The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1913-12-12
Salvation Army Captain Wants
Liquor Privileges CrutaiIed
WHO IS BEHIND The SCENES
Shall the Church Lay Down Its Arms?
This Is Query Made BY lrrepress-
ibIe Soldier

the laws on the statute books, | am
in favor of starting impeachment
proceedings against him." said Cap
tain F. p. Buyer this morning, when
asked about the revoking OF the
licenses of F. j. MettIer and John
Hagen, who were convicted of sell
ing liquor to minors.
81 won't do it alone, | won't be
the goat. The other pastors and
church interests will have to help"
MIR. Buyer paused for a moment
and added in doubling voice.
"the churches have laid down their
arms, the spirit of religion is not in
them"
With these statements, Captain
Buyer has stepped into the open
and has taken a definite stand in
the matter of revoking the licenses
of the convicted men, He said this
morning that the demands for &C.
ton were pressing upon him from
all sides and it had reached point
" hCAO hS COuiu llOI lCI tuC IudIlOl
drop, even if he was inclined to
take that course, which he is not.
Mr.. Buyer told of several of the
men in his ranks who had spoken
to him regarding the matter and
they are insistent that the step be
taken.
AS preliminary step to further
actions, Mr.. Buyer has consulted
legal advice and he is going to
make sure of the ground that he
stands on before he ventures into
the battle. In talking of the mat.
ter this morning he said, that he
believed that the licenses of F. J.
Mettler and John Hagen had ceased
to be effective, from the moment
that their conviction took place and
that it was the duty of the mayor to
call the men before him and revoke
their licenses. He had expected
that this action would be taken at
the last Mondays meeting of the
council and was surprised when
nothing was done.
Appears to Be Divergence.
There seems to be wide diver
gence regarding the exact interpreta-
ton of the statute covering cases
of this kind Section 3151, Chap
ter 16 of the Minnesota statutes reg
ulating the sale of Intoxicating Ii
quor reads as follows: Every Ii
cense shall become null and void
upon the conviction of the license
of selling or furnishing intoxicat-
ing liquor to minor, habitual
drunkard, spendthrift or IMPROVE
dent person, OTTER the notice for
bidding such sale provided in this
chapter"
1t would appear from this that
unless minors and the others GOV.
cred under this statute are posted
in the saloons, this ordinance does
not act.
Mayor Meyer, told Captain Buyer
that he thought that as long as an
adequate fine had been imposed
that the license would be effective
for the time they were issued and
at the end of that time the council
could not issue new licenses to
these men who have been convicted
of infringing on the liquor laws Of
the state.
Recalls Issuance Of License.
The captain could not set a date
for the time when he would take
action but said, eff it is the law to
revoke these licenses, they will be
revoked, if the law is otherwise the
matter will be dropped" He does
not care to be hasty in the matter
and wants to give Mr.. Meyer 4
chance to take his course in the
matter.
Regarding the matter of refusing
ito re-license offending saloonmen,
Mr.. Buyer referred to the case Of
Peter Klages, who was convicted
of allowing a minor to tend bar.
When the Klages license expired it
should not have been renewed, but
the council did not fulfil their duty
in the matter.
Mr. Buyer referred to other trou-
BILE that he had had with Mayor Meyer
regarding what seemed to be a
Sunday opening of saloon in this
city. 1t appeared that sometime
ago that a habitual drunkard of this
city went to the rear door of sa-
loon on South Front street one Sum
day with the purpose of getting
some whiskey. Whether or not the
Continued ~ DoOa Tuua