Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1906-01-26
gale LICENSE ATTACKED
|HINspALE CHURCH ASKS FOR IT'S
REVOCATION.
Question of Statutory Construction In
volved Understood that Commits
sloners viii Deny Petition and Mat
ter VIII Be Taken to Superior Court

ter VIII Be Taken to Superior Court
A petition has been filed with the
board of license commissioners, which
/ is signed by the trustees of the liins
dale Methodist Episcopal church and
which asks for the revocation of the
4 third.class license of Fred C., Gale
| says "A Concord, n. H., despatch to the
I Boston Herald under date of Jan. 2l
<The question involved is one of statu'
.tory construction ms to whether n H.
cense may be issued to be exercised IN
IA room or building located upon pri'
\ waite way adjacent to or within 200 feet
[of church,
II is understood that the board Of Ii
cense commissioners will probably deny
the prayer of the petition and the mat
ter will then be carried to the superior
\ court by petition for writ of GER
tiorari or other proper process. The
question will then probably be referred
to the superior court, there being moth
ing but a question of law involved.
This case, which will be the first
since the passage of the license law,
where an appeal has been taken from
ruling of the commission and is for
other reasons especially interesting, is
thus stated by the church trustees;
In 1903 and 1901 Fred c.. Gale had
second and third class licenses in the
north part of the town of Hinsdale on
the "island' in the Connecticut river,
lust across the bridge from Brattleboro,
VT. Brattleboro was license town and
freely used Vermont liquor from Brat
tleboro saloons and New Hampshire
liquor from Mr.. Gale barroom ON the
"island.
Mr.. Gales place was four or five
miles from HinsdaIe village, which was
well supplied with saloon privileges, so
that Mr.. Gale s custom was almost en-
tirely from Brattleboro.
As soon as Brattleboro voted no-li-
cense in March, 1905, the superintend-
ent of the New Hampshire No-License
league entered into correspondence
with some of the temperance people in
Brattleboro and then went to the New
Hampshire board of license commits
sioners and represented that in the
opinion of the Anti-Saloon league it
would be detrimental to the public well
fare to renew the license of Mr.. Gale
on the island for the year commencing
MAY l. 1905, so near the no-license
town of Brattleboro. The commits
sioners took the matter under consid-
Grafton and strong presentations, IA
vorable and adverse, were presented to
the commission. The commission decid-
ed that the continuance of a barroom
in that location would be detrimental
to the public welfare, "public well
fare' not being limited by state line.
Tremendous pressure was brought to
bear on the commissioners to secure the
license. but they stood firm in their
convictions as to what they believed
was right.
The Cheshire Express company filed
with the secretary of state letters of
incorporation to do express business
between Hinsdale, N. H., and Brattle-
boro. VT. Fred Gale applied for and re-
ceived a third-class license to do bust
ness in the village of Hinsdale. On the
books of the license commission in Con
cord Mr.. Gale S postoffice address is re-
corded as Brattleboro, VT. This is evil
IDENTIFY case of "interstate com
merce.
The Anti-Saloon league made inves-
tigation of two kitchen dives run in
Hinsdale and gave the cases to the
state and county officers, with the re-
suit that the guilty parties paid heavy
fines and costs and took Jail sentences,
and quit business.
The trustees of the Methodist Epis-
copal church in Hinsdale claim that
the room occupied by Mr.. Gale as sa-
loon. with thirdclass license, is less
than 200 feet from their church build
ing. and is therefore in violation of
the express terms of the statute. II
this claim is sustained, then the board
of license commissioners is in error IN
its construction of the law.
The board of trustees of the church
requested the advice and assistance of
the Anti-Saloon league in ascertaining
the proper construction of the statute
relating to the prohibition of licenses
within 200 feet of church and secur-
ing the proper exemption as to distance.
The Anti-Saloon league is a fedora
ton of churches against the saloon as
the enemy of the church. Such a fed
Grafton is necessary, for what one
church alone cannot do a federation OF
churches can do. The Anti-Saloon
league was in a position to take the
matter up a great deal more strongly
than the little Methodist church in
Hinsdale could alone, and presented
the case before the board OF license
commissioners by argument, protest,
appeal and request to have the condl-
lions changed. The board of commits
sioners gave assurance that the matter
of location had been carefully consld-
cred. and it had been decided that with
the shift of entrance the location was
in conformity with the requirements of
the law as construed by the board 1t
was thus discovered that there was
difference of opinion in the interpreta-
ton of the language of the statute.
The board was requested to ask the
|opinion of the encouragement and
grant the Anti-Saloon league the cour-
Itesy of being present and hearing the
statement of the case by the commls-
sion. and to give it permission to pre-
Esent the view of the situation taken by
the church. This request was also de-
MED.
The board of trustees of the church
then decided to carry the matter to
the court of last resort and again re-
q ested the assistance of the league.
he matter was presented to the
AM. saloon committee of the various
state UNCONVENTIONAL bodies, and pro-
tests and petitions from all of these
committees were filed with the com
mission, each committee presenting
the matter independently of the others,
,,ot +boro was unanimitv with all the