...continued... Davenport Democrat Davenport, Scott, Iowa July 20, 1924 LONG SERIES OF VICTORIES MARKS LOCAL FIGHT AGAINST THE BLUE RIBBON "MENACE" The Mulct Law. Now let us skip a period during which, it may be supposed, residents of Davenport and Scott counties suffered no dearth of intoxicating beverages and turn to the mulct law of 1884. The essentials of this law may be summed up briefly. It provided that a tax of $600 should be levied against all persons, except registered pharmacists holding permits, engaging in the sale of intoxicating liquors and against the owner of the property where such business was carried on. The tax was to constitute " a perpetual lien upon all property both personal and real, used in or connected with the business." It was stipulated that nothing in the act "should in any way be construed to mean that the business of the sale of intoxicating liquors is in any way legalized, nor is the same to be construed in any manner or form as a license." It simply provided that in cities of 5,000 or more inhabitants the payment of the tax should provide a bar to the proceedings under the prohibitory law in case there should be filed with the county auditor "a written statement of consent signed by a majority of voters residing in said city who voted at the general election" and in case the person paying the tax should conform with certain other conditions. Nuts for Davenport. This was nuts for the residents of Davenport and Scott county. So overwhelming was the sentiment in favor of wetness that, many times, the petition was never even circulated. The "State of Scott" didn't have to circulate petitions to know where it stood! Ninety per cent of the voters were willing to sign for the saloons. It was a state of blissful, albeit defiant, booziness which continued on until 1900. At that time two big Davenport breweries, the Independent Malting company and the Davenport Malting company, representing an investment of three quarters of a million dollars, were running full blast. They had no right to exist under the law; literally, they didn't have a leg to stand on. But in the "State of Scott" they didn't have any difficulty in putting their wares on the market. First Tap of Law Then came the first tap of the law on the door. An injunction suit was started against the Downs hotel bar, Davenport, which used to occupy the site now held by the Black Hawk hotel. Local attorneys were thunderstruck. They couldn't understand. For years there had been no prohibition; there were more than 200 saloons in the city and now some busybody was stirring up trouble! This suit was compromised, but was followed by more injunctions in an ever-increasing tide. Every saloon in Davenport and Scott county was enjoined at one time or another. The instigators of the suits, "Captain" C.W. Neal and his client co-worker, T.H. Kemmerer. Judge J.W. Bollinger, of the Scott County District Court, issued compromise decrees for all the suits. When the Moon law, which limited the number of saloons to one for every thousand inhabitants came into effect, Davenport was "sitting pretty". The city had a special charter from the state, and the Moon lawmakers had neglected to stipulate that their restrictions applied to special charter cities. So, having gotten rid of Neal and Kemmerer, who had been branded as mercenaries working for money, and money alone, the good people of Davenport sat back and had a delicious chuckle. Sidesteps Moon Law. But the farmers of the Moon law, observing their tremendous mistake, hasted to put the words "special charter city" on the statute books. It helped them out, but not at once, for thru the work of local attorneys, Davenport was granted more than a year to get rid of its surplus saloons, while the other non-charter cities had to cut down as soon as the law went into effect. In 1915 the state legislature repealed the mulct law, leaving unqualified prohibition on the statute books and passed a resolution submitting another state constitutional amendment to the vote of the people. This amendment was submitted in 1916. And then an unusual thing happened. There was no campaign, no agitation, before the special election. But a monstrous vote was polled, and, when the ballots were counted, it was found that the prohibitory amendment had been defeated by a vote of five thousand. The people of the "State of Scott" hadn't turned a hand-they just voted. The reason for the disapproval of the amendment, altho unqualified prohibition was in effect, was that the latter could be repealed with comparative ease, while it would take a lot of work to repeal a state constitutional amendment. The liquor events up to the present are too well known and too much discussed to need much mention here. The bootlegger, sly and sneaking, has taken the place of those old saloon keepers, who had the courage of their convictions and were not afraid to fight in the open. Whether the conditions are better is left for the Drys to say. Cathy Joynt Labath Scott Co, IA USGenWeb Project http://www.celticcousins.net/scott/index.htm Iowa Old Press http://www.IowaOldPress.com/