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Show THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC-NEXT REMEDY. ' Id their efforts to control the traffic ;ii in liquor in this city, the municipal ; ;' authorities have at different times adopted various measures to discourage i " intemperance and promote morality, endeavoring to keep within legal r ' bounds and enforce such regulations as i ' would best subserve the general wel- r, fare. Home eight years ago prohibi- 1 tion was talked of, and chief justice John Titus decided, in the plainest t; ' terms, that tho city had fall power to enact and enforce a prohibitory ordi-r ordi-r 1 nance. But as ttare were many people passiog through this city at the time, and quite a number residing here, who ': were accustomed to the use of such stimulants regularly, with a desiro to " ' meet tho wishes of that class particu larly, and in accordance with a somewhat some-what general expression against rigid ' prohibition, anothor plan was decided j upon. The license was placed at three hundred dollars a month for engaging in tho rotail liquor traffic. This met tho minds of those who desired to vi conduct tho business rospcotably, and , two objocts were expected to be readied by it : That the number of bars would be kept down, and that thoso engaged legitimately in the busi-' busi-' cess would aid the city iu seeing that an illicit traffic was not carried on. Tho plan worked admirably for years; Salt Lake was a model town for temperance; tem-perance; and yet those who desired to use liquor were not debarred from do- , ing so. Tho high license was not im posed to raise a larger revenue as has 1 ' been repeatedly stated, but to keep down the number of places selling ' liquor and thereby discourage intem perance. The charter of the city had been fre- i! quently attacked by parties who cared ' more for securing a little ill-gotten money than the public welfare; the powers conferred by it upon the mayor ', and aldermen were similarly disputed; b'At tho courts invariably sustained the city until our later Daniels (!) came to judgment, when hopes wero enter-tained enter-tained that partisan prejudice would do what sound legal judgment had de- ' nied. Nor wore these hopes with out sufficient grounds. A deci- i sion by one associate justice of the f supremo court of the Territory ' ruled that a license which amounted to a prohibition was unconstitutional.! ' ;; This doctrine was supplemented by an-: '" other associate justice of the Territory deciding that the mayor and aldermen j of tho city had no judicial authority; ( , and with these two tho present chief justice, with his cordial hatred of everything Mormon and the facility ! ' with which he can make law when the books fail to furnish it, will doubtless agreo against tho city where it appears as party in a suit. In the liquor cases lately tried and decided upon, and in the prohibition cases, we think tho supreme su-preme court of this Territory is the court of last resort; and as it requires no special or plenary inspiration to say what the decision of that court will be, the conclusion is forced upon us that ' :t something has to be done other than has been dono, to lawfully and successfully success-fully combat tho "whisky ring." Wc wish it to bo known that the Herald is, under existing circumstances, circumstan-ces, in favor of prohibition of the most rigid kind that oan be maintained in the courts. But having little faith in the fairness or justice of the present ' superior courts of this Territory, we suggest that the city council, if such a measure be decided upon, have the or-, or-, dinancc concerning it drafted with the aid of the best legal talent available; and have it, if possible, so constructed that some case arising under it may be carried to the supreme court of the United Uni-ted States for decision. We desire to see tho law magnified; and when a wholesomo ordinance for restricting in-' in-' temperance cannot be sustained, while tho mayor and aldermen are denied the judicial powers conferred upon them by tho legislature, it is time some steps wero taken to correct an evil which huge in its inception threatens speedily to become overwhelming. We are aware that prohibition would militate seriously against several who have invested largely in the trade here and are willing to pay their license. The fact is to be regretted, but the evil must be met. It the city cannot control and collect revenue from the trade in liquor, only on tho terms of those cDgaged in it, by what authority , can it control or collect revenue from any business? We might go further and ak, by what authority can it im-poso im-poso and collect taxes ? And where is the revenue for municipal government to come from? or where the power to keep iu subjection the lawless and those who would sot proper government govern-ment at defiance ? Ex parte answers to some of these queries can be given, but their force would remain; for if the city has not authority to control so prolific a source of lawlessness and disorder as ihe sale of intoxicating liquors, li-quors, it has no power to control anything. |