El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-07-28
HIGH LIQUOR LICENSE
EFFECTIVE IN ENGLAND
By
Frederic
]. Haskin
XXIII-The Brush Crisis.

The liberal licensing bill was devised
as measure of temperance reform
directed to the three main ends; the I'M
mediate and progressive improvement
IN circumstances attending the sale Of
liquor: the gradual but complete re-
covery for the community of its do
nfnion over property in licenses; and
the greater power of preventing the
growth of drinking clubs Having
,iue regard for the British notion OF
property rights, the bill created
special court of licensing justices,
whose duty it was TO prepare a scheme
of the reduction of the number of
liquor licenses to a certain graduated
scale based on population. Under
this scheme 10000 or about One-third
of the existing licenses would have
been terminated.
Fourteen years notice was given.
before the arbitrary sections of the
act were to become effective. In the
meantime. any old license extinguished
was to be paid for at a fixed rate OF
compensation which would give to the
license holder guaranteed annuity
equal in amount to the value of the
license, the annuity TO run until q
years after the passage of the act.
Under this bill, had it become a law
no license could have been terminated
for ID years except by payment OF
compensation. To all others, IA years
notice of the termination of the IL
cense must be given. In the United
States where licenses are revoked at
the will of the authorities, and where
absolute prohibition laws are passed
without any notice whatever. this
British bill would not seem unjust.
Bitter Criticism.
No measure in the legislative history
of England was so bitterly denounced
-,
per used these phrases in commenting
upon this licensing bill: Utter in
Equity. Sheer brigandage.' ~Fa-
natioaI legislation "Socialistic con-
fiscation-" a gigantic act of public
theft "A rafding expedition of par
tisan blackmailers." The sum of
hypocrisy with the maximum of .
wrong" "A measure of plumber"
The government is acting in the
spirit of a highwayman." Progressive
and cumulative plumber An act of
financial slaughter" a nightmare"
"A tremendous scheme of plumber and
confiscation-" "A profligate imRost-
ure." A scheme of despotic plumber"
a colossal sham And after all that
the editorial writer apOlogized for not
doing better, saying: I'VE feel the
utter inadequacy of words TO convey
a due sense of the magnitude of this
issue"
If the proponents of a prohibition bill
in an American state were to give IA
years notice, and then promise annui-
ties for p years to all license holders,
and then some newspapers were to say
such things of the temperance reform
ers. it is highly probable that some
rude person would insinuate that that
newspaper was controlled by the liquor
trade But, Of course, there is no such
thing as a subsidized press in Britain
Bill Killed Quickly.
II required exactly 90 minutes for
the house of lords 10 defeat this licens-
ing Dill The Conservative leaders de-
clared that sthey deplored the evils of
drink. but they were unwilling TO at
tack the sacred institution of private
property in order TO restrict intemper-
ance.
Being defeated in their efforts at
legislation. the Liberal leaders resolv-
ed to attack the trade by using the
power TO tax as a power to destroy.
The average liquor license wwas in
creased TO $1,000 a year, instead of $500
year, and after the first year nearly
10000 baTroOms went out of business
because they could not afford to pay
the new tax Under the licensing bill
it would have required q years of time
and the expenditure of millions of dol
lars in compromising annuities to close
as many saloons as the high taxes al
ready have closed Ii would have been
better for the liquor trade if it had ac-
cepted the licensing bill. But the his
tory of legislation against the alcoholic
liquor traffic proves that the trade"
has suffered more from the foolhardi-
ness of its friends than from the at
tacks of its enemies. This is as true
in Great Britain as it is in the United
States.
Tomorrow-The British Crisis
XXIN-In StTatified Barrooms.