Raines law hotel. State statutes allowed that any business was considered a hotel if it had 10 rooms for lodging and served sandwiches with its liquor. Saloons quickly found a loophole by adding small furnished bedrooms and applying for a hotel license. Dozens of "Raines law hotels," often located directly above saloons, opened. As a contemporary source put it, "This offered a premium on the transformation of saloons into hotels with bedrooms and led to unlooked-for evils" (an increase in prostitution), as the rooms in many "Raines law hotels" were used mostly by prostitutes and unmarried couples. (In some cases these rooms
1873 New York state election Thomas Raines was re-nominated by acclamation. Sylvanus H. Sweet was nominated for State Engineer after several ballots. James Jackson, Jr. was nominated for Canal Commissioner, and George W. Millspaugh for Prison Inspector. Five Democrats and two Republicans were elected to state offices. The incumbents Hopkins and Raines were re-elected. The incumbent Taylor was defeated. 1873 New York state election The 1873 New York state election was held on November 4, 1873, to elect the Secretary of State, the State Comptroller, the Attorney General, the State Treasurer, the State Engineer, a Canal Commissioner and an Inspector of State Prisons, as well