Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1913-08-29
WHEN YOU BUY A TICKET
TO THE THEATER

Ii you desire 10 rue 10 TIE HeA'
town and possess the WhereWithal tC
purchase a 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
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 tele-
graph company has no option but to
send it if you are able to pay anu
it is a proper message. This is be
cause these enterprises are public III
their nature and all OF the publlC
must be served without dlscrimlna-
ton. But the owner OF a place OF
amusement is in a different position
One might readily suppose that the
theater is, public i'll it's service, as is
the railroad or telegraph, but before
the law it stands in different pc
sition. The rights of the theater own
er in dealing With those who come to
ais place OF amusement are rather Ia
vorable. He stands more upon tn,
plane of the merchant engaged i'll i.
private enterprise, who may sell OF
refuse to sell to whom he will.
The manager or proprietor OF {.
theater,' said a New York judge
has the right to say who shall en-
ter his place of entertainment anu
who shall not, or what class OF pee
pie shall be entitled to do so, ant
what class shall not. This necessar
lily follows from the fact that his Ell
tarprise is a private one, and no.
public and because, while he may en-.
certain the public at large, # ne sees
fit, he is under no obligation to d,
So"
In the cases from which the fore.
going opinion was quoted Leading
dramatic critic In New York city hat
been excluded from certain theaterS
Dy the arrangements, and the court
sustained the rights OF the managers
to refuse admission to whomsoeye.
they chose for whatever reasons
Thus, in general, a thsater proprle,
tor, before the law, is held to be en-
gagged in purely private enterprise
which he may conduct as he sees fit
He may cancel performances at his
pleasure.
The view of the law is that the
sale of a theater ticket by theatel
IS the issuance Of d mere license t
attend performance and this licens
may be revoked by the management.
Even after the holder of a ticket has
oeen admitted to the theater, but be
fore he has taken his seat, the man
agement may revoke the license, ant
require the holder OF the ticket leaV'
the theater If he refuses he may bt
lawfully elected, provided no moro
than necessary force be used. In
holder of the ticket who is refused
admission may only recover the cos
Of his ticket and such expenses as
he was put to in reaching the thea
tern other words, his direct flnan,
cial loss. In a few cases, where a pa
tron was elected without adequate
reason, damages were allowed for
the insult offered, but this is not
generally done, especially where tn;
had any reason for re-
voking the right to attend the per
Torrance which the ticket holder has
purchased.
IT, through a mistake, a patron is
given a ticket calling for the Wrons
seat or gets into the wrong seat, h,
may be required to change to an
other seat, and if he resiSts anG
causes a disturbance he may be for
chilly removed. Unless he becomes
however, he may not be
elected from the theater.
While a theater is a private en-
terprise the state may, neverthe-
less, exercise a wide degree of con
troll. 1t may censor the entertain
ment offered through proper officials
Thus a moving picture house may be
required to show it's films before
an official censor and secure his ap-
proval before displaying them to the
public Sunday performances may be
prohibited, safety and sanitation in
sisted upon, etc, etc.
In some states the legislatures
have regulated the right of a theater
to refuse to sell tickets to whom it
will In such states the rights of the
theater goers are increased by the
privileges and rights granted by spec
ial law In not few states this
legislation has not been aimed to
prevent any discrimination against
negroes, and where state legisla-
lures have SO acted the courts have
enforced these laws. Illinois, for in
a. L