Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1911-04-06
Will Try to Make Charles Town Dry.

The council OF Charles Town having
refused to authorize an election for the
submission of the question OF license or
no license to vote OF the people, the
citizens OF the town and neighborhood,
and of the county generally, will carry
the matter to the County Court. They
are now circulating petitions praying the
council to refuse TO recommend license
for liquor saloons and to the County Court
to refuse to grant any such license. The
Temperance sentiment is growing tremen-
dousIy, and the petitions will have very
imposing number OF signers, including a
large proportion OF the heavy taxpayers.
The petition is as follows:
To the Mayor and Common Council OF
the Town OF Charles Town, w. Va, and
to the Honorable County Court OF Jeffer-
son County, W. Va:
The undersigned, your petitioners, re-
spectfullY and earnestly pray that your
respective bodies will not recommend,
issue or grant saloon licenses in the town
of Charles Town, for the following among
many other reasons
We believe that with the abolition OF
the saloon the community OF Charles
Town and the county at large, on which
the prosperity OF Charles Town depends,
would be UNNECESSARILY benefited both
morally and financially.
The sum OF ten thousand dollars is in
directly collected from our citizens to pay
thu State license on the liquor traffic,
while the town collects only one-fourth
of this amount, or 800, not enough to
offset the increased expense consequent
thereto. The county receives not one
dollar in revenue, and yet its citizens are
taxed to maintain the Jail, almShouSe and
the criminal expense incident to the buSl-
ness.
We submit that in arriving at decision,
the representatives OF the municipality
should also duly consider the rights OF
those living outside the limits cfthe town,
on whose trade and good will the buSl-
ness prosperity of the town rests.
If the county authorities have the right
to quarantine the town against smallpox
or other infectious diseases, the expense
being distributed ratably over the Citizen
ship OF the county, then the County Com
misSionerS, when in their good ludg-
ment such course is deemed best for the
interests CT the whole people OF Jefferson,
can, in their discretion, withhold license,
as they have already done, under like
circumstances, in the case OF the town OF
ShepherdstoWn.
1t is manifesty unfair, for instance, that
Shenandoah Junction, MechanicStown
and other points in the county, which are
without police protection, should be al
lowed to suffer as the result OF the traffic
in liquor, emanating from the county
seat.
We would call attention to the fact that
while a county local option bill passed the
House OF Delegates at the session OF the
Legislature just ended, this bill was stifled
in committee OF the Senate by the aid OF
representatives recreant to the trust con-
fided in them, and but for this fact our
people would be allowed the privilege
enjoyed in other enlightened States OF
expressing their sentiments undera county
local option law.
The people OF the county feel that they
have moral interest in the county seat,
and do not want saloons and their effects
where they are obliged to 60 to transact
their public and private business. They
would feel safer in sending their employ
ees and teams where there were no Sa-
looms, and feel that labor conditions in
the county would be much improved it
they were closed.
They believe that with the saloons
abolished, their women and children eS-
pecially will be free from annoyance and
danger on the roads leading from Charles
| Town.
Therefore, citizens and taxpayers Of
both the town and county, regardless OF
political utilization, join in the hope that
your honorable bodies may grant them
the relief from existing conditions, so
grievously needed, for the betterment Of
all our people, and the safety, honor and
welfare of the community at large.