John “Eagle-faced” Raines had a simple goal in mind: put a big hurt into the evil saloon industry that was threatening the moral fabric of late 19th century New York State. Low wage workers were spending huge chunks of their Sundays (for many, the only day of their weekend) tipping pints at dingy saloons, when they would have been better off spending that money on food and clothing for their families.
Raines could have pushed for New York to ban all alcohol sales on Sundays. But that would have gone too far. Many proper men of ample means were known to enjoy a drink or two on Sundays. So Raines and his legislative pals came up with a clever solution: they banned Sunday alcohol sales at saloons but not at hotels. (Technically, they allowed establishments to serve alcohol on Sundays if the establishment also served meals and had at least ten bedrooms.) Well-to-do men, after all, primarily gathered in New York’s fancy hotels for their libations. Daniel Okrent summarizes Raines’ intentions (in his marvelous book: Last Call) as “prohibition for the other guy, not for me.” (See here for another post inspired by the book.)
But like so many government regulations, this one had unintended consequences. Saloon owners were not going to lose their best day of business without looking for a way around the legislation. So they adapted. They began serving meals, or at least pretending to serve them. Some saloons even mocked the Raines law by placing a brick between two pieces of bread “sat out on the counter, in derision of the state law”…(Read more and view comments at Forbes)
