Smyrna times., 1936-09-17
LIQUOR FOLKS
MEET AT SHORE
dupont Informs Group He
Doubts Sunday Sales Law
Could Be Had
HEAR FEW COMPLAINTS

Il doubt if you can get legisla-
tion permitting Sunday sales, ;"
Pierre S. DUPONT. State Liquor
Commissioner, told the Retail
Liquor Dealers Association in Re
hoboth on Wednesday of last week.
There is no use trying to put
through a bill against religious
sentiment" he explained, adding:
Il can't quite see where the drink
ing of liquor in a public place is
any worse than in private. 1t is
better to have Sunday selling in
public than to have it going on
surreptitiously in clubs and
homes" Making his first address
to liquor dealers, Mr.. DUPONT en-
phasized that the greatest problem
before the dealers is handling the
question of Sunday and after-mid-
night sales. He expressed the opin-
ion that it is quite reasonable to
extend the hours of sales in some
establishments not located in
strictly residential districts, but
that some dealers would not find
! such extensions of any value, and
the stumbling block would be the
extra license fees and how they
should be adjusted. Declaring he
does not believe legislation to re-
J lax the Sunday ban could be rush.
ed through the next General As
sembly, Mr.. DUPONT declared it is
up to the retailers to collect public
| opinion ON all proposed changes in
/ the liquor law and to promote ideas
for changes. The conduct of the
association in the three years since
! prohibition, he said, has been
quite satisfactory. Records show
that only 13 states have sold more
spirits than Delaware. However, 1
do not feel this means more liquor
consumed but that illegal trade has
fallen off. In Delaware, so per
cent of the 500 retailers of spirits
had never had complaint made
against them and of those that
have had charges lodged against
them only 5 per cent of such COM
plants could be proved" Mr..
DUPONT added that with 500 deal
ers in spirits the State is well serv-
ed and he sees no reason to in
crease the licenses. The sale of
spirits has increased, he said, but
not beer. Since the first year beer
sales have decreased while spirits
doubled their sales in the second
year, and the third year showed an
increase of half of that. Another
point of proposed legislation was
whether entertainment should be
permitted in liquor establishments.
which, he said, was not matter
for the liquor commission to de-
termine. The point at issue, he
said, seemed to be whether young
people should be allowed in such
places where shows are held 1T is
the duty of parents to decide this, :"
NS e'oh1. iAONCfCi, lAC 0CdlS1S
should have legal support in this.
Whether the selling of bottled
liquor to customers shortly before
midnight should be continued was
another point at issue, as this Of
ten prolongs their stay several
hours. The commissioner said he
thought it preferable to limit the
time when people should remain
rather than prevent the purchase
of bottled goods shortly before 12
o'clock midnight. Some dealers
wanted protection from those who
buy liquor and refuse to pay for it,
but the commissioner declared he
had never heard of a dealer who
had lost out. Henry Shreffler, pres
ident, announced that the next
meeting would be held on Septem-
Der 30, the place not yet determin-
ed.