Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-06-16
Excise Board Unnamed, No
Money for Salaries and No
Office Quarters Provided.
MANY NEW PROVISIONS
GO INTO EFFECT JULY |
Numerous Inconsistencies Said to
Exist in Law Will Have to Be
Construed by Members.


board yet to be appointed no appro
priations made for their salaries, and
no office quarters provided. to say
nothing of the difficult administrative
problems which it is admitted the
board must meet, the question of what
will be the status of the municipal
ity's control of it's liquor traffic business
after July 1 next. daily is becoming a
more puzzling one to District of Co.
lumbia officials.
Two weeks remain before the excise
law goes into effect, during which
time action by both Congress and the
President will be required or there Is
every probability, it is believed of con-
ditiOns respecting the regulation and
control of saloons in the District be-
coming chaotic.
In the first place the present board
goes out of existence July l. Unless the
three members OF the body which is to
succeed 1t have been named by Presi-
dent Wilson, the local government, at
the beginning of next month, will be en-
tirely without facilities for handling ex-
else matters.
Congress Must Come to Rescue.
Congress must early come to the res
cue, or there will be no first months
salary for the excise commissioners, in
the event they should be named in time
to serve during July. In enacting the
new law. Congress failed to appropriate
for salaries, but the District Commits
sioners have submitted deficiency esti-
mate as a remedy for the oversight
Strangely enough, Congress, through an
other inadvertency, failed to strike out Of
the regular District appropriation bill
items tor the salaries OIL clerks of the
old excise board. The Commissioners
have recommended that these salaries be
left intact, which will result in placing
the old office force at the disposal of the
new board.
There is the problem of providing Of
flee accommodations tor the board, which,
as far as can be determined from a gen.
eral inquiry among District officials has
been given little attention. The law con-
tains no reference to the matter and
there is little or no available office space
in the municipal building. This is q ques-
ton which may not be decided until
after the new excise commissioners have
been sworn in.
So much at variance are the opinions
OF citizens and officials regarding the
meaning and exact requirements OF GER
tain provisions OF the excise law that
already it has become generally ac-
cepted fact that the excise board will
have some knotty problems to dispose Of
during the first year or two of its exist
ence.
Provisions Operative July l.
Certain provisions of the act which the
board will have to enforce become opera
tive on the first of next month; others do
not go into effect until November 1 of
this year. and still additional ones until
November 1, 1914
There are said to be numerous incon-
sistencies in the law, and. as result,
the board probably will find itself in the
position of being forced to give liberal
construction to the provisions that are in
conflict with each other with the object
of carrying out what it believes to have
been the intent of Congress.
For example: 1t Is provided in para
graph tnat hereafter no license shall
be granted for the establishment or main
tenance of barrOOm or other place for
the sale Of Intoxicating liquors. ETC.,
having reference to the elimination of
saloons from certain restricted areas.
This would appear to make it plain
enough that on November l next, the
beginning Of the next license year. no
license renewal could be granted to a
saloon in any of the restricted areas
designated.
However, another clause in the same
paragraph states that no 1icensee who
shall conduct his business within the
law shall be deprived Of his license or
required to change his location before
November /, 1914
Excise Board Must Decide.
1t will be up to the excise board.
therefore, to determine whether drink
ing establishments located in restrict
ed zones established by the law shall
be refused license renewals at the be-
ginning Of next November or permit
| ted to continue in business at the pres
| ent locations for a year from N0vem-
ber.
Another big difficulty the excise board
| is expected to encounter Is with respect
| to enforcing the provision limiting the
number of saloons on one side of block
| between two intersecting streets to three.
Where there are more than three sa-
| looms on one side of block what rule
| will the board follow in deciding which
| three may be allowed to rema,n?" is a
| question frequently asked Of members of
| the present board by persons desrous of
| knowing how the new legislation will be
| carried into effect. 1t is query to
which no answer possibly can be made
! at present.
| On one side OF a block i'm the vicinity
of the municipal building seven saloons
are established. Under the new law four
| of them will be compelled to go out of
/ business or obtain new locations. This
will be but one Of many similar cases the
| board will have to handle, but what the
modus operandi will be still is matter
| of much speculation.
Two Important Provisions.