Page:Race distinctions in American Law (IA racedistinctions00stepiala).pdf/153

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In 1899 a bar-keeper in Ohio charged a Negro thirty cents for a cocktail, the regular price to white customers being only fifteen cents. The Civil Rights Bill of Ohio did not mention saloons, but said "other places of public accommodation and amusement." The court[64] held that saloons were not included, adding, in the same spirit as the Minnesota court ". . . nor should we interpret this statute as encouraging a tariff which the clearly defined policy of the State discourages."

A statute of Louisiana[65] of 1908 requires separate saloons for white and colored persons. The Louisiana court,[66] in July, 1909, held that the sale of liquor to white and colored persons must not be conducted in the same building, and that the statute is not obeyed by providing separate bars in the same building. The saloon keeper had attempted to avoid paying taxes on two saloons by operating two bars in the same building.

In Atlanta,[67] before State prohibition began, there were separate saloons for the white and colored people. An ordinance of Nashville,[68] Tennessee, which went into effect July 7, 1907, required the segregation of the races in saloons.


SODA FOUNTAINS

The keeper of a soda fountain in Illinois in 1896 refused to sell cold drinks to a Negro. At that time the law required equal accommodation in inns and "all other places of accommodation and amusement." The court[69] of that State held that a soda fountain is not such a place of accommodation or amusement. "Such a place," the court argued, "can be considered a place of accommo-