Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-03-06
MOON HAS A BILL
TO LIMIT SALOONS
IF PROPOSED MEASURE SHOULD
BECOME A LAW 1T WILL CLOSE
TWO HUNDRED LIQUOR HOUSES
IN IOWA CITIES.
pes Moines Bureau Of
The Ottumwa Courier.

81
The senate passed after two days OF
debate the Cosson bill to provide 4
way for the removal by courts OF OIL
GERS who wilfully refuse or neglect
to enforce the law. The bill was
amended SO as to require the names
of ten citizens to commence actlou.
The vote on the bill was "a to IL.
Health Board Scrap on Again.
The house put in an hour quarrellng
with an alleged interview in local
newspaper in which Secretary Tho1l-
ms of the state board of health was
quoted as disputing some of the state
ments made by a house member IN u
previous personal attack upon him.
Miller. Moore, Jewell and others took
occasion as a matter of personal prlvl-
lege to denounce Secretary Thomas
and to denounce the printed state
ments credited to him as false.
Commission Bill Out.
Representative Hacker secured rec
on1naendation Of the bill to apply the
commission plan of city goyernme II
to second class cities. and then offered
amendments to make it apply only to
cities of over 1000 population. The
bill was made a special order for a
day next week.
Another Cosson Bill Out.
Sadly shattered, but still bearing the
semblance of bill, the Cosson meas
.ure, which originally provided for the
reorganization of the attorney gen
erals office and for establishing the
Office. of state sheriff, was yesterday
voted out for passage by the senate
Judiciary committee, minus all the
references to the state sheriff and his
duties.
AS the bill now stands, it provides
that the attorney general may practice
in district courts and aid in the con-
duct of cases in which the county at
torneys are apparently not doing all
they should He is also directed to
furnish opinions to several state off
GERS and boards not provided for in
the original law on this subject. be
cause the offices affected were not in
existence at the time of the framing
of the statute now in effect.
~ is not thought that any opposi
ton will develop to this measuse in
its present form. though there was
much objection to it's provision for a
state sheriff, whose duties were stated
as those of law enforcement where To-
cal authorities were lax in that re
gard.
Senator Moons Saloon Bill.
Z, Senator Moon has prepared q bill
which aims to limit the number OF
liquor dispensaries in every city in TIL:
state. Senator Moon of Wapellc
county is the author of the bill, which
he will introduce in few days and
which makes simple little change Of
two or three words in the existing law
but will operate to close 200 or 30t
saloons in Iowa.
A maximum of one saloon to eact
1000 population, not counting the Gem
eteries, is the provision made In the
new bill, which would amend the law
authorizing city councils to grant per
mits to would-be saloon proprietors.
In Ottnmwa before the Sunday wave
struck, there were some thirty or thir
ty-f1ve saloons, but Ottumwa claims
only about $4,000 population, ant
some people could be found who
wouldn't swear that those figures are
with about 10000 population, the lates
sCOullC SultS IudI SdlOOl 1lSI w III
more than twice that many names Ii
Council Bluffs, where there are abou
10000 souls, there are about sixty sa
looms. Des Moines has probably
100000 population and about 1Ot
saloons and would be affected very lit
BE by the proposed legislation.
The objection has been made to Sen
Rtor Moon thinks the better class O
that it is unconstitutional, but tn,
Wapello county legislator denies thi
and declares that the law authorizin,
councils to grant permits can b,
amended legally and safely to include
the provision he wants to make.
Just how much opposition to th,
plan will come from the river cities il
question hard to answer, but Sen
htor Moon thinks the better class o
saloon men will welcome the bill as
means of forestalling more stringen
laws resulting from the abuse of tn,
{Continued on page 10.)