The Detroit times., 1911-11-20
Prosecutor Would Place Issuing
of License in Hands of
Excise Commission.
PREPARES To PROSECUTE
SLOT MACHINE OWNERS
Piles Up Evidence To Be Used
Against Marquette, Pitts
and Others.
HUGH sHEPHERD.

chimes TO be operated In tnelI piaSes
of business. including saloons ana
candy stores. and will prosecute the
owners of the machines, including
John Marquette, the king OF them ALL
and w. II. Pitts, several OF whose ma
chimes were seized In his barn re-
Gently.
my only regret is that the slot
machine business Is not a felony, SO
that could send Marquette TO the
penitentiary for about 10 years, SAID
the prosecutor, Saturday. He Is big
ger than all OF the others put togeth-
err. The statements that | have on
file, tell who put in the slot machines,
who the owners are, the terms on
which they were placed, and when
they were operated. Out OF the zoo
or more persons that ] talked with l
found that a big majority were glad
that the machines were being put out
of business. hoped they would never
be allowed to run again, and frank
ly declared that they were no good
10 the saloonkeeper; that they did
a great injury TO the laboring man
and 10 all others who played them,
and that the only person TO profit by
them was the owner.
The machines even robbed the sa-
loopkeepers OF their usual so per cent
share. One OF Pitts machines was emp
tied in the presence of certain sa-
loonkeeper and Pitts took out ~,
half of which was 10 go TO the sa-
loonkeeper. The latter declared that
there was something wrong. as much
money had been played He watched
Pitts as the latter took the machine
apart, and managed to rummage in a
false bottom, covered with sawdust,
where he found that s75I had slid
down, through a slot for clear profit
TO Pitts, without division with the
saloon man."
Prosecutor Shepherd also says he Is
in favor of giving back the unearned
percentage of the license fee to all
saloonkeepers who have been sum-
mariy put out of business.
The common council Is to blame;
it did wrong in taking the money in
the first place." he says"
I'm fact" says the prosecutor, the
whole license proposition ought to
be taken out of the hands of the
council, and put into the hands of
an excise commission, composed Of
about five broad-minded, fair and fear
less citizens, who should have pow
er to grant licenses and to revoke
them, without warrants, trials or red
tape. but simply on presentation of
evidence that the saloonkeeper was
breaking the law.
AT present. the saloon license sit
uation Is controlled by the dregs of
the cheapest politics that the city
politics. II Is left
In the hot-bed of aldermanic politics,
the rottenest political condition In
Detroit
Favors Long License.
THE prosecutor, sheriff and police
commissioner might be connected
with the excise board, and long II
cense given, say for five years, in
stead of one. That would take the
saloon out Of politics. We would have
no more of these threats to shoot
police officers who were trying to en-
force the saloon laws We wouldn't
have to ask for warrants, or to go
before a jury OF saloon men to try
the cases."
Prosecutor Shepherd does not agree
with Commissioners Croul's sugges-
ton that a perpetual license would
work well. He said that II would
have to be presupposed that the law
could be enforced.
And the law cannot be enforced at
present" he said. ASK Police Com
missioner Croul how easy 1t is to en-
force the law"
Referring to the question OF prose-
lot Co. L..
tanning their licenses. Prosecutor
Shepherd said: I'D rather prosecute
saloonkeeper like Tucker, at Mon
Ioe-ave. and Brush-st., against whom
have eight complaints for Sunday
violations, and who has no regard
tor the law whatever, than to prose-
cute some poor ex-convict who Is try
ing to live down his past II an ex-
convict Is running a decent, orderly
place and obeying the laws, am not
disposed to dig Up his record purely
as a technically But where he is
attracting crooks and ex-convicts, or
is disobeying the laws In his saloon,
that ex-convict clause makes IL sim
pie matter TO put him out of business.
| don't care about mans past record
IL he's a clean. good saloonkeeper."
Ellis Favors Plan.
While declaring that there were no
cheap dregs of politics" in the way
the saloon licenses were handled by
the council committee, and insisting
tina. the committee had accomplished
more. quietly, in putting undesirable
saloons out of business, than Prose
cutor Shepherd has done with brass
band" Chairman George Ellis, Of the
committee, says that he, too, is in
favor OF an excise board to pass on
the licenses
II wanted to get this plan through
the legislature in the last session.
but II adjourned before | could do It,"
he said
His reasons, he declared, were
that she time for the committee to
pass on 1000 applications was too
short for proper scrutiny, that there
was no question but what political
influence was always being exerted-
though he said that IL had had no
effect in issuing the last licenses
and that he thought an excise board
was the proper way to control the
saloon situation.
Police Commissioner Croul suggests
an excise board with the police com
missioner and the prosecutor CON
nected with IL only In ex-officio ca