Los Angeles herald., 1909-09-22
PROSECUTORS SAYS
LAWS ARE FAULTY
LIQUOR ORDINANCES SHOULD
BE AMENDED
COUNCIL WILL BE ASKED ITO
IMPROVE MEASURE
Guy Eddie Tells How Authorities Are
r Hampered and saloon-Restau-
rants Are Made Dens
OF Vice

! Because Of the faulty construction
of some of the liquor ordinances, the
yerv fact that under the present ad-
mtrfstration, all ordinances are being
rigidly enforced is working against the
hest interests of municipal order
/ Guy Eddie, city prosecutor, who IS
intrusted with the enforcement or the
] city ordinances, has found some glar-
ing difficulties in his way, and IN order
to remedy matters he proposes 70 pre-
/ sent some amendments to the council
next Tuesday when 1t meets to con-
slider all liquor matters.
one Of these proposed amendments,
and a most important one, will pro
vide that all small drinks purchased
at a retail saloon must be drunk on
the premises. This will apply only 10
such drinks as cocktails, ponies OF
whisky and other short drinks that
1 are served in glasses.
The fact that the ordinances DO not
now compel these drinks to be con-
sumed on the premises where they are
! purchased has been used as handy
method Of evading the spirit Of the
law.
Spirit of Law Evaded
/ Before the present administration
came into power any kind of drink
| desired could be purchased at a res
taurant that held a restaurant liquor
| permit The restaurant law provides
| that no drinks shall be served except
/ in the original packages Of not less
| than one-ffth of a gallon and only
! with a full meal. This law was the
same under former administrations,
but 1t was never enforced. Any one
could secure a cocktail or couple or
fingers of whisky by ordering them.
But the administration that is keep
. Nd nnfnFalTaGr
has brought about new conditions, and
no longer can the restaurant keeper
serve cocktails and short drinks under
his own restaurant liquor permit. But
his customers get their short drinks
just the same. If q guest insists on
cocktail the waiter goes into the near
est saloon and brings him one Under
these conditions the guest does not
even have to order a meal with his
liquor. This has been especially the
case with a number of restaurants that
have a retail bar running in connec-
ton with their restaurants, but sep
arated by partitions.
Under this ordinance it is impossible
to stop drinking in restaurants in any
quantities, with or without meals, and
it has proved a most prolific source Of
trouble under a new condition that is
brought about by the enforcement Of
another law.
,, Police Are Powerlees
Former denizens of the "redlight"
district, since the district was broken
up and has been kept SO by the ad-
ministration that is enforcing all laws,
have taken to frequenting restaurants
where liquor is sold. These "sitters,'
as they are called by the restaurant
men, attract men to these restaurants,
and the men that come spend money
freely. For this reason the "sitters"
are welcomed by the restaurant men.
The men and women sit at tables and
order drinks and the waiter simply
passes through a partition into the
next room where a retail saloon is con-
Quoted and gets them the drinks they
want. They can consume unlimited
quantities Of liquor without the pre-
| tense of a meal if they choose and the
police are powerless and the restau-
rant man continues to hold his per-
nit. because he has done nothing to
give the police commission an oppor-
| tunity to revoke his permit. His
waiter has acted as the agent of the
| customers and secured all the liquor
they wanted, but the restaurant man
has not sold any liquor under his res
| taurant permit. In most cases he
owns the saloon from which the liquor
was secured and gets his profit any
how. TO remedy this condition of af-
fairs Prosecutor Eddie proposes to in
troduce an amendment making 1t IN
/ lawful for any woman to enter a place
where liquor is sold after 9 o'clock at
night unless accompanied by an escort.
Women Serve Liquor
Another phase Of the liquor matter
that is making the present admiuistra-
tion restless is that in many places
women are being employed to serve
| liquor. Mr.. Eddie said yesterday that
/ in even the toughest cities of the coun-
/ try laws had been passed forbidding
/ women to serve liquor. Even wicked
old Chicago has such n law.
But Los Angeles has no such law,
| for the California supreme court has
held thar such a law was unconstitu- 1
tional in that 1t abridged the right of
contract, But since the state supreme
court passed decision on the matter
the United states supreme court shas
found differently in a case originating
state tribunal can be induced to re-
verse its decision after the one handed
down by the higher body.
He proposes to test it anyhow and
will introduce an ordinance making it
unlawful for women to serve liquor.
The liquor laws have not only been
hard to enforce, but the laws regulat-
ing department some worry. The or
dinance pertaining TO the matter makes
Ii illegal to carry on the business Of
gambling" The courts have held that
to constitute a business several Of
fenses must have been committed, and
! the prosecutor cannot obtain a convic-
ton unless he has three or four sep
arate instances on which to base
complaint. 1t has been very difficult
for the prosecutor to secure evidence
! against one place three or more times,
as gamblers are pretty wary and
spot a "spotter' almost as soon as
a spotter spots them.
In order to make his task along these
4 lines easier he will introduce an or
dinance in which the word business"
will be eliminated and whereby it will
be unlawful to conduct or to sit in any
gambling game. Under this ordinance
one offense will be all that will be nee
essary for him to prove in order to Sc
cure a conviction.
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