New-York tribune., 1896-11-25
THE R4INES BILL AND ITS AUTHOR.

The most astonishing thing about Senator
Raincs's statement concerning tho amount of
unlicensed li1uor-sclling in this city Is that ie
should so openly confess the defects III III"
LIQUOR Tax law which bears his name. lf he
is as shrcwd as is commonly believed. he must
have forcscen that the charges which he makes
against the police Of Ncw-Yor; for not enforcing
the law so rs to make it efficiently subserve its
ostcnsible purpose will only bring into plain
sight the loopholes which the law Itself provides
for It's own evasion: and IT was uncommonly
reckless of him thus To subject his own actions
and motives to scrutiny and raise the question
in the public mind as 10 how far these looplolcs
are due to accident and how far 10 deliberate In
tent
1t is undoubtedly true that the liquor business
is carried on here with greater freedom than
under the old law. But only stupidity. or
positive knowledge Of police corruption. which
there is not the slightest reason 10 suS
pect, could prompt laying the blame for this
free flow OF liquor on the police rather than
on the law. When the Ralnes bill went
into effect the police had been engaged in
a vigorous campaign for the enforcement OF the
old law. for the double purpose oi stopping an
illegal traffic and depryng individual members
of the force Of the chance tn levy blackmail
The new law WAS heradcd n one which gave
no opportunity for police corruption. II wa, 10
make saloonkeep,rs Independent Of both police
men and politicians. ncformcrs We're told that,
whatever else they nigh, object to. in this re-
spoct il demanded their favor. II that claim
was we'll founded. the police have had no weapon
Of blackma and any dealer who has paid
tribute has been silly. II the police have been
able to practise cxtoriIon. then the rcformcrs
were fooled by the projectors Of the law.
At first. /, will be remembered. the police made
dilgcnt efforts to enforce The Kanes law rgdly
the lines laid down by it, author They tried
10 stop the Sunday traffic: they arrested bona
fdc hotckecpcrs for selling drinks with sand
wiches: they compelled the "Rancs law hotels
to prove their right 10 hotel licenses: they at
tempted 10 make respectable clubs take out IL
ccnscs, and recognized only under compulslon
the legality Of the fake" clubs which have
sprung up in great numbers 10 cvadc the
law. 1t not the Police Department that
made the law which the courts have held could
not he used to stop the liquor traffic in the cases
mentioned II was not the Police Department
that failed TO define hotel. as 10 prevent
any saloonkccpcr from turning his place into
one. 1t was not the Police Department which
left the judges to decide that meal might con
sist Of a sandwich or Il sausage, as well as of
soup fish, meat and vegetables. That law was
drafted by Mr. Rancs was passed by the Lcgis
laurc. has been interpreted by the courts. and
is administered by special body Of officials Of
It's own creation If there exist in NrwYork
City thousands Of liquor-shops which cvad
Ing the law, the fault lies with law loosely
drawn as TO invite evasion. If thousands Of
places exist, as Mr. Raincs charges, without
license in violation Of the law the fault lies
with the excise inspectors as much as with the
police These subordinatcs Of Commissioner I.y-
man were created with the avowcd purpose Of
executing the law and taking It's enforcement
out Of the hands Of the police. They have every
opportunity to discover violations and to demand
the payment Of The tax In charging tla, the
law Is violated at wholesale Senator H.: ncs is
indcting the excise machinery established by
himself
The assertion Of Senator Ranes that there
are between 1000 and 300 unlicensed places
in and near this city which are subject to tax
under the law as interpreted by the courts-that
is. that there are so many ''violatons. not eva
sions-is either true false. His assertion that
this is due to ''polce or some other protection"
is also either true or false. He must prove his
statements. or stand convicted of falsehood. II
he proves the first statement he will prove his
Excise Department a failure. If he proves pO-
lice protection he will show that the talk Of TAX
ing the saloon from the field of eXtortion was
all pretence. II hc finds "s0ne other prOtec-
tion' he is more than likely to show that the
bill was drawn for other purposes than appeared
on It's face. and was intended TO offer oppOruni-
ties for "Other protection than local police can
give. If he proves none of his assertions he will
convict himself of libcling public officials to
divert attention from the accidental or intended
defects of his work. He cannot stop at this
point.