| OCR Text |
Show ELIMINATE THE "MAD HOUSE" f The causes for the agitation periodically started by advocates working for alleged temperance temper-ance are usually found in law-breaking dives, and now thatSslt Lake has fought and won an election elec-tion for personal liberty, it would be a good thing to peremptorily close the establishments of those who are jeopardizing the interests of the whole community by running disorderly places and defying de-fying the ordinance in regard to selling liquor. The Rathskellar, at the corner of Second South and Main streets, known to the majority of its frequenters as the "Mad House," because that is the sobriquet which best describes the place, is a joint that should not be allowed to run, as it is at present, particularly on the principal street of the city. There is positively no excuse for the bedlam that exists there almost nightly and permeates the few ventilators to the street, and for the drunken and disgusting scenes that And a stifling setting in the hole. On Saturday nights, in particular, on nights before holidays, and upon practically every occasion occa-sion when there is an excuse to collide with an over-abundance of juice, the "Mad House" is the rendezvous of an assortment such as would be difficult to find outside of the Barbary Coast or the acreage just north of Ike Bloom's in Chicago. Ali of those who go there are not tough by any means. The respectable but thirsty are seen there hobnobbing with the canaille that make the place headquarters, for a parched throat Is a great leveller and the high and low alike know that after the hour when it is impossible to get a drink in the other cafes, service may be had there. It matters little whether the hands of the clock point past the midnight hour, it would not do to let a customer choke, and so he orders his grog and gets it; and whether according to his wishes oi not, is included in the orgy that usually occupies occu-pies the small hours of the morning. There is very little food sold, there is scarcely scarce-ly room on the tables or in the consumers for anything of that kind; but the drinks are plentiful plenti-ful and the music is loud and the songs are often coarse, and the laughter of that gutteral sort that comes of rum and gum or in the strident tones of those who have poured a few pints on a splendid splen-did foundation of high-proof booze and come to a sudden realization that they are proud of their capacity. During the racing meeting, the Saturday nights at the "Mad House" would have made Bacchus blush and the term "saturnalio" would not begin to describe the scenes that took place there. The "Mad House" numbers among its frequenters some of the toughest elements infesting the community. The "wonder is that serious trouble has never been precipitated there, but if it is allowed to continue con-tinue its present course, it will only be a question of time until something will happen that will result in such strict regulation of all restaurants that the decent ones and the decent people will have to suffer for the overt rats of law-breakers who are conducting places in open defiance of or under the condonement of the officers. The standing of this journal on the liquor question ques-tion is too well known to have anyone doubt its sincerity when it makes the statement that it is in favor of the sale of liquor under proper regulation, regula-tion, hut it is just for that reason that it believes that such places as the "Mad House" are a detriment detri-ment to the whole community, ana this without anything but the 'broadest views on a subject that has been threshed and re-threshed In this city and state for months. The "Mad House" needs a keeper or a closer. |
