The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1898-03-25
Hearing Given at the State
House Today.
LIMITING OF LICENSES.
o pposed in an Argument BY Ex-
Attorney General Dubois.
JUDGE BLoDGETT's REMARKS.

The judiciary committee Of the Senate
gave another hearing this morning In
the state library upon tLeact in amend
ment of and In addition To chapter 'os
OF the General Laws. entitled "Of the
suppression of int<mperance.
Prior to rsmarks being made, the clerk
Of the COMMITTEES read three bills, all OF
which have . bearing upon the question,
and these are an amendment Of section
20 chapter 2S5. ''of proceedings In crimi'
nal oasss" an act to give the Appellate
Division Of the Supreme Court authority
% ahats Q nuisance, and an act In addi-
tion 20 section z, chapter los, General
lava
Chairman Freeman then called upon
those who were opposed to the at in
amendmsnt Of chapter l0a, and the prin-
cipsl speaker was ex-Attorney General
Dubois, who said that in speaking for
those who favored license law and were
opposed to prohibition, he desired to say
that with few exceptions. he considered
the bill q 1oud one. Mr. Dubois then re-
viewed the condition of affairs as they
existed undar tho regime OF prohibition.
claiming that 1t wGs farce, because II
was an attempt to interiors with the
freedom OF Thought. lie desired To know
wro ID Was desired this amendment. He
could Ind no petition ASKING for Ia, but
there must be some putative fatner.
While Il il claimed that the act Is non
political and Is In the interest OF temper
ance. and not Of prohibition. Mr.. Dubois
claimed that IL would very probably be-
<~<ss~sa = vnoiiticaI naagnra and WOIllQ
verge into the interest of prohibition.
He then said that the only objections
ne ha0 TO ofitr were, first, TO section Z,
that Ii that Dostion of it which referred
TO the number Of licensss to be granted,
the section pravlding that the number OF
-of the state snail net exesed enc license 10
svery 500 Of the population Of such city or
town the number to be neCertianed by tho
last sensus. 1hs other objection was tn
seotiun 8. which provided for the increasa
Of tho license fees for Wholesale and re-
tall liquor licenses Mr.. Dubois claimed
that Ii the bill became law one out OF
every four liquor dealers In Providence,
NO matter how good his conduct has
been, must drop out of business, without
any compensation, for th0 number Of IL
c8nses would drop from 4u0 to 200. Many
csses of individual hardship would prob
ably OCCUR under such law, particularly
money In their business which 10 protect
ed bv the laws Of tbs state On what ba-
els shall tho selection be made, and is it
not likely that political preference will
b exsrted TO keep men In their businessf
Why are only liquor dealers chosen to
be 90 dealt With Why not the oruR-
gists. the pawn broke tho auctioneers.
the uudsrtakers and Others who come
under city and state jurisdiction?
Mr.. dubois believed that such state
OF Affairs would te very liable to bring
eeout upon the part OF number OF peo-
"a bar rooms. as they are called. PEOPLE
10 not like any int-rference with their
liberty Of Rction, Cud laws should be
made % THAI ttey can be more easily
obeyed than disobsyei. Tbs Increase OF
the license fees. ~ provided by the bill,
u probably rnAJe In viaw of ire rod uction
OF the numbrr OF licer ses, and. as ones.
liou OF revenue, this 10 col rect. But he
believed that ths increase OF the fees
vould to an unwise thing, for it would
have q tepdencv to lead to violation OF
the Law, hypocrisy, perjury and crime.
He did not telieve that tne passage OF the
bill would bs for the good OF the whole,
woulc not te tor tho berefit OF the state,
and would have tendency To bring
ahout much that existed during the ara
II prohibition.
hon. y. w. Hlndgett OF Pawtucket
said that ne had te-n informed that the
present law was good ore. ard was
! einR generally legally observed. The
oAisctiou To the- iil-uadGr- discussion
wss. according to persons who were In u
position o. know, that lite rrov sloDs
sould not be enforced. and our experien-
res In this state and In Massachusetts
I've ont this sister, cnr. No law In re-
gard to the liquor tram, hss resn thor
oughiy -etisias losy. BAT the prescott .aw
IL ertsinls thu bost of any 40 far snact-
CO. High lite-ss fees and The reduc''on
OF jsensss would aptea In theory to b
solution Of the problem. but, ~ n nua art
~ fact high license haso practicailv
proved everywhere to be ~ failure. Axto
the number OF ltenses that will te rsfu-
lated bv tie irrspssiable Law OF econ om-
icA vi i,h forbids man going into
business upless he knows that he can
make living. he did net lelisve that
ths proposed bill was wise reasure.
but everything that would make the sx-
isting law mure perfect he heartily up
proved.