Milford chronicle., 1917-11-09
"DRYS" WIN fight in
new CASTLE COUNTY
Dry" Victory In Rural County By
926-Wilmington Remains
Wet" By 2259 Majority.

AT the special election in the city
of Wilmington and rural New Castle
County to fight out the liquor question
at the polls. the dry" supporters
scored another victory, this time add
ing rural New Castle County to the
dry territory of the state. Whining
ton. as had been expected. remains
wet, but the drys made such a hard
fight that the majority of 4,110 which
the vets scored over the drys in the
1907 fight, was cut down to 1858. In
rural New Castle County the drys
made clean sweep, and piled up an
overwhelming majority for their
cause. In 1907 the county went wet
by 571, and again in 1910 when the
question was presented to the voters
for their consideration the vets won
by an increased majority of 74S. This
increase had led the wet supporters
to hope for an easy victory in that
district. The count of the ballots,
however. disclosed the fact that the
voters had greatly changed in favor
of the dry cause and the large ma
jOrity Of 92S was given for them.
While the law under which the yot-
ing of Tuesday took place specifies
that in event of any district voting
dry it should not go into effect until
July l. 1918. a legal question already
has been raised as to whether or not
the result in the rural county shall
become effective Immediately after
the judges in Superior court officially
canvass the votes. The constitutional
section setting forth the procedure for
mandatory submission of the license
question to the voters provides that
no license shall become effective inn
mediately after such result is acer-
tanned by the court and is proclaimed
by the Governor. The question now
raised is whether this provision OF
the Constitution will supercede the
date of July /. 1918, set forth in the
law as the date for nO-license to be-
come effective in any district so vOt-
ing.
This legal point in all probability
will be used as a basis for the owners
of licensed hotels in rural New Cas-
tie county making a test OF the law.
While no official announcement was
made in behalf of the hotel men that
they will test the law in an effort to
set aside the result of Tuesday, Il is
known that some Of them have been
i'm consultation with legal counsel on
that point.
Attorney General David ] Reinhart |
when asked for an opinion as to when |
the dry vote in New Castle County |
will go into effect, said:
Il have not gone into the law and |
do not propose to unless some action |
is taken. The drys could cause the I
arrest of a saloonkeeper for selling |
liquors in dry territory, /
which would set the subject before /
the courts, or the vets could take
case into court. which would bring
the matter to an issue"
While the vets are whooping about
their victory at the polls in Whining
ton on Tuesday. and are apparently
happy over the result. they have much
over which to ponder in their leisure
minutes. Wilmington was already a
wet territory, and while the drys lost
their fight to bring it into the dry col
umn, they made a hard fight of which
they can be proud The vets have
lost all of rural New Castle County
by the action of the voters on Tues
day. and this in itself is a blow to
hem. Twenty-Five liquor houses are
put out of business as a result Of the
vote in that county alone. and the
vets must face the cold facts that
they made losing fight. and that the
irys have taken another of their dis
ricts from them.