The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1909-01-02
INN KEEPERS LICENSE
To Permit 5ona-Fde Hotels to Sell to
Guests in No License Towns

Guests in No License Towns
The following is from the Bellows
Falls Times
Leading hotel men in Vermont have
drafted a bill which is now with the
Joint committee on temperance. The
Legislature is asked to provide for an
eighth class license. The bill fol
lows:
Sec. J. Secion 5l2S of the Public
Statutes is hereby amended by adding
eighth Classic sell intoxicating
liquors to be drunk on the premises
lee not less than 500 nor more than
$500.
Sec. 2. In non-license towns. In
a town having voted no-license the
selectmen of said town shall grant an
eighth class license to inn keepers on
petition OF 10 per cent of the legal vo-
ters OF the town whose names appear
ed on the last official check list.
Sec g. Said eighth class license
shall authorize the licensee to serve
Intoxicating liquors TO guests who
have resorted to his inn for food and
lodging and who are not residents OF
the town Said liquors shall not be
served in the hotel Office or in the
public parlOrs of the hotel nor shall
they be served over a bar.
Sec. T. An inn or hotel within the
meaning OF this act is hereby defined
10 be a place Of public resort furnish
ing food or lodging to permanent OF
transient guests and having not less
than Is rooms furnished for the &C
commodation Of guests.
Sec ). In all matters relating Ia
this eighth class license the board oil
selectmen shall have the power and
authority which we vested by this
chapter in a board of license commits
sioners.
Sec. 6.-This act shall take efeci
from its passage
This bill appeals to the Times as s
measure that ought to pass and FOL
several reasons One is that granting
such a license is no more than justice
10 the hotel men Of the state. The
will never make much money from
the direct sale of liquors because tn,
sales will not be large enough. Theil
principal gain will come in being ably
10 legally supply the requests of then
guests who are stopping in town anC
keeping them pleased and satisfied
No bar is to be maintained and sale:
cannot be made to residents Of the
town even though they are guests o.
the house. The license is issued only
on the petition of 10 per cent Of the
voters of the town and the selectmeT
have the power to revoke If the licen
see violates the conditions of the il
cense. There is but little opportuni
ty to conduct saloon business undel
the shadow of such license, even /
the hotel man were so disposed.
Another good reason for the pas
sage of the bill is that it ought t
prove temperance measure. UndeI
the existing law hotel men are stroni
factors on the license side in the an
nual contest between license and no
license. With this eighth class Ii
cense possible hotel men are going 4
keep out of the fight and the licens'
side will be greatly weakened. II thu
two hotels here in Bellows Falls re
main neutral there is little prospec
that the town will ever go for license
again. The same conditions obtaiI
in other towns.
The situation in a nutshell is thts
The eighth class license will not iii
lure the cause of temperance in tn,
towns that never vote yes, and II will
help the cause of no-license mightil,
in the close towns of the state. Thi
bill is one that the legislature ough
to give thoughtful consideration.