LICENSING MATTERS IN NEW YORK.

Evening Post, Volume L, Issue 125, 23 November 1895, Page 1 (Supplement)

LICENSING MATTERS IN NEW YORK.

♦ Mention has already been made of the efforts of the New Tork police to enforce the excise laws on the Statute Books, and compel all drinking places to close their doors on Sunday. Having succeeded with the saloons, they are now turning their attention to the social clubs, and announcing that all the clubs in the city will be notified to refrain from selling liquor to their members or suffer the consequences. Hitherto clubs have been regarded as families, or strictly private bodies ; they have never been required to take out any other license than the internal revenue license of the General Government, which is uniform throughout the United States. When this license was established, some 30 and odd years ago, it was agreed between the clubs and the Government authorities that a friendly suit should be brought against a single club, and all the others would abide by the result. The case went against the club, and all the others paid the tax without further opposition, and have continued to do so ever since. The police authorities now claim that clubs should take out a local license in addition to the Government one, and that they are under the local excise laws the same as public drinking saloons. All respectable clubs will doubtless obey the mandate of the authorities, but they will insist upon a test case to determine the validity of the new order of things. The case will be carried to the highest court of the State, and the decision will be of interest to clubmen generally.