Letter from Arthur Stevens to Governor Napoleon Broward, 1908

Prohibition -- Florida

Liquor laws

Alcohol -- Law and legislation

Voting

County officials and employees -- Florida -- Duval County

Temperance

Letter from Arthur Stevens, chairman of the Prohibition Campaign Committee of Duval County, to Florida Governor Napoleon Bonaparte Broward claiming the Duval County clerk of courts published in the Florida-Times Union a list of people who signed a prohibition petition so alcohol supporters could persuade the signers to change their mind.

Stevens, Arthur Dunham

State Archives of Florida, Series S664

1908-02-09

letters (correspondence)

eng-US

Text

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Florida Boom and Progressive Era (1900-1926)

Jacksonville (Fla.)

Duval County (Fla.)

Tallahassee (Fla.)

Leon County (Fla.)

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Politics And Government

Florida Times-Union Company

Florida. Governor (1905-1909 : Broward)

Prohibition Campaign Committee of Duval County

Broward, Napoleon Bonaparte, 1857-1910

Cassidey, Herbert J.

Jacksonville, Fla., February 9, 1908. Hon. N. B. Broward, Governor, Tallahassee, Fla. Sir:- The committee of which I am Chairman, on Wednesday, Feb. 5th presented to the County Commissioners of this county a petition for the calling of an election to determine whether wines, liquors and beer should be sold in this country. Upon the presentation of said petition, said County Commissioners, by resolution passed, referred the same to the Clerk of the Court and registration officer of this county, to examine and to make a report to the Board of County Commissioners as to the number of names upon the petition and their registration book; after this petition was delivered to the Clerk of the Court one of the deputy clerks, to-wit: Herbert J. Cassidey, permitted the same to be taken from his custody and out of his office for the purpose of having the same copied by persons who held no official position in the Clerk's office and who were not officers of the county and who were in the employ and being paid by the liquor people of the county. The petition was taken apart and distributed among the persons who were to copy the same and was kept out of the possession of the Clerk or his authorized deputies for a period of several hours, and for a greater portion of this time, at least, no deputy or other officer of the county was present while the petition was being

#2. copied. After the copy of the petition was made it was delivered to the Florida Times-Union for publication and was published on the morning of Thursday, February 6th. Said publication was made for the purpose of giving an opportunity to the liquor people to influence persons who had signed the petition to withdraw their names, and since said publication an effort has been made, and is still being made, to get such withdrawals. We submit that the County Commissioners had no authority to refer this petition to the Clerk of the Court and that they failed to discharge their duty by not personally examining said petition and determining whether or not it contained a requisite number of the registered voters to authorize the calling of such election. The law clearly makes it the duty of the County Commissioners to determine this question, and they have no legal right to delegate this authority to other perons. When the petition was presented to the County Commissioners, one of the members of the Board drew from his pocket a typewritten resolution referring the petition to the Clerk and registration officer, as above stated. This resolution was adopted, although one of the County Commissioners had previously moved to have the petition considered by the Board. We, therefore, charge the County Commissioners with having a prearranged plan to refer this petition as stated, for the purpose of giving the liquor people an opportunity, if possible, of defeating the same before the Board took any official action thereom [sic]. Yours very truly, A Stevens [signature] Chairman.