Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1910-05-06
LICENSE APPLICATIONS WERE DENIED
Three Drug Stores Barred by Seectmen from Filling Liquor Pre-
scrptions. Samples Failed in Chemical Anaysis.Abuse of
Privileges Is Charged

the license question III lue annual lOWll
meeting in March did so with the eXpeC-
tation that whichever way the town
voted licenses of the fifth class would be
issued to the druggists, but, as SUISSE
quent developments have proved, their
suppositon was not well founded The
selectmen, John Calvin, J. G. Stafford
and A. E. Merrill, at protracted meeting
Saturday night, voted not to grant Ii
censes to w. f. Root, f. II. Holden and
c. f. Thomas, who had made appliCa-
ton G. IL. GRAHAM had not asked for a
license 50 no action was taken with ref
erence to him. The licenses under which
liquor was sold the past year expired Sat
urday night, so the town is now drier
than desiccated Goldfish, and it will re-
main 50 for the balance of the year, so
far as licensed sales are concerned, UNI
less something new develops. The de-
cision is not a bar to an application by
Mr.. GRAHAM, but 1t is not Mr.. Graffam's
intention to make application.
There is a diversity Of opinion as to the
wisdom of the selectmen's action, some
commencing it because Of real or fancied
abuses by doctors and druggists, while
others condemn the decision, believing
that it viii throw the town into the Ii
Cense column another year. The select
men held a hearing in Festival hall sat
urday afternoon, when all had an oppor-
plicauons, The hearing is reported in
detail in this article. Petitions both for
and against granting licenses were read,
but the result was not determined by the
petitions, the selectmen basing their con-
illusions on the reported abuses of the Ii
Censes, on the results of analyses of
samples of liquor taken from the drug
stores and sent to the state laboratory of
hygiene in Burlington, and on personal
knowledge Of conditions.
For several weeks the result of the
analysis was known by the selectmen and
by the druggists, but until after the vote
Saturday night the facts were kept from
the public, the analyses having been
turned over to states Attorney G. II.
Williams of Bellows Falls. Since Satur
day it has become known that good
number of the samples We're not up to
the requirements of the Pure Food law
or to the standard of the United States
Pharma Copaeia, Il book containing the
formulas and methods of preparation of
medicines, etc, for the use of druggists.
The failure of the samples to pass the
Pure Food law examination was due
primarily to technicality and so far as
the quality of the goods was concerned
the druggists had no reason to know or
suspect that it was not satisfactory, the
liquors being procured from reputable
houses which had submitted samples di-
rect to the state laborat tory for analysis
and had received favorable reports.
The technicality referred to consisted
in misbranding some of the samples. such
as marking a sample of whiskey simply
as whiskey instead of whiskey blend. 1t
has been the understanding Of druggists
in years past that whiskey blend meant
a combination of different WHISTLES. Tn
der the new Pure Food law Il whiskey
which is colored, for which purpose the
harmless caramel. burnt sugar, is used,
must be branded as whiskey blend, al
though the quality is exactly the same as
though the burnt sugar was not added,
and the same is true with respect to other
liquors For convenience the whiskey on
the druggists shelf, from which he draws
a. he needs it, is marked whiskey when
in reality it is whiskey blend. The failure
to add the word blend was the rea-
son why some of the samples did not
comply with the Pure Food law.
OF the 3S samples analyZed - We're
faulty. States Attorney Williams said
last night that all but two of them were
faulty as regards both the Pure Food law
and the United States Pharmacopaeia.
These two, a sample of Scotch whiskey
and a sample of rum taken from c. f.
Thomas's store did not come up to the re-
quirements Of the Pure Food law, but in
the report of the analysis nothing IS said
of them otherwise. The samples which
were faulty in both respects were as fol-
lows: w. f. ROOt-imported brandy, do
nestle brandy and Scotch whiskey; f. II.
ftOlOeIl-WIlShtN ana DIdlluN I. l. NIltAl-
fam-whiskey and brandy; c. +. Thomas
three samples of whiskey. When asked
if he would prosecute the druggists Mr..
Williams stated to The Phoenix that the
law made it compulsory for him to pros
ecute when complaints were made. He
said that he was busy just now with
county court matters and that he could
not say just when he would be able to
give his attention to the matter in ques-
ton.
When it was suggested to Chairman
Calvin that the seleCtmen must have
based their decision upon something be-
sides what appeared at the hearing he
said the supposition was correct. There
has been wholesale violation of the law
by the druggists and the Doctors he
said, and everybody knows it. The mat
ter was left to our judgment and our
judgment was that the druggists ought
not to have licenses this year" Mr.
Merrill said, when asked why the board
refused to grant licenses: I'VE knew that
some 5000 prescriptions for liquor were
filled in BrattlebOro last year Now
anybody who knows anything knows that
not one quarter of that liquor was need
ed for medicinal purposes. We also knew
that samples taken from the drug stores
was below standard both as to branding
and as to quality. and we had information
from reliable sources which convinced us
that the druggists ought not to have Ii
censes the coming year. 1t is easy to
talk about enforcing the law, but it is
practically impossible to do it,"
Mr. Stafford stated that while at first
he was in favor of granting licenses he
became fully convinced, after giving the
matter further consideration, that there
had been law-breaking on all sides. The
issuing of prescriptions" he said, places
a great responsibility upon the doctors
and they are glad to be relieved of it,"
ma al
with the result, the applications having
been denied, the hearing was not legal,
and the druggists are not the only ones
against whom technical errors are
chargeable, the selectmen having failed
to comply with the statutes relative to
posting notices of applications through
not posting them in the drug stores. Sec
ton 5115 of the Public Statutes contains
the provisions relative to advertising the
applications in newspapers and says;
COPIES Of such notices shall be posted
on the premises described in the applica-
ton and in two or more public places"
Had the selectmen granted licenses 1t
would have been necessary to start all
over again in order to have them legal,
three weeks or more after May l before
liquor prescriptions could be filled.
Chairman Calvin called the meeting to
order and Selectman Merrill read the
heading of a petition to grant licenses Of
the fifth class to the four BrattlebOro
druggists. The petition was signed by
l45 men, special care being taken by those
who circulated it to secure the names of
only men opposed to open saloons. Mr..
Merrill also read a similar petition signed
by Is of the 20 Bratteboro physicians,