Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1913-12-31
SALOONS TO CLOSE
TONIGHT At z
Arkansas Will Be DRY"
Several Weeks Pending
Decisions.
MAJORITY REQUIRED
Petitions For Liquor License To Be
Published TOmOrrOw-Antis
Are Active.
MAJORITY REQUIRED

When the whistles blow farewell
tonight to 1918 and the church bells
ring a welcome to 1914, there will be
great deal of Significance to the
! departing of the old and coming of
the New Year in Arkansas. With
the passing Of 1918 will go all Of the
saloons in the state. In month Or
so, Or about February 1, 1914, it, IS
| expected that the applications for
licenses which will have been filed
by the liquor men will have been
acted upon. Until the county judges
of the various counties throughout
the state refuse to grant saloons
licenses to continue their business
the state will not exactly step into
the column occupied by the "drys. :"
Nevertheless at midnight tonight,
the law which forces the saloon men
to get majority Of the signatures
Of the white adults living in the town
or city where they have been operat-
ing, goes into effect and as Attorney
General W. l.. Moose has held that
no county judge can act on a petit
ton for license until January 1,
which is a legal holiday, it means
that the saloons must stay closed on
New Years day and for at least II
days thereafter. 80
When the saloons close tonight, it
will be the first time in the history
of Arkansas that saloons have been
debarred. Active preparations have
been made by the sheriffs of every
county in the state to arrest those
who may run blind tigers in the
interim between the time the saloons
close and reopen, provided they do
reopen.
For years fight has been on to
make Arkansas a dry state. A meas
ure which would have forced prohi-
bition on the state was defeated by
the people at the polls in 1912. After
this victory the saloon men felt safe,
and when the legislature of 1918 con-
vened they did not think that there
would be any move made against the
liquor interests, after the sweeping
defeat that the prohibition bill had
when submitted to the people under
the initiative and referendum.
They reckoned wrongly, for in the
declining days Of the session, Senator
Clyde Going Introduced bill signed
by 10 senators, asking that licenses
be denied saloons throughout the
state unless the petitioners secured
the majority of signatures of the
white adults living in the city, town
or village where the saloon located.
The bill requires that the names Of
the signers of the petition asking the
saloon be published twice in one Of
the papers of the county in which
the petition is asked.
| After the bill was passed the sa-
loon men went into court and tried
to have it again submitted to the
people under the initiative and refer
endum, claiming that the legislature
had no right to pass an act and set
a time at which it should become ef-
fective, as the law required that
that each act should become effect
i've days after it's passage. The
/ ri "a
the legislature had the right to name
tire time when the act should be-
come effective as they passed 1t to
protect tie health, peace and safety
of the state" The court also stated
that the legislature set December 81.
1913, as the time for the act to be-
come effective because they did not
want the saloon men to suffer fin
ancial losses, such as money paid
for licenses, whiskeys, beer, etc.
Defeated in the courts the saloon
men started out in earnest to secure
the required number of names on
petitions asking that the licenses be
granted them to operate. Things
moved along we'll until Attorney Cen
eral WI. Moose was asked the
question as to whether or not the
petitions could be presented to the
county judge for action before the
law became effective.
Attorney General Moose states:
"The liquor petitions cannot be sub
mitted to the county Judge for action
until January /, 1914. The law does
not become effective until December
81, 1918 at midnight. The county
Judge could not be asked to act on a
la what is not effectivt. Therefore
he could not act on the petitions
asking license until they have been