Los Angeles herald., 1910-01-06
Licenses of Many Saloons
in Danger of Forfeiture
POWER
TO BE ABOLISHED
TOPHAM'S CRUSADE BEGINS TO
BEAR FRUIT
Police Commission Summons Holders
of Permits Who Are Believed
to Be Acting for Maier
Company
m HRoUGH the efforts of the police

TN HROUGH the efforts of the police
commission to divorce the Saloons
II from the breweries, one saloon
went out of business last night and
nine others are in serious jeopardy.
The holders of the permits for these
nine saloons have been cited to appear
before the police commission at a
special meeting next Wednesday night
and show why their permits should
not be revoked If the facts are as
presented by Commissioner John Top
ham after a careful investigation, the
police commission is convinced that the
holders of these permits will not be
able to give a good reason why they
should continue to hold these permits.
Those cited to appear are alleged
to be mere dummies for the MaIer
Brewing company and to hold the per-
mits for these saloons in their names
only as trustees.
The first person to feel the heavy
hand of the commission in this cleanup
process was A. II. Topper. Topper
owns a saloon at 456 Central avenue,
but no license has ever been issued
for a saloon at that place, and in fact,
Topper had no license at all. Techni-
uor store without any permit.
The license under which he operated
bore the name of T. P. Roberts, the
outside man for the Meier bravery
and the address on the license was
430 Central avenue.
This state of affairs had been re-
ported to the police commission about
two weeks 1go- by F. H. Hahn, for
Outside" man for the Maier brewery
but who resigned because he said he
could not countenance his employers
methods.
When the commission learned of
this condition T. P. Roberts was cited
to appear and show cause why his
permit for 430 Central avenue should
not be revoked.
Appears with Attorney
Mr.. Roberts did not appear last night
in answer to the citation, but Mr. Tep-
per, a much more interested person,
did appear, with Walter Haas as his
attorney, Mr.. Haas told the police
commission that Topper was the real
owner of the stock and good will of
the saloon in question, but the fixtures
were owned by the Maier brewery and
rented by Topper. He said that Tep-
per was financially able to take over
the fixtures but did not intend to do
so as he expected to move the saloon
to 430 Central avenue, the place .ro.
which the license had been issued. The
license was secured for this number
because it was expected the saloon
would be established there, but Topper
had been waiting to see if the South
ern Pacific wanted the property at
430 Central avenue for depot pur-
poses before moving his place.
In letter to the nOlipn comm l. sion
Mr.. Roberts gave his consent to the
cancellation of the permit at 430 Cen
trail avenue and Mr.. Topper asked
that. permit be given him for ass
Central avenue. The commission lost
no time in canceling the permit, but
when Mr.. Haas asked that his client
be granted permit at 456 Central
avenue he was told that the applica-
ton would have to take its regular
course and be referred to the chief for
investigation. The mayor let it be
grant the license anyhow.
But the commission does not propose
to be arbitrary in the matter of grant
ing permits to the real owners of sa-
looms after revoking permits held for
the same places by agents of the brew
cries, as was shown when Casey and
OConnor We're granted a permit for
the saloon at 1866 North Main street
The permit for this saloon was held
by f. H. Hahn while he was an en-
ploye of the brewery and when he left
the brewery's employ one of the first
things he did was to ask that the
commission revoke the permit standing
in his name. The commission acted
on his suggestion. The place was ac-
tually owned by Casey & O'Connor,
and when they applied for the permit
in their own names last night and told
the commission they would be abso-
lutely free from any brewery influence,
it was granted to them.
Permits Hard to Get
But permits are not to be easily Sc
cured from the present police COM
mission. Commissioner Wellborn an
nounced last night that the commits
sion had adopted the policy of grant
ing no permits to any applicant who
was not morally, mentally and finan-
cially capable of handling it in the
best way possible and the commission
would want to be convinced of these
facts before issuing the permit.
The action of the commission in cit
ing nine saloon men to appear and
show cause why their permits should
not be revoked was based on report
submitted by Commissioner Topham
for the Maier brewery by agents and
were not issued to the actual owners
of the saloons. Topham was appointl
ed a committee to investigate this mat
ter and he has made a thorough in
vestigation. He gives much credit to
f. H Hahn for Hahn's assistance in
securing this information. In his re-
port Commissioner Topham stated that
he would have more similar cases to
present and that they would involve
other breweries besides the Maier
Brewing company. In full his report
was as follows:
Tophams Report
To the Mayor and Police Commission
of the City. of Los Angeles:
Your committee, appointed to investi-
cate the relations existing between the
breweries and the saloons of this city,
desire to make a partial report as fol-
lows:
That a license is held by t. P.
Roberts for saloon known as the Ma
iestic bar owned by S. Lowenstein
and oliver Morosco. A note is held by
the Maier Brewing company of s.
Lowenstein for $4,000 in payment OF
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