The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-01-07
Judges and Liquor Licenses.

The resolution which was recently
offered by Judge Woodward of Lu-
zerne before the state convention of
judges, and tabled because not ger
name to the conventions purpose, re-
cited that the duty of granting or re-
fusing licenses for the sale of liquor,
imposed by law upon the judges of the
courts of quarter sessions of this COM
monWealth, is non-judicial, burden
some and offensive, tending to bring
the judicial office into disrepute ard
to weaken the confidence of the people
in their courts For this reason the
legislature was petitioned to devise a
system better calculated to control
and regulate the liquor traffic.
Subsequently, as our readers doubt
less know, eX-Judge Thayer of Phila-
delphia, who recently retired from the
bench after thirty years of honorable
service, wrote to Judge Woodward
commencing him for his stand, add
ing: IF any excuse existed for a ju-
dicial convention in the wide world, it
would be found in a united and COM
mon effort of such a body to rid the
bench of this cancer, which is every
where in this state eating away the
confidence and respect of the people
in the judges" To a reporter for the
Philadelphia Ledger Judge Thayer
denies that he has overstated the gray
ity of the evils to the bench of the
present system of granting licenses.
That system he asserts, gives con-
slant rise to defamation Of judges
among the ignorant. They see a thou
sand men come before the court with
their applications for licenses, and in
the exercise of the power conferred
by the act they see the judges grant
licenses to some and refuse them to
others, though the men who are re-
fused may be just as good men and
as highly recommended as those who
are granted licenses, in some eases
better, ana they infer that the judges
We're influenced by improper motives,
because it is an arbitrary power that
reasons, as in the exercise of ordinary
judicial functions"
AS bearing upon this question it is
interesting, in view of conditions in
this section, to read the following
editorial expression by the Ledger:
The proposal to relieve the judges of
the duty of granting licenses is not one
which is likely to be received by the pub
lie with favor unless convincing reasons
for doing so are given. 1t has been
commonly recognized by those of the
greatest intelligence and probity that the
,,,tl,
partial and unprejudiCed in rendering its
decisions for and against applicants
it also has been perceived with almost gen.
eral satisfaction that the license court has
taken the liquor dealers out of politics,
that the interest they represent is no lon
ger an integral part of the political ma
chine, and, similarly, it has been noted
that under the present system great and
important Improvement has been effected
in the liquor traffic in the elevation of its
personnel and in the manner in which 1t
is conducted. The abuses of the old sys-
tenn have been largely removed; liquor is
not sold by licensed dealers, even by
stealth, on Sunday; it is no longer sold to
| boys; the sale of 1t Is refused to intoNi-
Gated persons; public houses are no longer
| disorderly brothels, and to secure a license
| 1t has been necessary for an applicant 10
| show that his own character and that of
| his house are respectable. The system has
Denented the dealers and the public These
| desirable conditions have prevailed in no.
| table degree ever since the judges Were
| empowered to grant or withhold licenses
under the present law.
But, adds the Ledger, ut should not
be questioned that it would be wiser
and better to sacrifice all the. advant-
ages gained in respect of the liuuor
traffic by and through clothing of the
| judges with power to grant licenses,
| rather than to sacrifice or to in any
| material degree impair the faith of the
community in the invincible integrity
and answering impartiality of our
courts, as they are the first and best
| found strongholds of our political and
| social institutions, and they should be
| invulnerably intrenched and main
tanned in the confidence of the people"
If our Philadelphia friends knew by
| personal experience just what kind of
a farce the present license system is in
the anthracite coal fields we wonder
| if they would be so little disposed as
| they now seem to be to hazard a few
changes in it's modus operandl.
THE corrupt use of money in the
control of elections hoth urinary nd