The Saint Paul globe., 1905-01-31
THE RIGHTS OF THE INEBRI-
ATED a.t,.rs..-.,,s

We note with regret that a judge Of
the municipal court, in decision af-
fecting the right of bartender to
eject with force an individual who in
dulges an alcoholic disposition to
make a disturbance on the premises
where he acquired the rough house
inclination, upholds the contention Of
the barkeeper. We have not all the
facts before us, but it seems to us that
the inebriated one has some rights.
We assume that he paid forgltlqe jag
that is the inspiring cause of his rowdy
disposition to make fuss. He
bought and paid for the trimmings at
the same time. If his expenditure was
sufficient he was provided with the
means for producing a jag Of mani
fold aspect. He was entitled to- be-
come loquacious, melodious, menda-
cious, reminiscent, hilarious, querulous,
captious, affectionate, pugnacious,
noisy and speechless by turns.
Up to the affectionate stage, it may
be assumed, the drinker contributed
regularly to the exchequer of the estab-
lishment. So far all the rights and
advantages are with the barkeep or
proprietor.
With the passing Of the affectionate
and the beginning of the pugnacious
stage the man on the outside of the
bar should enter into the enjoyment of
the rights and privileges appertaining
to one who has paid the price of a jag
and has the goods on him. He cannot
help emitting the noise that he has
been bottling up within himself to the
profit of the saloonkeeper, nor can he
punch somebody in the nose. At this
juncture the saloon man, it seems to
us, should begin to assume some re-
sponsibility. He has no right to turn
the drunk into the street. The man in
the next block who has derived no
profit from the vending of the jag
should not be compelled to submit to
having his rest disturbed by the
noisy one, or his nose punched out of
joint when the pugnacious propensity
predominates. That should be part of
the saloonkeeper's end of the contract.
We would not quarrel with the learned
judge, but we submit that the drunk
ought to be provided with quarters
wherein to work off his excessive and
spurious exuberance
In Mexican countries, it is related by
veracious travellers, the vendor of in
toxicating liquors provides a room or
court. known as the plazita, to which
the barkeeper leads the intoxicated
one by the hand as soon as he has i'm
bibed enough pulque, aguardiente or
whisky to make his room more desir-
able than his company. In the plazita
he may do what he likes, from COM,
pelling his drunken fellows to listen to
his stories to biting their ears off. BY
this means the barkeep is saved much
annoyance, the drunk is not curtailed
in any of the rights he acquires with
his jag and the public is not compelled
to suffer vicariously for the sins Of the
drunkard and his abettors.
They evidently do these things much
better in the Latin American coun-
tries. In the light of experience and
this decision of the learned judge 1t is
apparent that condition exists here
which might properly become the sub
ject of legislative consideration. The
legislature might be much worse em-
ployed than in framing a law COM
pelling licensed vendors of liquors to
provide a padded apartment for the
use of jags in flower, wherein the