El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-07-17

Lnls sign on the stained glass door
OF the Inn bar in the Caples building.
owned by Jackson Squires, has caused
an undertow of liquor gossip not d.
rectly connected with the prohibition
and anri-prohibition fight which is at
tracing so much attention in local
political affairs
Squires says that he forwarded his
application for permit to conduct his
bar in the Caples building to controller
Lane In the usual way. enclosing the
81 fee necessary to have an appIica-
ton zor request granted His license
was due to expire July IL and as
permit from the state controller is
necessary before a liquor license can
be issued he mailed the application
and money order in due time But
for some reason his application was
neither acknowledged nor the permit
granted. Squires says AS a liquor
license cannot be granted without
permit Squires was advised by his
attorney TO close his bar until he could
get the permit No replies were re-
ceived from the letters and kilograms
of inquiry sent TO the controllers Of
fee. Souires declares. and his bar has
been closed pending some action by
the. controller. Should the request not
be granted within q reasonable time
Squires says his attorney will bring
maadamus suit to compel the con-
troIer to issue the permit since the
law has been complied with and the
application filed
Had Changed Location.
Soufres is not the only saloonman
who has had trouble in getting a per-
nit to conduct a saloon Joseph Kopf
owner of the Gem saloon on FL Pasc
street: Larry Ford. owner of the bar
in the American National bank; Jo-
seph A. Chips. proprietor of the
Richelieu bar on San Antonio street,
admit having had trouble in getting
their permits Dick Newton. who con-
ducts the buffet in the Roberts-Ban-
ner building. is also said to have had
difficulty in securing his permit. The
Royal bar on Stanton street, of which
Tug Wilson is manager, is closed. but
II Is said that this Is not entirely due
to the lack OF permit All of these
saloon men. with the exception Of
Chips. have moved their saloons since
the Robertson Fitzhugh liquor law
vert into effect This is held by attor-
neys to be the reason for the delay in
issuing the permits, as 81 Paso has
more than it's quota Of saloons as pre-
scrfbed by the law. and that as the
permit is granted for the location and
not the dealers. they forfeited their
permits when they moved. surrender
ing what is called q permit 10 do bust
ness in a preferred location for one
that is not preferred
Kopf owned the Gem saloon in the
building which was bought and con-
demned by the city council for the
opening of San Antonio street west OF
FL Paso This compelled Kopf to re-
mcve his saloon and he fitted up the
present quar- ters in the Odd Fellows
block Kopf admits having had some
difficulty in getting a permit for the
new location. but says it was finally
issued after he had retained state sem
ator c. B. Hudspeth at considerable
expense to secure the permit for HIM
Ford had similar difficulty. he says,
having moved from the Poodle Dog on
Sar Antonio street 10 the American
National bank building when it was
completed Ford had no excuse for
moving. as had Kopf and Squires. He
also retained senator Hudspeth and
secured his permit. Dick Newton, like
Kopf and Squires, was forced TO re-
move his bar from the basement OF
the hotel Sheldon when it was remod- |
eled and his buffet in the Roberts
Banner building is a new one not
preferred. Chips retained senator
Hudspeth as his attorney and got hts
permit.
The Legal Allotment.
The method of arriving at the num-
Der of saloons each city and town is !
entitled TO under the law is as fol- ]
lows. TIE scholastic population as /
shown by the annual report Of the /
superintendent Of public instruction /
for each county is taken as the basis 4
This is multiplied by SIX on the esti- (
mate that each school pupil represents |
a family Of five others The arbitrary /
number of saloons per unit sof popula- |
ton Is fixed by the law as one for
each 500. This entities FL Paso to So /
But there were 1o2 in the /
city of FL Paso on February 20, 1909, /
q date taken arbitrarily as the time |
for estimating the saloons actually IN
existence, or Tive" saloons as they
are classified Hotel bars and whole
sale stores are not counted This
makes surplus Of saloons in FL Paso
Of IT saloons. As it would have been
impossible TO say which saloons should
stay in business and which suspend.
the law permitted all of the saloons
that were actually operating on Feb
ruary 20, 1909, the date agreed upon.
TO continue in business But before
any new saloons can be established
under the law, it viii be necessary for
the population of Ell Paso to increase
sufficiently to warrant the additional
saloons. According to county clerk
Pitman it VIII be necessary for the {
Of FL Paso TO reach $1,000,
estimated, before any more saloons
could be permitted under the law.
He Doesn't Understand.
Some attorneys CHE this law as the
reason fer the liffieulty that was ex-
perieneed by Kopf Squires, Newton
- Ford in getting their permits, /
Squires asks why his permit is
rthcoming from the controllers
when Ford's, Kopf's and New
have already been granted. If
new location, as are theirs,
Bays. He also claims that since
Re was a saloon in the same place
hich was operated by another saloon
IAN, the location is a preferred one
he says he has complied with the re-
quirements of the law, yet he has
heard nothing OF his permit while the
others have received theirs and are
now doing business. while Squires's
place is closed.