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3. Smoking permitted only in gentlemen's room, not in hall or corridors.

4. Singing either with or without the use of a megaphone during the time allotted for dancing not allowed. 5. Announcements of future dances by orchestra leader or other persons, and the distributing of cards, posters or hand bills in the hall, corridors or stairways advertising future dances are forbidden.

6. Gentlemen must not remain in ladies' rooms or parlors.

7. No dance shall continue after 2 o'clock A.M., unless by written permission of the Mayor, and not later than 11.45 o'clock P.M. Saturdays.

8. A police officer shall be in attendance at all public dances.

9. Pass-out checks are not to be issued.

10. Matrons shall be employed at every public dance and have entire charge of ladies' rooms.

11. Minors under the age of seventeen years shall not be permitted to hall unless accompanied by parent or guardian. This should be given special attention by the management and police officer.

12. Disorderly persons will be arrested for "disturbing a public assemblage."

13. Chairs and tables used for check lists must not be placed in hallways or stairways in such a manner as to block egress from the hall.

14. All emergency exits from hall, including the entries and stairways of such exits, shall be properly lighted while the audience is in the hall.

15. By special instructions of the directors of the Musicians' Union all orchestras are directed to obey the orders of the representative of the mayor to cease playing, should conditions so justify.

16. Any person defacing or removing these regulations will be prosecuted.

17. These regulations shall be posted in a conspicuous place in the hall.

IMMORAL SHOWS.

[From a Special Publication on Sexual Vice Prepared by the Police Commissioner in 1912.]

There is no probability that any performance likely · to be given at a regular theater in Boston could be attacked successfully on the ground of immorality by prosecution under the criminal laws. It was attempted by the police in as flagrant a case as ever came within my knowledge, but the judge who had granted the warrant for the performer after a preliminary statement of the facts decided, upon full hearing, that he could not hold that the statute had been violated. Even if a conviction could be secured in a lower court, in such a case, the accused would undoubtedly appeal, and weeks would elapse before even the uncertain result in the Superior Court could be reached.

It is through the license issued by the mayor in much the same manner as in the case of public halls that such shows should be controlled, but even the licensing authority is here reduced to persuasion and negotiation. Chapter 494, Acts of 1908, provides in section 2 as follows:

"SECTION 2. If at any time under a license granted hereunder there shall be given a theatrical exhibition, public show, public amusement or exhibition, any part of which, in the opinion of both the mayor and the police commissioner of Boston, is obscene or immoral or tends to injure the morals of the community and is not eliminated at the request of the mayor, then he may suspend the license for such particular representation.'

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This act was drawn by counsel for the Theatrical Managers' Association, and was passed on its petition by the Legislature, the police commissioner being in

cluded in its terms without his knowledge. It will be observed that under the act:

1. No power can be exercised until after the exhibition has been given.

2. The mayor and the police commissioner must unite in the opinion required by the statute, presumably after view of the second, or a later performance, either personally or through representatives.

3. When they have agreed as to the unlawful part or parts, the mayor must give notice; and failing elimination, he may suspend the license for "such particular representation," whatever that may mean.

It is doubtful if the suppression of a whole play would be authorized by the language of the act, and yet the worst material in such performances usually consists of words, gestures, postures, and other manifestations scattered all along the way. It is true that in one instance an entire play was ordered eliminated by the mayor under penalty of a suspension of the license of the theater, but in that case the manager yielded without a test of the law.

I believe that the only way to deal with indecencies on the stage is to hold managers responsible through their licenses. They know what is indecent, even according to prevailing loose ideas, and if they are convinced that indecent words, acts or displays will be followed by a suspension of the theater license for a period of from one to six days, the cleansing of the Boston stage morally may in time be as thorough as its physical cleansing would be if done by the Fire Department. When the men who have a money interest in the performance undertake the work of shutting out indecencies with a heavy penalty for failure the finest possible police force for the purpose will be on guard.

The mayor and the police commissioner joined in 1910 in a petition to the Legislature for an act under which the mayor as the licensing authority might exercise the power just described. The time for new

business had passed, the theatrical managers appeared in opposition, and the Legislature refused to suspend the rule in order that the measure might be considered. In 1911 the proposition was heard by a committee of the Legislature, the mayor, the police commissioner and several private citizens appearing in its favor, representatives of the theaters in opposition; and the committee and the Legislature refused favorable action. A similar bill was before the Legislature of 1913, but the committee to which it was referred reported against it and it was rejected.

HOTELS AND CAFÉS.

[From a Special Publication on Sexual Vice Prepared by the Police Commissioner in 1912.]

In discussing hotel conditions in Boston many persons speak freely of "second class" hotels and even of that institution peculiar to New York, the "Raines law" hotel. There is no official separation of Boston hotels into classes. Under the law the best and the worst are alike operated under an "innholder's license." Some innholders are licensed further to sell intoxicating liquors, and of these a certain number have a special license to sell up to midnight instead of stopping at eleven o'clock. The particular value of an innholder's liquor license as compared with what is commonly called a saloon license lies in the fact that it gives to the licensee the right to sell on Sundays and certain holidays when the saloons are closed, and if the special twelve o'clock license has been granted, to sell also from eleven o'clock to midnight on week days to persons only in either case who have resorted to the hotel for food or lodging.

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Licenses for hotels, with or without the liquor privilege, and all other licenses for the sale of intoxicating liquors are granted by the licensing board, composed of three commissioners appointed, as the police commissioner is, by the Governor of the Commonwealth. The board is wholly independent of the police department, but is entitled to and receives by law as well as in the public interest the closest and most extensive cooperation of the police. The law covering this particular point is section 17, chapter 291, Acts of 1906, as follows:

"It shall be the duty of the police commissioner and his subordinates to obtain and to furnish to the licensing board such information as may be required by the

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