Evening star., 1933-12-16
Liquor Control Regulations.

Liquor control hsSulaIlCns.
Discussion of liquor control regula-
tions has d:velcped certain agreements
in local community opinion, which
should be carefully cons; dered in fair
ness to the unrepresented community,
whe her the regulations are enacted by
Congress or framed with congressional
auth 1rizaticn by the Commissioners.
i. The home owners, the families of
the District, are opposed to saloons,
taverns, bar rooms. liquor sales stores
or bar rooms masquerading as res
taurants or clubs within the strictly
residential areas of the city.
To meet squarely this local senti-
ment. saleso of distilled liquor within these
areas should be made extremely diff
cult 1t would be justifis ole to assume
in advance that such sales are not de-
sired and to put upon the proposed
seller a heavy burden of proof to over
ccme this assumption. If neighborhood
protest against such sales is assumed in
advance, the first burden should be
upon the proposed seller to secure the
approval CT ct least fifty per cent of
the people of the vicinity before his
application for license should be con-
of negative protest, but fifty-one per
cent CT affirmative approval should be
the essential prerequisite Of even the
slightest consideration of the applica-
tion by the Commissioners, who, in the
event of this approval might then in
vestigate the whole situation, determine
whether the f1fty-one per cent approval
fairly represents the real neighborhood
sentiment and whether the applicant is
unfit for any reason to be licensed, even
though he has obtained this approval.
1t may reasonably be decided that 81
per cent of affirmative approval would
not be sufficient showing to entitle
liquor sales applicant to serious con-
sideration and that IS per cent ap-
proval should be required. The coming
regulations demand positive proof OF
sentiment in favor of permitting GER
tain establishments otherwise banned
from those areas. The assumption is
that normal sentiment is opposed to
these establishments. and the burden
OF proof is placed upon the proponents
BY demanding written consent of rs per
cent of the property owners within a
given area. Sentiment in residential
areas against the sale of liquor might
fairly be assumed to be as strong as the
zoning regulations assume it to be
against establishment of clubs, frater-
nifty houses. hospitals. public garages,
etc.
2. Local public sentiment also ex-
pressed itself in favor of the prohibited
areas of pre-prohibition days that sur
rounded and protected churches and
schools against hard liquor sales in the
immediate neighborhood. For the same
reasons which justify this protection to
school children, the public libraries,
supplements of the educational system
of the District, should be granted the
same protection.
3. The reasons for the ban against
the sale of Intoxicating liquor in areas
surrounding the Soldiers Home, St.
Elizabeth's, the Navy Yard and the War
College are as sound and strong today
as when many years ago Congress en-
acted these prohibitive statutes. Con-
gress is now called upon to reaffirm or
repudiate them.
In the campaign for repeal the re-
pealistS in good faith disclaimed any
intention Of attempting to convert or
'whitewash' that ancient enemy, the
Demon Rum" or as a result of re-
peal to decorate him with sanity
halo. On the contrary, they denounced
the ineffectiveness of the Demons con-
troll solely by nominal exile under pro-
hibition and with obvious sincerity de-
clared for stronger, tighter bonds of
control in the interest Of real tenn
perance on the part of the individual
and Of community and family welfare.
There is general agreement that dis
TILED liquor of high alcoholic content
a habit-forming narcotic, valuable in
many ways. but is unsuitable and unfit
for habitual use as a beverage; and
observation suggests that its excessive
use (and the Anne scan tendency is to
excess in everything, tends in many
cases to wreck body. njs<s--nd soul.
Obviously, regulations to control in
the community interest the sales of
this product must, in order to be ef-
fective, be more stringent and more
rigidly enforced than those which are
adequate to control in the public in
terest the sales of products that are in
themselves wholesome, ,health-promoting
or in no respect injury Threatening.
The trainers of wise and effective reg
ulations for the control of the distilled
liquor traffic will note necessarily at
the outset this distinction in viewpoint
II approach to their task