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]
Blue laws banned saloons from selling alcoholic beverages on Sundays, but 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 inspections of premises to distinguish legitimate hotels from saloons. On May 1, 1905, a law was passed and required a city inspection 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]
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...
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.