The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1909-07-08
The Council and Licenses.

ASA InG COUNCIL anu A11CeuSeSs
fhe opinions of the lawyers differ
greatly as to the right of the city to
Force the payment Of the license money
before next Tuesday, but the saloon
men themselves settled the argument
by handing over the money without
making any complaints. Some of
Them believe that they have a claim
against the city for d rebate, but the
matter is too small to make much of
a fight over and they will all probably
E'let it 60 as it hes'' as one of them
expressed it. At the meeting of the
Council Monday evening when the APP
plications for licenses were under con-
sideration, contrary to general expecta-
lions, the debate was temperate and
good natured and the aldermen used
considerable Of that rare article, good
common sense, in the arguments which
came up in regard to some of the Ii
censes. By common consent all of the
aldermen adopted sort of q general
rule for handling all applications which
had been made in regular form accord
ing to law to the effect that where
Ghere were no objections from the peo-
pie in the neighborhood, the saloon
should be given a license and all but
-four of the applications were promptly
granted under this rule. And it is not
fair to say that this action was taken
because the saloon element is in con-
troll of the Council, either, for it is
certain that some of the aldermen who
are counted as most closely allied to
the saloon interests would have voted
against the granting of some of the
applications which went through with
out question had there been any pro-
test from the residents in the vicinity
of these saloons. In dealing with the
one protest and the three cases where
The right of the Council to grant any
licenses was challenged the Council GER
tainly showed disposition to let the
people decide for themselves whether
they wanted the saloons in their neigh
borhoods or not and that is Just the
right way to handle this matter.
Where there were no protests presented
the Council certainly had the right to
assume that there were no objections
TO the granting Of the licenses. In the
case of the saloon against which the
single protest presented to the Coun-
Gil was made, a license was granted
with the warning that it would be
promptly revoked the first time the
owner Of the place violated the law.
With regard to the granting of licenses
to the three saloons in the territory
recently annexed to the city it would
have been a very arbitrary proceeding
for the Council to refuse them Ii
censes in the face Of the petition in
Favor of the saloons signed by the
great majority of the residents in that
territory which was presented to the
Council. The people most concerned
apparently wanted the saloons and so
far as the Council was concerned they
could have them. There is, of course,
p question whether or not the Council
had any legal right under the state
law limiting the number of saloons on
the basis of population to grant these
licenses, but the action of the Council
IN no way interferes with the right of
any citizen to go into court and test
the matter, The members of the
Council are not the only ones who are
decidedly hazy in their knowledge of
the proper Interpretation of this law
and until the courts pass on it the
Council may be pardoned for deferring
to the wishes of the people who signed
the petition. It ahould be understood
that the granting Of these licenses does
not add the newly annexed territory
to the saloon district. We have had
plenty of evidence that there are many
people in the city who are, not entirely
satisfied with the action taken by the
Council on all of the applications, but
in the absence of any protests it is
difficult to see how any different action
could have been taken in the great
majority of cases.