INTEMPERANCE AND CRIME

(Liquor Laws) REPORT OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF INTEMPERANCE AND CRIME, PRESENTED AT A PUBLIC MEETING, HELD IN THE ACADEMY OF MUSIC, APRIL 2, 1878. 1st. 1878. 12 pgs.

The pamphlet begins by the listing of three classes of licenses authorized by Excise Laws for selling spiritous liquors, wines, ale and beer and the conditions such sellers need to meet in order to obtain a license. In this pamphlet, the Society for the Prevention of Intemperance and Crime was concerned about the police department and its commissioners’ interpretation of the laws and conditions and complain that the commissioners pay no heed to the Society’s objections. The commissioners had promised to further address the complaints, but such was not the case, and the Society concluded that the commissioners “seemed to sympathize with and abet the evasion”. Therefore, the Society took it upon itself to address the issue of the laws not being properly enforced. The resistance from the “establishment” was so strong that the Society abandoned its law suits against those parties that did not heed the liquor laws. Consequently, the Society, in this pamphlet, pleads for the help of “every Citizen of Brooklyn who believes in the supremacy of the law, and recognizes the necessity for fidelity to its requirements on the part of those who are charged with the duty of executing it [the police commissioners].” (Mason)

Small chip ;to rear bottom left corner, overall in vg cond.