I heartily approve of all well-considered and judicious attempts to reduce in number the sources of drunkenness and crime by removing disreputable or superfluous saloons from all localities and all saloons from those localities where they depreciate real property and endanger the health and morals of the population. (Signed) CHARLES J. BONAPARTE, April 25, 1908. U. S. Attorney General. At the hearing, upon advice of counsel, the Law and Order League declined to present any specific charges against any particular saloon in the neighborhood, but asked the Board to regard the law which required that every place licensed should in the judgment of the Board be “necessary for the accommodation of the public.” They urged that the people of that community did not require forty-three saloons to meet their needs. The general charge was made that where these saloons were thickest the neighborhood was most disorderly as well as most unsanitary and unhealthy. This statement, however, was met by the police, who, with marked unanimity, swore that all of the saloons were quiet, orderly and fully complied with every law and regulation under which they operated. Some of them swore that the churches, and particularly the church on Orchard Street, gave them far more trouble than the saloons. This charge by the police was met by a rejoinder from the trustees of the Metropolitan M. E. Church, the colored church in question, which was as follows: METROPOLITAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, Orchard St., near Druid Hill Ave., Baltimore, Maryland. April 13, 1908. _To the Honorable, the Board of Liquor License Commissioners, Baltimore City._ Gentlemen: On the 6th inst. a protest against saloons in that neighborhood of the city bounded by Druid Hill Avenue, Eutaw Street, New Street, Paca Street, Franklin Street, Pennsylvania Avenue, George Street, Biddle Street, Argyle Avenue, Hoffman Street, Pennsylvania Avenue and Lafayette Avenue, was made by the Law and Order League. On the 8th inst. the dealers against whose saloons the protest was made replied. It was reported in an article in “The Sun” of the 9th inst. that one of the witnesses—a policeman—stated that more trouble was caused by this church than by any of the saloons protested against. In reply to the same, we respectfully call the attention of your Honorable Body to the following: I. This church has repeatedly protested against the large number of saloons in its immediate neighborhood. II. At least two saloons (one at the corner of Biddle Street and Druid Hill Avenue and one at the corner of Druid Hill Avenue and Biddle Alley) have been licensed over the protests of this church and citizens.