Evening star., 1897-01-22
Hearing Before the Senate Subcom-
mittee on the Measure.
ARGUMENT FOR THE LIQUOR DEALERS
Major Butterworth Speaks for the
Brewers.
NJ r. c. n FIELDS EPLY

The hearing on the Morse bill before the
Senate subcommittee continued yesterday
afternoon until 4:3O o'clock, and at the
time Tie Stars report closed ex-Represen-
tative George c. HaZieton was beginning
his argument for the liquor dealers He
spoke in detail against the various amend
hhents and said that the present law Is
about the best which can be placed on the
statute books There will never come a
time" he said, when there will not be dis
satisfaction with existing laws to regula tc
the sale of whisky. The new law, he said
involves radical changes which are of no
benefit. He characterized as a fatal defect
the proposition to grant an appeal from the
beard of assessors.
The anti-saloon men were on their met
tie during the arguments, and injected
many pointed questions for MIR. Hazleton to
answer They followed the same course
during the speech of Maj. Ben. Butterworth
and showed a thorough knowledge of the
liquor laws in the various states of the
country.
Before Mr.. Hazleton concluded he rasped
with more tnan usual severity the part of
the new law which makes it necessary for
the district attorney to prosecute on the
Information of any two witnesses. He said
that it was not even proposed that these
witnesses should be reputable people, but
that the most unreliable and disreputabl
people had 1t in their power to force
prosecution on any pretext. They could do
SO with malice, but 1t was mandatory on
the prosecuting officer to take action He
knew of no law " hich did not allow a pros
ecuting attorney discretion. Calling atten-
ton to the proposition for removing
screens Mr.. Hazleton said that If the SELL
lnS OF whisky was such a disgrace he did
not think it proper that children and
grown people going along the streets should
see the evils talked about
Mr.. JOrslnn for the Liquor Dealer.
Edward l.. Jordan, president of the
Liquor Dealers Association, said that he
didEt have time to go into the question
seriatlm, but wanted to comment on sew
eral features Of the proposed new law
one Of these was that requiring saloon
men to annually secure signatures. He
spoke OF this as a hardship, and intima ted
that II was corrupting to the morals of
people who were annually called upon to
sign petitions. He intimated that saloon
nen frequently have to put up money to
secure these signatures. Besides this, pres
ents have To- be frequently made. Saloon
men, he SAID. were afraid to collect bills
from neighbors because of the danger of
opposition to their petitions when the time
arrived License had to be secured in
November and 1t was often necessary for
saloon man to begin work on his peti-
tions in July. He had had his petitions
travel all over Europe and Asia in search
of property owners.
Asked by Senator Faulkner what obiec-
tion he had to screens. he said that per
sonaily he had no objection, as he believed
In the utmost publicity. He said, however
that many saloon men have provided them
selves with ornamental screens at large
cost. 1t would be wrong to require them
TO remove these.
Rev. Walter Brooks mentioned the law
forbdding the sale of liquor to habtuaI
urunkards and to men under the influ-
ence of liquor. and asked If the screens
were taken away. wouldn't the violation
OF this law be more easily observable?
Mr. Jordan answered that he did not
think SO, and said the inspector was con-
tinually dropping in OH the saloon men
to watch for violations.
"One Inspector" sarcastically asked Mr.
Brooks, to which Mr. Jordan answered by
saying that he ran respectable place
which he was satisfied some of the anti
saloon people were aware of. as he had
seen some of their faces in his place. This
produced laughter. The anti-saloon men
wanted Mr.. Jordan to name the visitors,
but he did not do so.
Maj. Butterworth for the Brewers
Major Butterworth said he appeared for
the Brewers Association. He began by
saying that an impractical coed Is worse
than a moderately bad thing. He said the
new law pretended to regulate the whisky
business. when its intention was to de-
stroy it. These positions were irreconcil-
able. Majcr ButterWorth took up the prop
ositions separately. discussing each one
He particularly objected to the brewers
being placed In the same category with re-
tail dealers He dld not believe in taxing
a man for business which he didn't
carry on. He also urged the Injustice as
ne explained, OF requiring brewers to close