The Sentinel=record., 1914-01-24
JUDGE ASHER RULES THAT AR
 GENTA PETITIONS ARE SUE FlCENT FOR ALL PURPOSES.
LICENSE GRANTED FORTHWITH
County Judge Philpot Rules the Mail Addresses of Petitioners Are Suffi- cient, Following Closely the Judge
 Asher Rulings on All Points.

Little Rock, Jan. 23.-Shouts and cheers greeted the decision of Judge Joe Asher here today when he made a final ruling on the petitions for li- cense that had been filed for saloons in Argenta, his decision being that the petitions were sufficient, and the issuance of license for that city fo.- lowing forthwith.
 1t is interesting to note that Coun- ty Judge Philpot of Jefferson county has ruled identically with Judge Asher on the question of addresses on liquor petitions.
 Judge Philpot is now hearing the petition asking for the return of li- censed saloons to Pine Bluff. The attorneys for the prohibitionists ask ed that Judge Philpot strike off sev- eral hundred names contained in the petition, but to which no street ad. dresses had been given.
 Judge Philpot ruled that the pe- titioner's mail address was sufficient, and that the names should stay on. This same question was before Judge Asher twice during the hearing of the Argenta petition.
 Several hundred names were ask ed to be stricken off by the prohibit tionists, because in some instances the street address could not be found; in othens no street address had been given and in others the signers had moved from the address originally given.
 Judge Asher's ruling that if the signers lived in Argenta, no matter what their address or whether any address at all was given, the sigma lures were good.
 The. arguments in the case formed the most interesting part. Though there was little oratory the lawyers confined themselves to points they believed borne out by their evidence and to tearing down the bulwarks of defense or offense of the opposition. Col House was the only attorney to depart to any extent from this rule, and at the opening of his address, which was the closing argument. he dwelt at length on the elimination of the right or wrong moral involved, and urged that the point at issue was not one of morals, but between men, the petitioners on one side and the remonstrators on the other and should be tried, argued and decided as such.
 Attorney Joe House, Jr, made the opening argument. The brunt Of the arguing of the statistics and sigma lures involved fell upon MT. House and he drove him his argument with suTeness and resourcefulness that proved he well knew his case.
 MT House first read sections of the Going liquor law, such as were applicable to the case on trial.
 First" MT. House said, "the peti- tioners must comply with the law re- garding the circulation of the peti- tion. This they have done Second, the returns of the last general cleo tion must show that the majority of the citizens of Argenta favored the licensed saloon. This is proved, as the vote for saloons at the last cleo tion overshadowed the vote against | them at more than five to one pro portion. Third, this court, accord 1 ing to the law, has only one real is- sue to determine, and that is wheth- | CT the petition has the signatures of a majority of the residents. We, the | petitioners, I mean, have produced | our petition, and to win their case | the Temonstrators must show that | the petitioners are in the minority 'In regard to the contested names | the supreme court has held that the | names on the petition shall be taken | as prima facie evidence of their cor rectness. and they can not be taken | from the petition after it is filed ex- cept by the county judge. And the county judge can not take them from | the petition except for good cause = continued MT. House.
 On exhibit A. which included POI | names which the attorneys for the i"drys" insisted should come off on the grounds that they had slips from each signeT giving them permission to take them off MT. House said I27 could not be found on the liquor petition at all. On six of the slips, l