Blind Pigs and Temperance Law Enforcement
The reason why temperance laws are not enforced is shown in the following excerpts from an editorial in the San Francisco News Letter: “There is perhaps no other city in the Union that possesses more of what is known to the saloon trade as ‘blind pigs’ (a place that sells without a license) than San Francisco.” The News Letter declares that the people are aware of this, and the police should be, but these things are counted a “necessary evil,” and intimates that the police on the beat pass them by at a price. They seem to be miraculously warned of every possible informer. The authorities seem to rest content in the enacting of the law, and let its enforcement go.