Los Angeles herald., 1910-01-20
SUGGESTSCHANGE
IN LIQUOR LAWS
ADDRESS DELIVERED TO THE
FEDERATION CLUB
DECLARES PRESENT REGULA.
TIoNs INADEQUATE
Speaker Advocates Measure That
Would Make Retail Permits
Expire at End of
Each Year

In an address before the Federation
club at It's regular weekly luncheon
yesterday afternoon T. E. Gibbon sug-
gested number of amendments to the
citys liquor laws that would correct
many existing evils of the liquor traffic.
II would despair of the ultimate ad-
| vancement of man if did not believe
the liquor traffic would sooner or later
be destroyed" said Mr.. Gibbon. 81 be-
| lieve it is an unmitigated evil. Above
| everything else it stands in the way of
| the moral, mental and physical devel-
| opment of man.
But we have the liquor traffic with
| us. 1t is a condition and not a theory
that confronts us, and it will for some
| time to come. Until that time comes
when we can blot it out entirely we
must reduce it's evils as much as possi-
| BILE. 1 believe these evils can be divided
into three general classes: the evil ef-
feet 1t has on the individual, the evil it
does to politics-the failure of munich
| pal governments can be attributed more
to the influence of the liquor traffic in
politics than to any other thing-ano
the great evil it does in the finances OF
! the community. 1t costs this city alone
several hundred thousand dollars every
| Year 10 COIIGCb lIlC SNll lOT NlllCll LIZ
| LIQUOR traffic is directly responsible.
II believe in limiting the number OF
saloons. The limit of 200 was adopted
| by the police commission of which
was a member several years ago, ano
I believe 1t has resulted in good. If one
saloon Is bad, certainly two are worse
! If 200 are bad, 400 would be worse. The
limit placed on the number makes the
privilege to sell liquor at retail more
IL I,OI1 f1nc linn.
tied privileges will be more careful
about doing things that might forfeit
that right.
1.-The police commission of which
was a member found the chief cause Of
saloon keepers violating the law, sell
ing to minors and out of hours and or
Sundays, was that when they were
making a bare existence from theil
business the temptation to make an ex-
ira dollar was great. This condition is
largely removed by the limit on the
number, as the saloon men can do more
business with less competition.
Yearly Permits Urged
"An amendment should be made tc
the ordinances making every retail per
nit expire at the end of the year. Tha'
| would give every person who has rea
son to believe the saloon man has no
used his license as he should an oppor
tunity to appear and protest against Its
| reisSuance. If the saloon man has con
Quoted his business properly he should
be given the preference in the reissu-
ance of his license. I know of no other
city where liquor licenses are not issued
annually. AS result of the perpetual
| licenses issued by this city many per
sons do business under licenses that
have been issued to their predecessors
in personal investigation found a sa-
| loon doing business under the name OF
a man who had been dead four years.
"The retail license should be divorced
from the control of the breweries. Theil
ownership by breweries destroys indi-
vidual accountability and gives the
| breweries tremendous political power
Missouri which has the largest ano
richest breweries in the world, was
compelled to adopt legislation making
it unlawful to grant retail licenses tC
brewerles, wholesale houses or jobbers
and I believe we have legal right tc
adopt such legislation.
"I think no injustice would be done il
increasing the retail license fee to $20(
a month. The liquor traffic forces {
| larger expenditure on us, and 1t ShoulC
be made to bear the financial burden
On account of the liquor traffic we mus
maintain a larger police force and more
police courts, and the saloons should
pay for them. An increased license fee
will not for one minute stand in the
way eventually of blotting the business
out of existence. If the saloons were
paying a million dollars a year into the
city treasury 1 would vote to wipe then
all out and I believe any other mar
would who has become convinced of the
great harm they do.
1.-THE number of wholesale licenses
should be limited. We have enough OF
them now, if not too many. A serious
mistake was made when the law was
adopted forbidding wholesale houses tc
sell liquor in less quantities than one
| fifth of a gallon There are many
| families of the poorer class in our city
who have no conscientious scrupJes
against the use of liquor in their homes
but who are unable to purchase it in
| quantities of one-fifth of gallon. That
forces the head of that family to go into
a retail saloon to buy in small guam
titles, and once in the saloon he is sub
ject to all the temptations of the place
| We should reduce the amount the
wholesaler is permitted to sell.
Social Clubs Menace
Another evil that must be met and
destroyed is the social clubs of this
| city, There are about 100 of these
places. They charge a nominal sum for
membership and sell liquor in retail
quantities to all their members, some
of them being women. AS they are
organized under the state law, the liq-
uor laws as they now stand cannot
reach them, and they can sell at all
| hours, in any quantity and any day,
and the police have no jurisdiction over
them. 1 believe they should be forced
| to pay the same license as the retail
saloons. 1 wish our council would get
busy with this as soon as possible.
There should be some change in the
frontage law. The regulation of forcing
saloon man to secure three-fourths of
the frontage on both sides of the block
before he can change his location has
resulted in much abuse. l know OF
saloon men who are forced to pay from
200 to 400 per cent more rent for their
rooms than any other business would
be asked, because they cannot change
| their location.
"These are some of the worst evils
that have resulted from our inadequate
| liquor ordinances, and there should be
cf hnliaVn ~