Evening star., 1934-01-05
TRADE BOARD ASKS
LICENSING SYSTEM
Joint Hearing on D. C. Liquor
0penS-CeI|er and Bride
Quizzed on Bill.
Continued From First Page.)

ILlaV lllO hlOoO CAACSIlNC way VI dClllCN-
ing this purpose was to so liberaliZe
the legal diSpensation of Intoxicating
liquor as to make it both reasonable
in price and readily obtainable. espe-
cially beer and light wines, so that
by virtue of that fact, it would be
able to compete commercially with the
Illicit traffic and in so doing drive
such traffic out of existence" the
statement said.
The Board Committee further rec
commended that license fees should
all be made as low as would be con-
sistently possible to permit legally dis
pensed intoxicating liquors to COM
pete as to price with that which is
illicitly dispensed"
The group summed up its conclusions
as follows:
We believe a board comprised of
three persons should be selected and
that its personnel should be so out
standing that the entire problem of
regulating the dispensation of intoXi-
eating liquors in the District of Colum-
bia can be placed in their hands ex-
| clusively and that their decisions be
made final in every respect, save a re-
view by the court on questions of law.
In this way. great deal of grief will
be taken from the Office of the Com
missioners. possible mistakes can be
readily rectified and We shall have one
single body to be commended for wise
administration or to blame in the event
anything goes wrong. There should be
no divided authority"
Urges Care.
In her opening statement, Mrs. Nor
ton SAID there was no desire on the
part of the committee to rush through
any particular measure. In order to
give all who desire it a chance to be
heard, she urged witnesses to limit
themselves to 10 minutes.
1T would be a ghaStly mistake tC
formulate legislation that would permit
recurrence of that evil. masked or in
the open" Mrs. Norton said in refer
ring to preventing the return of the
saloon
Il am proud of the fact that I was
one of the original rebels against the
prohibition movement. but that did not
mean that l ever have been, or ever
could be, opposed to temperance"
Celer First Witness.
Celler. the first witness. indorsed the
Commissioners bill, but recommended
several changes He expressed the opin-
ion that the word spirits" in section
of the bill is too narrow and should
be broadened to include cordialS. In
addition. he said hotels having less
than so rooms should not be pro-
hibited from procuring a license tc
serve liquor to guests in their rooms
Celler also urged that section 6 OF
the bill be rewritten to give appli-
cants for licenses the right to appea
to the courts from decisions of the
Control Beard. This section, he pointed
out now imposes on the board broaC
authority to revoke licenses on any
question of fact and StipulateS that its
action shall be final and conclusive.
Later, Cel:er advocated a lower tas
than so cents a galoln on wine con-
tanning more than ID per cent of al
cOhOl by volume as provided in the bill
He suggested instead a graduated scale
with the highest tax on ardent spirits
slightly lower tax on fortified wines
and still lower tax on light wines
Lowering of the tax on wines, he de-
clared, would have the tendency of in
creaSing its consumption.
Recommends Wine.
We are not wine drinking COun-
try" Celler declared. I'VE ought to be
wine-drinking country. We would
be far better nation if we were not a
hard-drinking nation. But, unfortu-
nately. we are hard-drinking nation
and the people should be encouraged
! to drink wine rather than hard liquor ~
Representative Patman, Democrat of
| Texas. a dry, tried to get the witness
to give his definition of a saloon.
Il think you can define it as well as
1 can" Celler replied.
At the insiStence of Patman, how
ever. Celler finally said he would de-
scribe saloon as place where there
is unlimited and excessive drinking re-
gardless of its physical properties.
Patman then asked Celler how much
| liquor a person could consume and
still remain temperate.
Il can't answer that because I've
never been intoxicated" answered
Celler. Neither am 1 a scientist"
Quizzed on Platform"
Continuing his barrage of questions,
! Patman asked the witness what the
! Democratic platform meant when it
said the liquor business should be
brought out into the open.
Il think" replied Celler. that it
means that drinking should not be
| done behind screens"
Corporation Counsel Bride. author
of the Commissioners liquor bill,
| lOllOWeU SSlltI anu chpldlIIcu III uCldli
various provisions of the measure. He
pointed out at the outset that the bill
is based on the license system as dis
tinguished from the dispensary system
Several members of the committee
| questioned Bride regarding the provi-
sions which would preclude hotels hav-
ing less than so rooms from procuring
a license to serve liquor to guests in
their rooms. He explained that the
50-room limitation is the same that
existed in the pre-prohibition days and
was copied from the Districts old excise
law.
Bride pointed out, however. that the
smaller hotels, under the provisions of
the bill, would be permitted to sell
| liquor in their restaurants.
Quizzed on Number.
Senator Capper tried to find out how
many places there would be selling hard
liquor under the Commissioners bill.
Bride replied that before prohibition,
with a $1,500 year license, there were
300 saloons He estimated that with a
$500 fee in this bill for on-sale licenses,
there would be about 700 restaurants
licensed. The Commissioners bill au-
thorizes sale of liquor by the glass at
tables in restaurants. hotels and clubs.
brought out that District officials have
estimated there would be 1000 places
licensed, however, including off-sale as
well as restaurants and hotels.
While Bride was explaining that sale
bv the glass could only be made at
tables. Representative Palmisano of
MARYLAND observed:
When they sit down they won't
know whether they have had enough
until they stand up"
On the question of irving to elimi-