The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1909-03-30
THE SALOONS TRIUMPH /
NEW ORLEANS.

THE SALOONS TRIUMPH IN
NEW ORLEANS
At their sitting III New Orleans yes
tcrday the Supreme Court decided that
the Gay Shatt,,ck law is not retroactive
TO which Justice Land dissented Jus
t,cc Nichols announced that he was II
and will file his dissent or concurrence
later.
The full text of the opinion by Jus
tice Monroe. in which Chief Justice
Breaf,x and Justice Provostv concur
is too lengthy for publication III the
Caucasian. In substance it maintains
the contention of the attorneys for the
first class saloons of New Orleans that
the Gay Shattuck law is not retroactive
and that the existing saloons are not
required to obtain permits TO do bust
ness for the opening or conducting OF
bar rooms
The cases upon which this decision
was reached are those of Theodore
Of +. S. Ernest, president of the Bos-
ton Club The states contention was
that the license of the saloon expired
at the end of the year, December 81.
1908, and TO continue to do business a
permit must be obtained by the saloon
on January I, 1909. The State also CON
tended that saloon or club within
three hundred feet of church or school
could not be operated as it was in con
travention Of the law. On this point
there is no decision by the Supreme
Court As to the requirement of per
NIT, the ruling is that the law is not re-
troactive. and not being retroactive, the
saloon man who was doing business up
to December 81, 1908. can continue to
keep his bar room open without the re-
quirement of the application for a per
init as is stipulated in the law.
The meaning or application of retro
activt is indefinite. Retroactive law
or statute" as defined in Wtbster's I'M
abridged is zone which operates to af-
feet; may be criminal or punishable
act, done prior to the passing of law. y
To the layman the Interpretation of
Webster's definition is plain. and as ap-
piled to the saloons of New Orleans
would be interpreted to mean that a
saloon man could not be held for any
infraction of law which was not ope-
rative in 1908. but he must be required
to conform to the law which becomes
effective on January 1, 1909.
To say the least, the laymen who are
always ready to stand by the law and
vindicate the courts and justice. are at
= loss to grasp and to understand rul-
ings which seem singular and inconsist-
ent with reasonable common sense.
At any rate the decision is being
viewed as triumph of the saloons in
New Orleans and will be SO heralded by
the liquor traffic and their allies.
So be it.
At any rate the probitionists, or bet
ter still, the citizens of Louisiana who
are neither puritanical nor sectarian in
their actions and their views but who
believe in the equity of the law, will not
fail to register in time their decided
opinion on an issue which can
not be minimized or sidetracked. In
palmer words, the issue is being dis
tinctly drawn throughout the, State
between the class who favor the
saloon and the liquor traffic who
would dominate the State, and their
opponents among whose number are
ranked the men who while not radical
will never permit if they can the domi-
nation of the State, as is New Orleans,
by the liquor element who would defy
all men and Providence itself, in their
traffic in intoxicants
As yet we have not had for perusal
the dissenting opinion of Justice Land,
but we may observe respectfully that the
decision of the Supreme Court in its
view Of the law Interpretation of re-
troactive viii strengthen the cause of
prohibition materially, and will rally to
the side of Statewide prohibition men by
the thousands throughout the State who
nre f>0n eervo As,,o md 1a,.,ah:d:,,r