Show legislation AND TIM THE LIQUOR guestion IN ix consequence of wo tiko conflict between the liquor dealers of this city and the local authorities the subject of the regulation of the traffic in alcoholic stimulants has received much consideration we observe in bime sime quarters a disposition to attach blame where it does not belong for the difficulties which have occurred and which now are by no means settled notwithstanding the so called compromise between the county and the saloon keepers who resisted thela the tho law the cause causO of the conflict does not lie in the acts of the legislature the fault is neither in the territorial statute the city charter or the municipal ordinances each of those enactments is sufficiently plain specific simpie simple and definite to express the intentions of the law makers there would be no trouble in their enforce lentif those federal officers whose duty it is to adjudicate upon them were not biased in favor of the op posers and violators thereof the policy of our legislators has always been to discourage the sale of intoxicants prohibition has been made possible by law in most parts of the territory but in consideration of tue habits of people who consider stimulants a necessity and who have chiefly resided in the larger cities regulation and restraint have been resorted to in preference to prohibition the right to license the business has been given by the tho L legislature eg gi slature by a general law to the county courts and by special charters to each of the incorporated cities and provision clearly the former to exclude the municipalities pali ties from the jurisdiction in this respect of the county authorities the system worked well for many years no one ever thought of confounding f the powers of the county and city officials until it wms vas yas suggested by chief justice hunter who has used the authority vested kested in him tor to muddle and contuse the law jaw by his absurd rulings and judicial blunders and has sided with combination of whisky sellers engaged in conspiring against local laws that is the simple truth concerning the matter and it is un unjust j and unnecessary to try to cast upon the framers of the laws which worked well enough for many and until strained interpretations and ridiculous perversions were made by the present chief justice the policy pursued in this city has been to charge a high license fee for the sale of intoxicants this has been done with a view to keep the number of saloons to render them respectable and to sustain the irice erice price of the article vended bended at a figure gure which would make it a luxury and thus prevent common andul gence in it to some extent at least judge mckean was the first judicial officer to strike any severe blow at the municipal authority thus direct ed he hb ruled that the high license fee charged by the city was prohibitory in its character but even eveh he decided that 1000 per annum was not exorbitant this was the amount charged from the time of his bis later ruling until recently judge hunter first decided that ehe the sum of 1000 was too great when the city council reduced it to soo he ruled that revenue could not be collected at ht all by license to use his own remar remarkable kabie kable definition that f revenue is taxes faxes tax it that at in the exercise of the licensing power only the cost of the ishuin issuing of the license could be charged that the city could not restrain or regulate by license and further that the county authorities author ties held the right to license within the city ano sale salo lof intoxicants and it was 0 to o beare be presumed that the liquor dealer whose case was then under consideration had obtained j a license from the be county it Is to this rubbish thattie that the blame I 1 is to be attached not to the laws nor the ordinances no law could be enacted or ordinance passed of which advantage could not tw bo laren lasen by unscrupulous lawyers sustained by incompetent partial or purchased judea 8 lt it is 8 wel well known that the revenues of cities all over the world is derived not only from taxes but from licenses fines and other sources tho the expenses of civic government accruing from the traffic in liquors are far greater than from any other business which cities have the right to license more police services is thereby rende rendered red zed necessary the breaches of the peace growing out of it are greater than from any other cause the license fee therefore should in reason and justice be greater the authority to determine what the license fee shall be is vested in the city council by charter among other things salt lake city is empowered to grant and issue licenses and direct the manner of issuing and registering thereof and the fees to be paid thereof the conclusion reach d by the judge that the amount of the fee must be limited by tle tie cost of issuing and registering the license is not warranted by anything in the charter or jn the rules prevailing in any part of the civilized world so with the assumption that the city cannot reg regulate u or restrain by license it is by the amount of the fee that regulation and restraint is exercised over the liquor trannie traffic and as asi to the jurisdiction of the county and the assumption that liquor devi ers in the city had ad taken out licenses from the county court the law I 1 plainly exempts the county from interfering with the municipal power wen in this respect and the 50 judge knew as well as any other person that no liquor dealer within the city limits had attempted to take out any such license licenses for the law in relation to mhd subject provides des ano no provision on of this act shall be so con construed as to interfere in any way with the rights of the municipal authorities of incorporated towns and cities with a plain and ele cle definite finite provision like this what can be thought of a judge who W would ouid make and utter an official assumption like judge hunters aud in view of this what law could be enacted 3 framed by hired attorneys or composed by the most experienced perien ced legislators that could be I 1 insured against judicial a and id perversions the collection of liquor licenses by the county authorities la Is in accordance cor dance with judge hunters dictum tum but not with the statute from which we have quoted by the same rule every butcher in the city can cau be compelled to take 1 out but a license from the county court the law applies to the but butchers chera equally with the liquor dealers as may be seen from page of the compiled laws of utah A new now general liquor law for the territory is desirable times and circumstances have greatly changed since the old law and the city charter were enacted They were passed january but it is not the tault fault of the legislature that more complete enactments suited to the changed conditions condition sp have not become a part of our code A oa g good 0 d bill was passed al the last session slon sion 1 one that had been well considered and matured it was vetoed by the governor who also butchered other bill i presented for hla hia sig nature and the blame for their imperfections in pe is attached by thoughtless people to the legislature I 1 we vve deny that the present laws in relation to the liquor traffic and the respective rights of cities and counties are ambiguous or so worded cras clas as to W make the statutes inoperative and add worth worthless ebs ess the language is clear enough for anyone who does not wish to pervert fertit it and no matter how many laws may be passed nor who has the verbal arranging of them while governors can mutilate as they please under threats of suppression and courts will play into the hands of pettifogging attorneys and those whose h oso pecuniary interest t I 1 it t is to defy the law such enactments will have no more force or effect than those already on the statute books we need not only good laws plainly worded for the control of the liquor tramm traffic le according to public sentiment which in utah is in favor of strong restraint but honest capable and just interpreters Interpret ers irs ana and administrators of the law or confusion is bound to prevail and the lawless will override the most wholesome and definite regulations |