The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-03-02

I cided that he was a fit and suitable
 person to hold a license and granted | the same.
 | If the distinction between the oath as related on the application blank | and the statute had been discovered earlier it would have undoubtedly af-
 fected the Robert Weber, Alexander Poland and other cases which were
 The action against the Weber case caused Steep1echase Island to go dry for two weeks, pending application for a new license.
 The oath on the application blanks is as follows:
 CT, -, on oath do depose and say that the business to be carried on un- der the said license is to be conducted by myself, as the bona f1de owner of said license and of the business there under conducted, and that no person who is disqualified to receive such H- cense by any of the laws of this State. has or shall have any financial or oth- CT interest direct or indirect, either as partner, agent, employee or otherwise, in said business, that I am not my self disqualified to receive such license by any of the laws of this State, and
 that there is - license now at said place, that the place where such busi-
 ness is to be carried on has no means
 of access to any part of the same
 building used or occupied as a dwelling or lodging house, and is so located and arranged as to enable me to conform to the provisions of the Screen law in
 regard to having a full and unob-
 structed view of my bar and interior
 from the main entrance or side walk
 adjacent thereto, and also of the stat
 ute prohibiting booths, side rooms and
 retiring roomS.'
 Section g. Chapter 265 of the General Statutes CThe O'Brien 1aw) reads as follows: Before issuing the license
 the county commissioners shall require
 each applicant to make oath that he
 is the bora fide owner of the business and that no person unsuitable to hold a license to sell spirituous and intoxi- eating liquors is in anyway interested in the business.v
 Attorney Greerrstein in his demurrer in the Izzo case contended that under the statutes the word 'tunsuitable'' is used for the express purpose of giv- ing the county commissioners discre- tionary powers to grant licenses, while the present oath as administered by the commissioners, deprives them of this discretionary power and also in flictS upon the applicant more Strin- gent qualifications to sell liquor than are actually demanded by the law of the state.
 Under the oath as administered by the county commissioners the appli- cant must make oath that he is not disqualified to receive a license by any of the laws of this state.'' At torpey Greenstein contends that the word sdisQualified' can and only means one thing any violation of any laws of the state while the statute using the word -'unsuita ble' is much broader in its effect as it enables the county commissioners to grant a li- cense to an applicant who may have violated the laws of our state. but whom in the opinion of the county commissioners is a suitable person..
 Attorney Greenstein also contended in his demurrer that the statute, as it now reads, prevents one who has never before been in the liquor busi- ness from going into it. He bases his claim on the fact that the oath in the O'Brien law is written in the present tense, namely that the appli- cant must swear that he is the bona fide owner of the business when as a matter of fact he has never been en- gagged in the liquor business before. He says that a man cannot own a sa- loon until he has had a license but nevertheless he must make oath that he ''is'' the bonafide owner of a busi- ness which he never owned and can not own until he has license.