Evening capital., 1903-12-01
PROPOSED LEGISLATION.
Inaccuracies In The Election
And Liquor License Laws
To Be Remedied

Relief will be sought at the coming
session of the Legislature from an un-
| fortunate state of affairs which from
time to time has been occasioned by
| the faulty and inaccurate condition of
| the election and liquor license laws
affecting the city of Annapolis.
City Counsellor Riley and ex-City
Counsellor Claude have undertaken to
frame bill in regard to city elections
and Alderman John W. Martin states
that he will have q bill prepared to
state more clearly the conditions under
which licenses are to be issued. The
necessity of some law governing city
elections is we'll known.
The elections in Annapolis are not
controlled by one simple law but are
governed partly by provisions of the
city, partly by the general State law
and parts are left to be presumed. This
state of affairs has given rise to num-
erous misunderstanding and lawsuits.
In 1899, owing to the indefniteness of
the law, the Republican nominations
were not given "A place on the ballot
and the election was a walk-over for
the Democratic nominees.
The indefiniteness of the law was
the occasion of two more suits prior
to the last election, and there is trou-
BILE of some kind at nearly every elec-
tion. Messrs. Riley and Claude, who
are of different politics, believe that
the various laws on the subject can be
consolidated into one plain act, and
that trouble can be largely avoided in
the future. The accomplishment of
this object will be hailed with delight
by the average citizen who views with
disgust the attempts of the politicians
to reap personal advantage by rea-
son OF technicalities.
Almost as necessary reform is pro-
posed in connection with the law gov
erning the granting of liquor licenses.
BY that law the applications to sell
liquor must contain the signatures of
ten reputable tax payers, living or do
ing business in the vicinity of the
proposed place of business and who
have not signed another application
within the year. 1t is proposed to
make the law more definite by elimi-
mating the word vicinity" and ex-
actly stating from what part of the
town the signers must be obtained. 1t
is further proposed to make the law
clear as to the legal ability of signer
on one application to sign another
during the same year.
At the last meeting of the City
Council four members voted for an ap-
plication where q number of the sign
ers were nearly as far removed from
the proposed saloon as 1t was possible
to be and remain in the city limits
They stated that their reason for do
ing so that the word vicinity" was
SO indefinite that signers could be had
from all over town. Of course there
is nothing in this contention, because
the word plainly means to confine the
signers to the same section of the town,
but it is thought that no excuse will
be given for this stand If the law
states plainly the limits to which the
signers must be confined.
1t is also proposed to remedy part
of the liquor law which at the recent
meeting gave rise to some contention
The law states plainly that none who
has signed an application within the
year can sign another, yet the last
application contained the names of at
least half dozen who had so signed
1t was seriously argued that the re-
quirements of the law were met be-
cause the law states the signers must
certify that they have not signed an
other application for six months. This
latter provision plainly does not affect
the plain requirement making the
limit one year for each signer, as the
certificate is only required as an addi-
tional assurance and the law should
be carried out just the same if no
certificate at all were required.
Inasmuch as the point has been dis
puted simple legislative enactment
which would remedy the difficulty is
advisable.