Elmore County Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1910-1915, 1913-08-23

II you desire to ride to the next
town and possess the wherewithal to
purchase ticket, the railroad COM
pany is bound to sell you the ticket.
and having sold the ticket must al
low you to enter it's trains and ride
to your destination, unless YOU chance
to be in such a condition that it
Is not proper that you should ride
with other passengers. II you wish
to send telegram the telegraph
company has no option but to send
1t ii you are able to pay and it is
a proper message. This is because
these enterprises are public in their
nature and all of the public must be
served without discrimination. But
the owner Of place of amusement
Is a different position. One might
readily suppose that the theater is
public in its service, as Is the rail-
road or telegraph, but before the law
1t stands in a different position.
The rights of the theater owner in
dealing with those who come to his
place Of amusement are rather favor
able. He stands more upon the
plane of the merchant engaged in a
private enterprise, who may sell or
refuse to sell to whom he will.
"The manager or proprietor of a
theater,' said New York judge,
has the right to say who shall en-
ter his place of entertainment and
who shall not, or what class of pei.
pie shall be entitled to do SO, and
what class shall not. This necessa-
rily follows from the fact that his
enterprise Is private one, and not
public and because. while he may
entertain the public at large, If he
sees fit, he is under no obligation
to do So"
In the case from which the fore
going opinion was quoted leading
dramatic critic In New York city
had been excluded from certain thea
ters by the arrangements, and the
courts sustained the rights Of the
managers to refuse admission to
they chose for whatever
reasons. Thus, in general, a thea
.er proprietor, before the law, is
held to be engaged in purely private
enterprise which he may conduct as
le sees fit. He may cancel per-
'ormances at his pleasure.
The view of the law is that the
sale Of theater ticket by thea
.er is the issuance of a mere H. /
,epse to attend a performance, and
his license may be revoked by the |
Even after the holder OF
! ticket has been admitted to the
,heatre, but before he has taken his
,eat, the management may revoke
he license and require that the holder
If the ticket leave the theatre. 1t |
le refuses he may be lawfully elected
provided no more than necessary force
70 used. The holder of the ticket
Who is refused admission may only
'ecover the cost of his ticket and
Iuch expenses as he was put to in
eaching the theatre-in other words,
lis direct financial loss. In q few
Eases, where a patron was elected
Without adequate reason, damages
we're allowed for the insult offered.
tut this is not generally done, es-
,ecially where the management had
my reason for revoking the right to
lttend the performance which the
icket holder has purchased.
II through mistake, patron is
,iven ticket calling for the wrong
eat or gets into the wrong seat.
le may be required to change to
mother seat, and If he resists and
auses a disturbance he may be
orcibly removed. Unless he be-
ONES disorderly, however, he may
lot be elected from the theatre.
While a theatre is a private en-
erprise the state may, nevertheless,
exercise a wide degree of control.
t may censor the entertainment Of
cred through proper officials. Thus
moving picture house may be re-
uired to show its films before an
fficial censor and secure his ap-
roval before displaying them to the
ublic. Sunday performances may be
ublic. Sunday performances may
9 prohibited, safety and sanitation
lsisted upon, etc. etc.
In some states the legislatures
ave regulated the right Of a theatre
, refuse to sell tickets to whom 1t
ill. In such states the rights Of
he theatre goers are increased by the
rivileges and rights granted by
pecial law. In not few states this
,gislation has been aimed to prevent
ny discrimination against negroes,
nd when state legislatures have so
cted the courts have enforced these q