Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1911-07-12
SALOONS LOSE ROUND
Iowa Supreme Court Affirms Judge
HObsOn.
sECONDPETITION NOwIN FORCE
Decision That Counter Withdrawals
Fail to Restore Signatures Makes
First Petition Insufficient,
as Held by Judge
HObSOn.

1 he supreme court or Iowa on
Thursday handed down an opinion
in the case of w. NJ. Lemen VS.. Otto
Drexel ct al, in which the court af-
firmed the decision of Judge Hobson
in the district court of this county,
which declared the mulct consent Pc
tition circulated on election day and
thereafter insufficient.
The case seemed to rest upon the
matter of counter Withdrawals. At
ter the filing of the first petition, as
is we'll known, the anti-saloon forces
circulated a withdrawal petition.
Then the saloon forces circulated
counter withdrawal petitions, that is,
secured persons who had signed the
original petition and also signed the
withdrawal to ask the board of su-
pervisors to replace their names up
on the petition as favoring the sa-
looms. Judge Hobson held that when
they had once asked to have their
names removed from the consent Pc
tition that they could not have them
restored to the petition, and the SUI
preme court upheld him in the de-
cision.
This decision of the supreme court
affects seventy-five saloons and one
distillery in fifteen Iowa cities, as
follows: Decorah 9 saloons, CAL
mar 2, Fort Atkinson 2, Castalia 1.
Jackson Junction 4, Ossian 4, Spill
Vile 3, Creston 10, Oskaloosa 21
saloons, l distillery; Fort Dodge II.
In five other cities, where 20S sa-
looms and 2 breweries operate, the
decision will have considerable bear
ing on the fight now in litigation, as
follows: Des Moines 1913 saloons.
Boone IL, Valley Junction 3, Cedar
Rapids 65 saloons, 1 brewery; Wa
terloo 26.
cys. . -.,earnection ii may be in
teresting to note, as we nave pTeuIcc-s;
ed would be done, that Judge De-
Graft of Des Moines has held that
more than one saloon to one thou
sand people is now against the law,
and that the Moon law providing this
effects saloons now in existence the
same as one about to start. This
would if put into effect reduce the
number in Decorah to four. There is
little doubt that this will be immed-
lately put into effect throughout
Iowa. In fact nearly every city ex-
cept possibly the river cities has al
ready accepted this view of the law,
under legal advice, without waiting
for a supreme court decision to es-
tablish it, and has refused to grant
| licenses for more than one saloon
to a thousand people.
In Winneshiek county the saloons
have saved themselves by the circu-
lation of the second petition, which
was last week, as announced in this
paper, declared sufficient by the
board of supervisors. Should this
case not be appealed, saloons may
operate in Winneshiek county for
five years to come under the present
law. Should the case be appealed to
| the district court, the matter will
probably be decided during the Sep
tember term, and doubtless then be
appealed to the supreme court, which
will hold it open until after January
! first, so that the saloons are safe at
least for this year, as we stated last
week, and inasmuch as one petition
may be circulated each year, new
/ one might be secured before the su-
preme court could decide the matter,
and thus continue them indefinitely.
Friday the saloon interests served
notice upon the men in charge OF the
/ appeal from the Board of Supervis-
ors. to the effect that they would ask
for rehearing of the case in the
supreme court.
Iver ii. Nerli.