Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1907-12-28
Whisky Trust Was Anxious
to Drive Out Good
Element.
Marshall Bullitt Failed to Con-
troll General Council
This Time.
SQUANDERING PEPOLE'S MONEY

The lower board of the General
Council at it's meeting Saturday
night settled for at least six months
the question of higher license for
saloons in Louisville. The scenes of
wild disorder that marked the meet
ing on Friday night were duplicated
on the night following. 1t was a
fight of Marshall Bullitt, who draws
one salary as Chairman of the Board
of Public Safety and another as
attorney for the whisky trust. 1t
would seem that almost any man,
like Tom Moore, could be happy
with either, were the other dear
charmer away"
But Mr.. Bullitt is different. He
wants it all. He wants to dominate
the Mayor, distribute the patronage,
control the legislative branch of the
city government, control the license
board, run the Taft campaign and
act as attorney for the whisky trust,
But there is such a thing as having
too many irons in the fire.
Mr.. Bullitt's scheme to dominate
the General Council received a
severe setback Saturday night
when the ordinance to increase the
saloon license from $3.50 to $500 per
annum was defeated by a vote of
fourteen to ten. 1t might have been
killed absolutely, but the majority
decided to allow it to die a Slow
lingering death on the table. Several
members were cajoled with promises
of jobs for relatives and friends
When this failed Mr.. Bullitt threat
ened. He undertook to speak for
Judge j. Wheeler MCGEE as well as
himself, and announced that no more
saloon licenses would be granted until
the high license ordinance was
passed. The threat did not deter any
of the friends of the lower license
and they voted in solid phalanX for
what they deemed to be the best
interests of the city.
The move of Mr.. Bullitt and the
people behind him was not a reform
movement at all. 1t was aimed at
the poor and honest saloon keepers.
1t was planned to get rid of them,
but it meant protection for the dive
keepers, men who were growing rich
off their vile traffic. The ordinance
met it's just deserts in the Council.
But Mr.. Bullitt refuses to be
downed. He now hobs up as
champion of the Audit Company that
went over the books of the Louisville
Water Company and failed to find
anything wrong. When the auditing
of the Louisville Water Company's
books was completed several weeks
ago a bill for S21 900 was presented
to City Comptroller white. When
it was learned that the bill would
% 40 In
General Council it was hurriedly
Bullitt with the announcement that
the bill may run up to $4,000. How
long will the people stand for the
nerve of this modern Catiline?
Too much credit can not be given
the Councilmen who stood shoulder
to shoulder against Mr.. Bullitt and
his whisky trust clients. A steady
hand and clear heads will soon Ri
the city government of this I'M
fortunate pest.
Mayor Grinstead has not been
satisfied with the repeated defeats
of the high license measure and
called a meeting of the General
Council for Thursday. At the hour
of going to press the question has
not Deen deDnlUely sebtleu, Out Une
probability is that the high license
ordinance will become a law. If the
disreputable saloons and dives are
cut out the high license will not
work any very great hardship. The
dives should not he tolerated at all,
and it is to be hoped that the License
Board will refuse licenses to every
man who is unable to show a first
class record for probity. What the
people want. but what was not con-
sidered until within the past few
days, was saloons o. a better class.
With the bad ones cut out there will
be little opposition to an increased
license. This has been the Iasition
of the public, which up to Tuesday
has been ignored by the city admin
istration.