Chapter 16
ANOTHER VICE BACKED BY BREWERS
CABARETS AND TANGO DANCE RESORTS
How little my advice was heeded was clearly shown by, the appearance of a comparatively new vice--openly aided and abetted by brewers--which in a few years has spread its poisonous tentacles to all parts of the country. I refer to
CABARETS AND TANGO DANCE RESORTS
What more can inflame the mind of the public against the brewers than these vulgar and liquor flowing twentieth century dives, especially when the fact is considered that many of these gilded hells are owned and operated by brewers themselves?
In many European cities similar resorts are classed among houses of ill repute and the same police regulations are applied to them. Here, they are brazenly advertised as "afternoon teas" to lure the unwary.
In my travels I have visited many of the most prominently advertised places of this kind in different parts of the country to study the habitues.
It can not be denied that most of these dives are the rendezvous of the demimonde, breeding places of vice, crime and degeneracy, and an ally of the white slave traffic.
They are keeping the divorce mills busy. Their glitter has led astray, caused the disappearance of and has driven to suicide innumerable young women, particularly from among those who have come from rural districts to seek employment in large cities. They have made criminals of many young men because their salaries would not permit them to lead the fast life of their newly made friends.
The principal source of profit to the keepers of these dives is, of course, the sale of alcoholic drinks--in most cases grossly adulterated despite the unreasonable prices exacted for same.
Female performers are frequently expected to drink with the patrons. Usually these women are paid a commission on the drinks they can persuade their dupes to purchase.
Scenes of indecency are openly indulged in by both sexes as the result of the excessive consumption of alcoholic drinks.
A recent development of the cabaret is the "hostess." Her duty is to "introduce" men and girls. In many instances hotels of questionable character are operated as an adjunct to these places.
The managers of a number of large hotels which have built up a reputation for respectability and exclusiveness have long ago seen the handwriting on the wall and therefore wisely placed a ban upon this evil. Ladies refuse to stop at hotels that attract an undesirable element by the operation of cabarets and present-day dances.
The fact that many of these places which are owned and operated by brewers themselves continue in full blast again discredits the statements of their press agents that "the cabaret must go."
Will the brewers continue their policy of defying the people until nation-wide prohibition will put a stop to these drunken orgies?
How a New York Brewer Advertises His Cabaret Resort
The following advertisement appeared in
_The New York Times_: