SHOULD PROHIBITORY LAWS BE ABOLISHED? 231 



Prohibitory laws and enactments in this country are a repeti- 

 tion of the reform efforts of centuries ago, only on a higher plane, 

 showing decided evolution and growth. The laws of those early 

 times were based on observation of the ill effects of spirits, and 

 the expediency of checking these evils. The same laws in mod- 

 ern times are founded on moral theories and facts which seem to 

 indicate no other means for relief. 



In all times the sanitary evils of drink have been recognized 

 at first only faintly, then in an increasing ratio, down to the 

 present. To-day scientists and sanitarians are beginning to un- 

 derstand the perilous and dangerous influence of alcohol in nearly 

 all conditions of life. 



Modern prohibitory laws appear to be founded on mixed the- 

 ories, and are not clear or harmonious in their workings. The 

 applications of these laws, from the earliest settlements of the 

 country down to the present time, give abundant illustrations of 

 this. In several States prohibitory laws have been on trial for a 

 quarter of a century and more, and have seemed to meet the ex- 

 pectations of their supporters. In others such enactments have 

 been abandoned after a short experiment for various complicating 

 reasons. Political partisanship has been so intimately concerned 

 with these questions that the facts are very obscure. 



The assertions and denials of the practical value of prohib- 

 itory enactments are equally confusing. The only unbiased au- 

 thority from the census and internal revenue reports, in the states 

 where these laws are in force, points to a diminishing use of 

 spirits, better social and sanitary conditions, and lessened law- 

 lessness. 



Widely different explanations of this fact are urged and de- 

 fended with great positiveness. High license and local option 

 have their warm defenders and bitter opponents. Their value in 

 different communities rests on the same uncertain and differently 

 explained facts ; often their adoption or rejection is mere caprice, 

 political selfishness, and the changing sentiment of the hour. 



The theoretical scientific study of spirits and their effects opens 

 up another field that brings a wider conception to the problem. 

 Here the student is confronted with the same evidence of evolu- 

 tion. Theories urged two thousand years ago that drunkenness 

 was a disease, and that spirits was an exciting cause, in some cases 

 merely exploding a condition which was due to influences more 

 remote and widely varied, or building up a morbid state which 

 will require the narcotism of spirits ever after have become 

 demonstrable facts of modern times. 



The remedies for these are restraint, control, and medical treat- 

 ment of the victims, by legal enactments prohibitory and coer- 

 cive. It is also evident that vast ranges of unknown causes and 



