Committee of Fourteen

The Committee of Fourteen was founded on January 16, 1905 by members of the New York Anti-Saloon League as an association dedicated to the abolition of Raines law hotels.[1] [2]

History

While blue laws banned saloons from selling alcoholic beverages on Sundays, the Raines law of 1896 permitted hotels to do so. When saloon keepers responded by creating bedrooms, which were then used for prostitution, the Committee demanded premise inspections to distinguish between legitimate hotels and saloons. On May 1, 1905 a law was passed that a city inspection had to occur before a license was issued. By 1911, most Raines Law hotels had closed, but the Committee remained active until it ran out of money in 1932, when it was disbanded.[3]

Members of the Committee

• William Henry Baldwin, Jr.
• Walter G. Hooke
• Alice Davis Menken[4]
• James Pedersen
• John P. Peters
• Mary Kingsbury Simkhovitch[4]
• George Haven Putnam
• Francis Louis Slade
• Percy S. Straus
• Lawrence Veiller
• Frederick H. Whitin
• George E. Worthington
• Raymond B. Fosdick

See also

• Committee of Fifteen

Notes

• Research Committee of the Committee of Fourteen. (1910). The social evil in New York city : a study of law enforcement
• Research Committee of the Committee of Fourteen. (1912, 1914, 1916, 1917, 1919-1924). Annual Report
• Research Committee of the Committee of Fourteen. (1914-1915). Annual Report

References

1. "Committee of Fourteen in Report for 1917 Denounces Tolerance of Pseudo Clubs". New York Times. March 11, 1918. Retrieved 2012-01-17. The Committee of Fourteen, which was organized in 1905 to fight commercialized vice as a result of widespread criticism of conditions in the city, in its annual report made public yesterday announced that it had found moral conditions well guarded, with isolated exceptions, around army camps near New...
2. "The Fourteen Will Attempt to Get Brewers to Withdraw Their Backing". New York Times. August 24, 1909. Retrieved 2012-01-17. The Committee of Fourteen, which was formed for the purpose of suppressing Raines law hotels, according to announcement made yesterday, has entered into negotiations with brewing concerns and surety companies with a view of establishing an 'unofficial discretion' that would have the effect of preventing the opening of saloons or hotels of a disorderly character in the future.
3. "Committee of Fourteen". New York Public Library. Retrieved 2012-01-17.
4. Mackey, Thomas C. (2005). Pursuing johns : criminal law reform, defending character, and New York City's Committee of Fourteen, 1920-1930. Columbus (Ohio): Ohio state university press. p. 111. ISBN 0814209882.