The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-05-23

thought that it would work to the
advantage of the five places on the
bridge. and to the disadvantage of
Those farther down the street, and he
refused to support the ordinance so
long as the places on the bridge were
to be granted licenses.
The result of the conference was
that those four aldermen banded to-
gether upon the mutual understanding
that they would refuse a license to
the five places at the bridge. and that
they would pass the ordinance increas-
ing the license fee to $1,000. Pursuant
to this understanding an ordinance
was introduced to increase the license
fee to $1,000. and another ordinance
to exclude from the Patrol Limits"
the five places at the bridge. and GER
cluded for other reasons. The four
aldermen succeeded in passing both
of those ordinances. but Mayor
O'Leary promptly vetoed the Patrol
Limits" setting forth very good and
honest reasons for doing so.
1t is reported that after the Mayors
veto was filed. these four aldermen
met in Il room on the second floor of
the Fire Hall and all Joined hands and
agreed then and there that they would
stick together. regardless of what the
mayor did, and would refuse to grant
any licenses to any of the five places
at the bridge. They have carried out
that policy to the present time.
The policy of those four aldermen
cannot he justified upon the ground
that objectionable persons have here
tofore been conducting the saloons in
volved. BY the general statutes of
the state it is made the duty Of the
city council to investigate the charac-
ter of each applicant and his fitness
to conduct a saloon. and they are not
only given the power to reject every
applicant of bad character or who is
unfit to properly conduct a saloon. but
it is a m~isdemeanor for the council to
grant a license to person whom
they know or find to be a person UNI
fit for that business, or of unsound
morals.
The people of the city are in favor
Of having all Objectionable persons
eliminated from the saloon business.
but they. cannot see the wisdom of a
policy which is resulting so disastrous
'ly to the city from a financial stand
point. 1t means a large loss of the an
nual revenues of the city. The clos
ing up of the five places at the bridge
means an annual loss to East Grand
Forks and its people Of at least $751;
600 a year. without improving the
ConOltloHS EXISTING IN any a The
loss may be accounted for in part in
this way:
License fees paid to the city, 5000
Taxes paid to the city. ....... 2,275
Electricity for lighting pur-
chased from the city ....... 4,136
Water purchased from the city $50
IoLdl .......... .$ll,SSl
That is merely the amount of mon
cy which would annually be derived
by the city from those five places, but
even so large a sum of constitutes but
a small part of the amount annually
Expended by those places in the city
some of the other items are:
i1anor ..$35.O15
Iseiit 1890
rucI .sssssss y,35O
ice 1,136
insurance 2,940
u ..$54.34O
Those fgures do not take into con-
sideration the amount annually ex-
pended in the city by the proprietors
of those five places and their families.
Each license holder and his family
are residents Of the city aud either