The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-05-11
HOTEL AND CORRIDOR.
sSosc>aoeceooaess

A group of commercial travellers were
discussing dry" Sunday in Salt Lake
in the Templeton last evening, and in
the course of the discussion the new
Raines excise act came up. In pause
of the conversation Joe Strauss, the
cigar man, said: II remember of an
incident back in the seventies-'77 I
things similar to that under the Raines
liquor tax law. The present system of
fake" hotels brings it to mind.
During that time, if l recollect cor
rectly, there was a problem before the
police, the corporation counsel being
obliged to furnish to the authorities an
Interpretation of a hotel clause for the
granting of licenses. One of the pro-
visions of the clause was that an appli-
cant for hotel license should have at
least three spare bedrooms, and regular
bedding for travellers. The excise board
in those days Disseminated as much
as possible in favor of the more re-
putable fakirs AS we'll as the real hotel
proprietors. In the case of restaurants
where wine was great part Of the
meal, the board just winked the other
eye and ina gined that those three
spare beds were on the next floor.
Nevertheless nearly every nectar dis
pensing fountain and restaurant bought
three spare beds and the necessary
bedding in order to be armed in case
the board paid them visit. One very
well known up town restaurant fitted
up one room with three beds, and the
manager of one of Delmonico's side
cafes was quoted as saying: I have
fifteen beds in this house, but every
body can't have them. If some duck
wants a bed ! show him one in the
attic and inform him that he may
have it for $50 night You see it
wouldn't pay us tony proprietors to
keep lodgers. We wouldn't get more
than quarter of a dozen night, and
we'd have to keep a man up to see that
they didn't swipe the spoons.
THE gardens and can rushing music
halls on the Bowery were Immediately
transformed into inns, taverns or ho-
tells. and in front of one resort was
glass case in which were three dainty
dolls beds, and big sign over these
assured the public that we comply
with the law After this the board said
we should enforce the law, but that
does not imply that we shall be harsh
or offensive Of course an officer should
inform US if the law is being broken,
but they should not go out Of their
way to find out. The society for the
prevent ton of crime kept up a constant
stream of communication with the
board as to the number of saloons,
which disguised their disobedience of
the law under little sign flying to the
breeze which read hotel You boys
are all familiar with Roster and Bea.l's
big variety show house. Well, these
same men kept saloon at that time
in the basement of the Trib building.
They We're charged with violation of
the excise on the ground that they did
not keep a hotel and in consequence
were not authorized to sell liquors to
be drank on the premises. They show
ed three hunks in a remote corner, and
claimed that they had complied with
the law. fine moralists who made the
charge against Roster and Beal went
so far as TO threaten the Aston house,
the Brunswick, the ST. James and other
reputable hotels on the ground of keep
ing open on Sunday. One December
day in 1871 over six hundred proprie-
tors of unlicensed saloons were arrest
ed and held over night. Most of these
men had their receipts for licenses, but
had not called for the documents ow-
Roster, Beal and others were discharg-
ed on the strength of these receipts,
the only witness against the present
showmen being an ex-convict from Sing
Sing"
Il dent know much about the law
said Jake Leviberg, but 1 can give
you a list of needed articles to start a
hotel under the new ordinance, which
is used by a great many props in
converting a gin mill into a 'Raines
hotel and the genial Jake scrubbed
in his note book for about three min
utes and then handed this to the Cor
ridOr man.