Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-08-04
MEN OF THE MAYORALTY CAMPAIGN
Norris s Barra Associate Judge of Common Pleas Court No
His Room for Mavor Is Now Revived After 13 Years-The
Incident of the Liquor Licenses.
~ HERBERT s. WEBER

a certain prestige for life. 1t is even :.
important sometimes than having K,
elected There is at least one former Ma.
extant whom many find it hard to ids,as
at banuuets. But to have had boom Il. !.
is permanent glory for there is always !,
chance that the man might have had the /.
fee, but refused to seek 1t. To have h.
doomed, that is to be put forever on the +
of the boomable, and some men are bono,.
year after year just out of habit II Z.
been long time between booms wik
Judge Rarratt, but 10 show that a boon, Z,
never fade into nothingness here is his.asst.
revived after thirteen years of eclipse
He was talked of as a man likely To &.
ceed Ashbridge as Mayor, man who oo5.
hold together the two powerful machine i,
ments. The suggestion had evidently eo,
from the Durham contingent, but IL Il,
soon dropped Judge Barratt said he vs
not candidate, but that If 1t should appas,
that there was a demand for his candidscs
It would be his duty as citizen to consis.,
IT, and he said very much the same Ass
about his boom this year
In the next six years his name played M
part in important civic affairs. It was ma
until 1908 that the fierce light of publo,y
annual session of the License Court, presdas
over by Judges Barratt and Magil Tn
court granted As new saloon licenses despt,
vehement remonstrances. Six of these bsa
been marked Refused" and DEGREES WA,
accordingly entered. For some reason m
Judges changed their decisions over nIeb,
and marked the six applications Granted
erasng the word Refused" Coupled wifi
the Judges had not enforced rule whIa
had been in force in the License Court "a
two years, that with all applications ts
liquor licenses the attorney in each can
should file an affidavit setting forth his idep.
tity, the amount paid as a retainer and Ina
fee to be paid If the license was granted
Even certain Organization leaders were dis
turbed at the granting of so many new
licenses in the face of the strong local optcs
sentiment which had spread throughout In
city. Remonstrants declared they wert
not given a fair hearing. One saloon had
been given license though the appllcanI
had given a wrong location for the proposel
business and the people of the locality al
fected did not have legal notice of the ap
plication.
A Famous License Controversy
Judge Sulzberger, who had passed the rub i
that license lawyers give their names and /
anticipated fees, said he had hoped it woua
be a precedent His idea was that lawya
should receive about 800 as a fee for getting l
n client a saloon license. One lawyer i
Judge Barratt's court was said to have re
ceived fee of S12, 200 for this service.
The actions of the Judges were condemna i
both by Presbyterian and by Methodist min i
isters9in resolutions. Churches held mass 4
and demanded rehearings on
number Of cases. But when the petitions ior
rehearing came up before the Court the re 1
had little chance against ths i
men who had been granted the right to e.
tablish new saloons in residential sections
in view of the fact that Georu
Graham appeared for the liquor men and 1
made passionate defense of the Judges ia 4
open court. Four years later, when Judr 4
Barratt was seeking reelection, the Ola i
license scandal" was brought up again and
the Judges opponent attacked him on lie
ground that his procedure had been unjus.
tilted.
Judge Barratts father was James Barran
4 grain merchant years ago on Delawars
avenue near Pine street. The firm had been
established by his grandfather, James Bar
'att' about so years ago. The family had
'ome from Delaware, where in 1900 Andres
8arratt, great-grandfather of the Judge. was
4 Judge of the Supreme Court. The Judges
ather was a Common Councilman in this 4
,ity during the Civil War, was a member Of
he Union League and vice president of the
1orn Exchange.
Judge Barrstt is much interested in his.
OFtCaI nd tg tFo % tia
'ennsylvania Historical Society. He is
Iason' Knight Templar member of the
Union League and OF several political clubs