The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-03-25

 nal justice forbid that any private property legally acquired and legally
 held, should be pOliated or destroyed l in the interests of public health. mor- als or welfare, without compensation And in 1908, when the House of Lords | in England had before them limita-
 tion bill, which limitation bill provided |
 that compensation should be made to
 the licensed dealers upon going out of
 business, the House of Lords with pub-
 He opinion back of 1t, refused to pass
 the bill, because property rights had
 become fixed. Property rights were
 permanent and no state would dare
 to say that it could lay it's hand on
 ones property and land and take it away.
 | Why should these gentlemen, who
 would no more dare to ply the torch to my dwelling or yours Say to the men
 in the liquor business to those who
 have built up the industry, we shall
 take your property in 1912" and say | that ''one-haf of you shall go out of ] business" Under, our law as it is today. there is one saloon to every five hundred and nine of the population. Isn't it fair? It is so in the Western States. One to five hundred, where they have limitation. One gentleman said yesterday, that he knew of a sa-
 loon keeper who was in favor of 1 to 1000. That must have been some  a little fellow. He shouldnt be al- lowed to do it. It was only a year ago that I read in the press, that in New Haven some people were trying to cobine Dr. Phillips Church of the | Redeemer with Dr.. Mauers Centre church and I am glad it didn't go through. So you see the churches are not immune from the absorption pro- cess. Now what Is our limitation law? Let us see what sort of a law it is. The clergy said yesterday they did not get what they were after. I say | they did. Our law provided that aft CT October, 1909, there should be one l license to every five hundred except where there was license in force, renewals may be made by the County Commissioners: but, gentlemen, bear | this in mind, that it says that any town which hereafter goes no-license that. if it goes license again, the num- | Der tof licenses shall be one to five hundred. In other words, if Bridge l port went no-iicense at its next cleo 1 tion. and then again swung around
 to the license column. Bridgeport could | only have one saloon to every five hun dred. Have they not true limitation l there?
 | But the cities do not want a lirni- | tatfon of one to five hundred any l more than they want one to a thou ! sand, Then what becomes of the ar | SuuiCil tdldl tic SCiltiHlcIll Ol liS l State is overwhelming for one saloon
 to one thousand. Bridgeport. Hart ford. New Haven. Waterbury, New London, New Britain, the big popula- | ton centres. the big counties of the l State. Fairfield. Hartford and New 1 Haven counties, the wealth centres 1 the energetic centres, are licensed
 counties.-they contain the large cit 1 ies, and contain the wealth of the l State. What becomes of the argument ! that we heard here yesterday that we didn't have an honest limitation bill. 1 And why did the Legislature provide ! in the law that renewals could be had Because at that time they didn't want l to take away those rights which had l become vested and fixed. We have l said to the brewing interests of the l State of Connecticut for forty years, Come in and erect your plant. Erect your brewery, and we have said to- 1 the retail dealers, Come in here and open a saloon'', and we have permit | ted them to locate and prosper in our
 commonwealth under our law and they | have come in and the wealth has come l in with them.
 They pay taxes in the various eft | ies and towns in which they live | Their breweries are here. their homes are here, their plants are here and what sort of manner of men are they? There are seventeen brewers, as I re- call it, in the State of Connecticut. | know some of them. They stand in reputation and character as high as any gentlemen who appeared before this committee yesterday. One of | them that I have in mind, in Bridge port. was for twenty-five years the president of our Board of Education and is today the president of one of our national banks.
 Another one in Bridgeport is mem Der of the Board of Apportionment, which takes the place of the old town meetings and which says what expen- ditures shall be made in the city of | Bridgeport. In New Haven. one . of ! them that I know at least, is a direc- ! tor in one of it's national banks. What | sort of men are they? They are men of reputation, they are men of char acter. They live in the community | associating with their fellowmen and are respected; but the great difference between them and the other gentle l men is that they mind their own busi-
 ness and the other men are trying to mind their business for them.
 | What are you going to do with this proposed bill. There was about enc million dollars collected for licenses in ! the State of Connecticut last year, | according to the report of the County | Commissioners. Ten per cent Of it goes to thes counties. ninety per cent. | to the towns. Have any of these ! financiers who appeared before you | told you how to make up the ,deficit? Not one word to aid you have they
 uttered. The city of Bridgeport would lost each year if. the proposed bill is passed over s900O0. which would have to be made up by raising the tax rate. l Not one word do they say of throw- 1 ing over 5000 people out of employ- ment to compete with wage earners With a limitation law such as is proposed. it has been clearly shown | that the sale and consumption of li- quors will not be lessened. but on the | contrary where prohibition is in force or the State has the limited license | system, the consumption of intoxicat- | ing liquors has been greatly en- | hanced E | Stern necessity knows no law, and lower wages would result. There
 would be In Bridgeport alone 226 va cant stores and the losses on rentals alone would be enormous.
 The people of Connecticut want no | such law, fo1. it savers too much up- on restriction of liberty. Our declara- tfon of rights and privileges was writ ten by the hand of inspiration. Our constitution was the triumph of hu-
 man rights after the struggle of cen- turies.
 Faith. Hope and Charity are the three Christian virtues. Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness are the cardinal principles of free government af rtrf1,o