OCR Text |
Show Says It Wasn't Right At tho latojiiunicipul election, Lelij elected the Democratic ticket on a prohibition pro-hibition platform : and now tho old city council has just granted u licem-e to a saloon for a year. This graiit is clearly a defiance ol the votors'.will, and should not havo.bfcn made. It is not at all u question of prohibition or saloon so far as the ncc of the council is concerned, but it is a question of popular rule t The people having declared for prohibition, prohibi-tion, tboy are entitled to have',it, and no power is cnmpetenttooverrldo their will. The old Council had np mural rjght tp grant the liconso beyond its o.n offical life, and would have done better, iu view of the declared purpose of tho voters vot-ers not to have granted any ronewal at all. Tribune The next day the Tribune publishe ! the following letter from Mayor Evans explaining hib position. Kditor Tribune : I notice in an edi. torial this morning thpt'tho pressntCity Council is eovcrely criticised for granting grant-ing a liquor license to a sufoon for a year after tho people had declarjjdj tjy theijj ballots in the reennt election that pro-hibitibiiishould pro-hibitibiiishould hereafter'rjreVaik n'h 'dV. desire toufakea'statin'erit'oiTifew of t'ii facte connected ith the matter. Lehi has two saloons, one of which was1 on June 7th issued i jearly liconse, which will not expire u nil Juno 7, 1898. Tho license of the ot ier expires Dec.lst of the present year. Tho latter" petitioned tho Council to ins ;ie it a yearly licence from tho 1st of '. )ee. There were two Republican and wo Democialic members, mem-bers, of the Council present. The former form-er moved to grant; tlje petition and tb'o laTtor moved an amendment to grant a licence not.to excW six months. The motion to grant tlie petition prevailed by the Mayor casting tho deciding vote. The reasons for granting tho petition are, Pur ordinance provides that licenses if iesiicd for a quarter, the person llcens. ed shall pay into the city treasury $200 provided that if s lieenee is taken for one year he Bhnlj paybut $700, Tho city therefore holds but an inducement of $100 to takoouta yearly licence. Tho democratic members, uno of whom ! is Mayor-elect) and the othera councilor-elect councilor-elect to tuceed himself, were willing to grant tho license for six mouths, which under tbu ordinance would cost tho pro. prietor $400, or $50 more than under the yearly license. This was considered an injustice, and acted upon accordingly. .It seems' to me that the only question for the Council to consider under tho ordinance, ordi-nance, us to the length of time the licence li-cence should be issued, was whether "or not the person to he licensed was desir -able, of good character and capable of conducting an cYderly and well-regulated house. One saloon has already eli-lOyed eli-lOyed l ho privilego of taking out a year ly license, and how the present Council can morally refuse a person equally as desirable, lite panio p'lvilego under tha same ordinance , is moi;e than I can comprehend. com-prehend. Lasaure you that iheCouncil as wqll as myself, wero actuated only bv winch" to them scented rlgHtTtWt-Jitfiff Trusting you will give space to the foregoing fore-going in your yalucable paper I remain: lespectfully. Mosiah Evans, Mayor Lejii, Utahj Nov. 25, 1897. "Wo did not question the honorablo motives of the Lehi City Council. Our point was. that the people bavin- votod for prohibition, thev an untitled to have it. Tncre Is no question hero alotii the price ol license, or tho time one licem-o or another runs. Tho lic.ei.se now in operation runs to June next, but that was granted.before the people had declared de-clared their will, and no fault can be found with it; but to grant another license' li-cense' after the voters had declared,, a- gainst license, was to override theyei-dlct theyei-dlct of the election! If "Mayor Evans's, position is correct, that the Council may go oti ! granting- licenses- In spite nt the yote fPr prohibition, and plead that their intentions are honorable in ho doing, do-ing, they may in dune noxt'gniiityiih-other noxt'gniiityiih-other license to take the phicuof t'tlieone which will expire theivand the same ordinance and intentions may be pleaded plead-ed then that are pleaded .now; and with Miatsort of logic, how are' the v iters ever to get what they demaud bv tbeis votes? We eay the Council has no right to giunt the .licenses, and to do it is de fying the popular vole us expressed at the polls, .tyiyor Evans, In pleading i tlie ordinance , ' and the duty of the j Council to grant licences is apparently i paving tlie way to annul tl o ream: ol , thoeleo:ion,aud folce license pruuliui-entlyuu pruuliui-entlyuu the. city iwhether the people want it or not, Trjbune.., . Another letter from Mayor Evans and nu uustver ulso has'ttppeaied in tlie Tribune since the above was published, being a lurtherdifccussiuu of the same subject. We are unable to publieh it. |