Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919). New York. 1906.
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| interest of other politicians. On the other hand, his is a business which always tempts to law-breaking. New York City receives its law from New York State. Country Districts are always favorable to temperance legislation. New York contains a very large element which objects to any regulation of the sale of liquor, and which continually wishes to drink at hours when drinking is prohibited by law. New York State, for instance, has always insisted that the saloons everywhere, including those in New York City, should be closed on Sundays; but in New York City there has been always a very large number of people who wanted the saloons open, and there has generally been entire readiness on the part of the city officials that the saloons should stay open in defiance of the law, so long as they paid for the privilege, and did not antagonize the authorities in some question of moment. In consequence, the saloon-keeper, who did his most thriving trade on Sunday, stood in urgent need of the protection which could be granted by the local politician. Accordingly, every saloon-keeper could, on the one hand, be most useful to the local political leaders, and, on the other hand, needed the services of the local political leaders. The consequence was a very close connection between the saloon-keeper and the politician. A further consequence was that the saloons became one of the |