Evening star., 1934-01-18
The Commissioner Responsibility


The Commissioners Responsibility.
There are a few points Of difference
between House and Senate on the Dis
trict liquor control bill which remain
to be settled in conference, but these
differences are Of relatively minor i'm
portance in so far as they affect the
underlying principles Of the bill itself.
To all intents and purposes. the bill to
be sent to the President will probably
be the bill which passed the Senate yes
terday.
There are many who find faults Of
emission and sins Of commission in the
measure. But unless the President him
self returns it to Congress. it is the law
Under. which the newly legalized traffic
III intoxicating beverages in the District
- to be controlled. Its effectiveness
depends not so much upon the wording
Of the act itself as upon the exercise
Of the discretionary and other powers
placed in the hands Of the Commis-
sioners and the agents whom the Com
missioners will delegate to enforce the
law.
Immediate interest, Of course, turns
TO the Commissioners selection Of the
liquor control board. Postmaster Cen
eral Farley. who was quoted in Tues
days Star In comment upon the
power Of the Commissioners to select
the board. suggested that unless you
have good strong people in jobs like
that, you are going to have trouble"
and he assumed that the board would
be chosen. regardless of politics, from
the best material available. The Com
missioners on more than one occasion
have indicated their desire to conduct
themselves, as Mr. Allen recently put
it, as II they had been elected by the
people of the District. Their silent
constituency Is interested in the per-
sonnel of the liquor board to the ex-
tent that it will be chosen through
considerations Of the ability and efh-
cheney of the many candidates.
But the Commissioners, even more
than the liquor board. have the re-
sponsibility Of establishing at the out
set the principles which will be en-
bodied in control regulations and In
later decisions to be made in connec-
tion with the regulations. Interpret
ing the expressed views of local citizens,
as well as the spirit Of the liquor con-
troll measure, they will in the begin
ming restrict the issuance Of licenses
to those qualified not only by the let
ter Of the law but by their regulations
rs fit to discharge new important re-
sponsibilities. In the location Of licensed
places the Commissioners will seek
10 curb indHcrtminate growth Of estab-
lishments ip neighborhoods where their
presence VIII become Objectionable to
property owners and menace the en-
forcement Of law.
The extent, for another example, to
which the Commissioners in exercising
their power Of control discriminate be-
tween hard" liquor of high alcoholic
content, q forming narcotic in
toxicant, unfit for use as family bev-
erage, and poisonous when used to
excess, and beer, whose comparatively
small alcoholic oentent has permitted
it to be the family beverage Of millions,
young and old, will have effect in de-
Gliding whether our experiment in liquor
control legislation is noble or an
ignoble experiment and whether tenn
perance and sobriety are in fact pro-
NOTED thereby.
As broad as are some Of the powers
given the Liquor Control Board and the
Commissioners, they cannot be success
fully applied without the cooperation
of citizens, as anxious to prevent the
growth Of evils and abuses identified
enjoy revived privileges as individuals.
Responsibility for the attainment Of
temperance and sobriety has been
largely shifted from the statute books
to the individual The local control act
provides for the participation Of citizens
in ncense-granting to the extent that
protestants shall always be heard. and,
when Z suficient number have protested,
the issue of some licenses In some neigh
borhoods Is prohibited. If this new
privilege is wisely exercised the Com
missioners will be assisted In the dif1i-
cult business before them.