The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-01-23
New York ard Its Saloons.

few years ago Senator Raines intro
duced into the legislature bill, which
became a law, having for its purpose
the closing of the saloons on Sundays
1t permitted the sale of drinks with
meals in hotels, and in defining a hotel
the law required that the establishment
must have a fixed minimum of rooms
for the accommodation Of guests
Quickly there sprang into existence a
number of this class of hotels and
drinks We're sold in all parts of the
city with almost as much freedom as
before the law was passed.
Now Mr.. Raines comes forward with
an amendment that the sale of drinks
in all hotels shall be prohibited on
Sunday OF course such a proposition
is absurd and impracticable, and the
result will probably be the collapse of
the whole method of reform which
was inaugurated Immediately follow
ing the famous crusade by DR.. Charles
Fl. Parkhurst, begun in 1891 and Gull
minating in the temporary overthrow
of the municipal power of Tammany
Hall in the metropolis.
On Monday evening last meeting
Of workers in the temperance cause
was held in the big Waldorf-Astoria
hotel and was addressed, among others,
by Bishop Potter, of New York, and
our new ambassador to England, Jo-
seph H. Choate. In the course of his
remarks the bishop declared that the
saloon was "a social necessity, in so
far as the recreative instinct in hui
dol
sity The saloon exists in New York
because we have given our less fortu-
nate brothers no better things and
he added: 1.-The man who keeps the
saloon and who says it is the poor
mans club tells the truth.
These were pretty solid chunks, COM
ing one after another out Of the mouth
of the eminent divine, who, by the
way. is noted for his liberality of
thought and reason. But he followed
these up with the suggestion that
there ought to be in every block a
place which will give opportunity for
refreshment without the peril of in
toXicating drinks These establish
ments he would have philanthropy I'M
dertake to locate and conduct with a
view to a limited return upon the
money invested The proposition is,
of course, as impracticable as that OF
Mr. Raines.
The latter, In support of his propos-
ed amendment, says:
The people there have shown that they
won't obey decent excise law, and l think
1t Is about time that the privilege was taken
away from them. In my opinion, that Is the
only way to secure the enforcement of the
law If any exception is made, there is nc
way of drawing the line between those who
obey the law and those who dodge It,
The amusement of the situation is
found in the open declaration by the
eminent ecclesiastic that the saloon is
after all "a social necessity" whereas
the politician proposes to enter every
hotel, no matter what may be its size
or Importance, and shut up its wine
cellar in order to close the saloon abso-
lutely on Sunday.
There are over $500 places where
liquor is sold by the dram in the
borough of Manhattan alone, and Mr..
Choate made the statement that more
money was spent in New York annual
ly for drink than for food. 1t is not
to be believed that any method will
ever be devised for curtailing the sale
of liquor in the metropolis, whether
on week days or on Sundays. The
struggle of the reformers against the
evil has been persistently and brave
ly maintained, but evasion of the law
is inevitable, at every turn. A vote on
local option would unquestionably re-
suit in the opening of every saloon III
the city on Sunday as on every other
day in the week, and this experiment is
therefore avoided. A fair opportunity
for the enforcement of the Raines law
was afforded under the administration
of Mayor Strong with Col. Roosevelt
as the president of the police board,
but it proved a failure. Mr.. Roosevelt,
with many other thoughtful people, is
understood to favor the sale of liquor
on Sunday with certain limitations as
to hours, etc AS governor he will have
an opportunity to present his views to
the legislator