The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-04-18
JUDGE ORR RENDERS A DECISION
THAT LEAVES THEM In
THE AIR.
THE TRANSFER OF-LICENSES
PLACES THE MAN WHO SETTLES
WITH THEE CITY AT A DIS
ADVANTAGE.
RELIES ON THE WORD AND HONOR
Of the Man for Whom the Favor Is
Secured-NO Legal Grip on
Him.

An important decision affecting near
ly all Of the saloonkeepers and brew
ers In the city was rendered by Judge
Orr, in the municipal court, yesterday
afternoon, when the case against Au-
gust Kroening, accused Of selling
liquor without license, was dismiss
ed. The case relates to the transfer
of saloon licenses, and as announced
by Judge Orr, practically prohibits any
such transfer and renders Illegal
those made under conditions which OBJ
tanned in the Kroening case. The scope
of the decision is almost limitless, as
the process employed in the case decid-
ed Is that in general use among the
brewers, who procure licenses for in
dividual saloonkeepers and are repaid
on the installment plan.
The facts in the case as stipulated
before the court were as follows:
That the above named defendant august
kroening) was the 14th day of January,
1897, duly licensed by the city of st. Paul to
sell Intoxicating liquors in said city, in the
front room, first floor in the building known
and designated as No. 1876 Edmund STREET in
said city, for the period of one year, ending
That said license was duly delivered to said
defendant and that thereafter the said defend
ant duly delivered the same to Hamm Brew
ing company, and assigned the same by writ
Ing upon the back thereof the following words
st. Paul, -, 189- for value received,
---- hereby sells and assigns To- all
- right to and interest in the within Ii
oense, No. -, to sell Intoxicating liquors.
That thereafter the said ffamm Brewing
company duly filed in the said blanks left in
the said assignment on said license SO that
the same read Esf
St. Paul, March 4, 1S97-For value received
hereby sell and assign to Paul Grimm all my
right to and interest in the within license, No.
90, to sell Intoxicating liquors.
41 F2 .+ August Koening.
And said Hamm Brewing company deliv-
cred said license to said Paul Grimm on said
4th day of March, 1897. EEg4
That thereafter said Paul Grimm filed said
license in the Office of the city clerk of the
city of st. Paul, and the said license was
thereupon transferred by said city clerk of the
said city of st. Paul from said August Kroe-
ming to said Paul Grimm on the 18th day Of
March, 1897
That the said August Kroening does not re-
ceive any compensation from him or from any
other person for the transfer of said license
to said Paul Grimm.
AS soon as the transfer was made as
above stated, the matter was taken be-
fore the city council, which body con-
firmed the transaction, and Grimm i'm
mediately began doing business under
It's provisions. Kroening, however, also
continued his former saloon business
at 1876 Edmund street, and was short
ly after arrested on complaint of the
license inspector on the charge Of sell
ing liquor without license. AS a de-
Tense, Kroening claimed that he stood
ready to pay the $50 a week agreed
upon by him and the brewing company
when the license was taken out in his
name, and that by virtue of this fact
he could not be deprived of the privi-
leges under It, 1t made no difference,
Kroening claimed, whether OF not he
used the beer made by the brewer who
had advanced the money for the
license, as the privilege to sell liquor
was granted to him personally by the
common council, and not having been
revoked by that body, was personal to
himself. In rendering the decision
Judge Orr said:
1.-The statute does not authorize the
transfer of a license and such trans
fer, or ratification of it's transfer or as
signment by the council would confer
no power to sell liquor upon the trans
fierce. This being the case, no action
having been taken by the council to
annul or revoke the license granted
to Kroening, his authority to sell liquor
remains unimpaired. The sales made
by him, subsequent to the so-called
transfer, were lawful, and such being
the case it becomes necessary to order
the defendants discharge"
AS there are nearly 200 saloon IL
censes issued annually in ST. Paul I'M
der the same conditions as in the case
decided by Judge Orr, it is apparent
that the decision is of more than ordi-
nary importance. 1t is the custom for
the brewer to pay for the license for
saloOnkeepers in a lump with the I'M
derstanding that the retail dealers will
pay back the money at a stipulated
Kroening case. a part of the agree
ment is that the saloonkeeper shall
dispense only the products of the
brewer so procuring the license, or at
least only certain proportion of other
makes of beer. Under the decision 1t
will be seen that the brewers are to
a certain extent at the mercy of the
saloonkeepers thus provided with
licenses as they may or may not, as
they see fit, sell a particular make OF
beer or procure that of any brewer
whatever.
With this construction Of the decision
it will involve the 100000 loaned sa-
loonkeeperS by the brewers, giving the
latter no alternative in case of default
of the weekly payment or the failure to
use specified make of beer, other than
to procure the annullment of the IL
cense in question. This only gives rise
to a far more disagreeable contingency
for the brewers, as, it is claimed, that,
should the council revoke license, ii
will have no power to refund any part
of the money advanced for the same,
though the license may have been
rendered void and not be in effect at
any time before it expires.
In Kroening's case he refused to
handle the Hamm beer, contending that
the contract which he had signed to
do so, was of no effect, as it was made
operative only by blank transfer
giving the brewer the power to trans
fer the license sto any other person, a
power which It was claimed did not
even belong to the council itself. AS he
was perfectly willing to pay the weekly
installments upon the license, Kroen-
ing claimed that the brewing company
could not transfer the license to Grim
son.