Los Angeles herald., 1909-04-07
LIQUOR LICENSE
PROBLEM TO BE
INVESTIGATED
CITY COUNCIL WILL TAKE IT
UP WITHOUT DELAY
HEWITT GIVES OUT STARTLING
OPINION ON TRANSFERS
Councilman Wren Proposes to Destroy
Monopoly Values by AboIishing
Limit Placed on Number
of Saloons

The whole question of liquor licenses
is to be threshed out by the council as
a committee of the whole. This COM
mittee may meet some time this week,
probably Friday to begin considera-
tion of the subject.
That they will be getting into deep
water when they attempt to revise the
LIQUOR ordinances the councilmen are
well aware, but that some such action
is necessary, and that Immediately,
they all agree.
Let us revise the ordinances and
then see that they are enforced was
the way President Pease put the mat
ter yesterday.
Councilman Wren is for taking the
limit off the number of saloons and
thus destroying the value of a license.
1t is a well known fact that when q
retail liquor dealer sells his business he
includes $4,000 or $4,000 for the license
itself, which is free gift to him from
the city. BY removing the limit on
the number of saloons Mr.. Wren and
other members of the council believe
this value will be taken away, or, If IL
should continue TO have any value, the
city can receive the money.
This matter of licenses was brought
up by City Attorney Hewitt, who pre-
scented a recommendation that the
council recognize club licenses and
fix the number of such licenses as may
be issued and the license fee to be paid
by clubs. Mr.. Hewitt declared that a
recent supreme court decision mad
given the city the right to license bona
fide social clubs and demand that they
pay license fee and submit to police
Inspection. He said there were a
number of places operating in Los An
geles under the name of clubs that
were really nothing but blinds for the
dispensation of liquor and that these
so-called clubs sold liquor without pay
ing one cent to the city III revenue. He
declared it was very difficult to secure
a conviction against this class of blind
pigs. but that the club license would
settle their cases. According to Mr..
Hewitt, some of the police officials es-
innate there are seventy-tive places of
this character in Los Angeles.
Says Transfers Are Illegal
In connection with his statements on
license matters, Mr.. Hewitt made one
that was most startling. He declared
the police commission had no legal
right to transfer liquor licenses from
one person to another. If this is the
law it has been violated by every police
commission that has existed since such
bodies have been a part Of the city
government. There is scarcely a week
that a transfer of license is not made
from one liquor dealer to another,
either wholesale, retail or restaurant.
These transfers are made on regular
forms that bear the words transfer OF
ownership from" They are referred to
the chief of police for investigation,
and on a favorable report from him the
police commission acts and grants the
transfer. If such an act is illegal, and
If such an illegal act invalidates the
ownership of the license, half the IL
censes held in Los Angeles are held
without title.
The statement that the police COM
mission had been acting illegally in the
matter of transferring licenses from
one person to another made the coun-
Gil sit up and take notice, and this
phase of the matter will be investi-
gated.
Another feature which Mr.. Wren be-
lieves needs remedying is the provis-
ion prohibiting wholesalers from SELL
ing in less quantities than one-ffth of
a gallon. He declared that many
liquors put up for the wholesale trade
and properly belonging to that branch
of the liquor business are in less
quantities than one-fifth of a gallon,
although they are in the original pack
ages