The true northerner., 1899-11-15
THE LOCAL OPTION Law.
our IONS AS To THE PRESENT STATUS OF
VAN BUREN coUNTY's LIQUOR LAW.

f@t VAN BUhEN LiQtOh LAW
So much concern is manifested in re-
gard to the status of the local option law
i'm Van Buren, county and so much misn-
formation has beenpublished concerning
it that brief outline of the matter may
not prove uninteresting to the readers of
this paper.
In the first place, it is not true, as has
been stated, that the Humphrey bill $50
called) was solely an amendment reguat-
ing the sale of liquor 10y druggists, al
though that is one feature of the amend
ed law.
The law amends sections one, two,
three, five, six, eight, nine, thirteen, four
teen, fifteen and sixteen of the local OPP
ton law, repeals section seven and adds
a new section to stand as section twenty
five. The principal amendments are as
follows:
The amendment to section three in
creases the number of petitioners re-
quired to bring the question To a vote of
the people from one-fourth to TO one
third of the electors as shown by the
poll list or return and canvass of the
last preceding general election for state
officers; but, by some strange oversight,
section four, which contains the follow
ing clause: ITO enable the county clerk
to ascertain that the petitioners 4 X
constitute at least One:toetrM of all the
electors of such county" ETC., was left
unamended.
Section five requires the petitions to
be laid before the board of supervisors
at the next regular or adjourned session,
instead of special session called for
that purpose.
Section six requires the question to be
| submitted at the next annual township
meeting instead of at specially called
election.
Section seven, which was repealed pro-
vided for giving notice of the time and
place at which special elections should
be held.
Section eight changes the form of bal
lot to be used and provides that the
board of election commissioners, instead
of the county clerk, shall procure such
ballots.
Section fifteen legalizes the sale of
wine or cider from home grown fruits in
quantities of not less than five gallons.
Section sixteen provides that parties
convicted of a first offense under the law
shall be punished by fine dld imprison-
ment, instead of by fine or Imprisonment
as in the original act; but, under the rules
of construction provided by statute and
established by decision of the supreme
court, this is, probably, of no cOnse
quence. The court would have discre-
tion to impose fine or Imprisonment,
either or both, regardless of whether the
| legislature said "and" or cor"
The other amendments are of formal
character, or provide for punishment for
violation of section twenty five, which is
the section req uiring druggists to make
sworn weekly reports of all sales of liquor,
to the prosecuting attorney.
There are two questions in regard to the
law, that the supreme court will have to
pass upon, before the people of this coun-
ty will know where they are at on the
| liquor question.
First, and most important, is the law
still in effect in Van Buren, county, or
have the various amendments so changed
the statute that it requires resubmission
before it can be operative? AS the law,
unlike the general laws of the state, de-
rives its sole validity from vote of the
people, can the law remain operative
by virtue of a vote that gave effect to the
original law, different in many of its fea-
lures from the amended law?
Should this question be decided in the
negative, that would end the matter; but
if decided affirmatively, there would re
main the question of the validity of sec
tion twenty-five, the druggist section,
which is entirely new legislation and
which has never been submitted to vote
of the people.
These are important questions and by
no means free from doubt. Mr.. Chandler,
the prosecuting attorney, has recently
been at Lansing for the purpose of con-
sulting authorities in reference to them,
but was unable to find anything that
seemed to have direct bearing on the
matter.
There are cases on the present calen-
dar of the circuit court that may be used
to obtain a speedy solution of these inn
portant questions.
Grain-Ol Grain-O!