
a number of provisions by which the Law should
be enforced and the honest dealer protected
from dishonest competition. The sharp penal
ties and means of proof of guilt found in the
recent high license laws Of many OF the states