220 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



perate persons in saloons is in vogue, and admirable results are 

 claimed for it." 



As to the rest of the State, Mr. Koren says : " That the sale of 

 liquor is as well regulated in all the other large cities and towns of 

 Massachusetts as in Boston and l^orth Adams is much to be doubted. 

 In most of the license cities the bane of the influence of the liquor 

 element in local politics is strongly felt; as a result, enforcement is 

 lax and defiance of express provisions of the law common." We 

 are not told whether or not liquor is sold in places where no licenses 

 are granted, but Massachusetts probably does not differ much from 

 Maine in that respect. The largest cities and towns that usually 

 vote no license year after year are circled around Boston, " where 

 a no-license vote removes the drinker a short and not seriously in- 

 convenient distance from the base of supplies." 



Pennsylvania has its " Brooks law," which went into effect in 

 1888. It is a high-license measure and embodies various restrictions. 

 Much improvement in the character of the liquor trade has been 

 secured under it in Philadelphia, chiefly through the efforts of the 

 Law and Order Society of that city. Licenses are granted by the 

 Court of Quarter Sessions in each county. The work of the license 

 court in Philadelphia is highly praised. Owing to the connection 

 which the liquor interest maintains with politics the full intent of 

 the Brooks law is not carried out. Every application for a license 

 has to be indorsed by twelve reputable electors of the ward, bor- 

 ough, or township in which the saloon is to be opened. In Philadel- 

 j:>hia, school directors, members of city councils, police magistrates, 

 clerks of the Courts of Quarter Sessions, State senators and repre- 

 sentatives, officials of Protestant churches, and members of Congress 

 frequently sign from one to thirty applications. It has been said 

 by one well acquainted with existing conditions that " few men, 

 least of all those connected with politics, dare refuse requests to aid 

 applicants for licenses." There is an average of one saloon to each 

 five hundred and sixty-two of the population. Liquor dealers are 

 largely restrained from illegal practices by the fear of losing their 

 licenses. " The improved character of the saloon," says the com- 

 mittee's agent, " is remarked upon by all observant citizens. Sun- 

 day selling has ceased, and minors are usually kept out of the saloons. 

 The wholesale dealers have stopped selling liquor to be consumed 

 on their premises. In many places great care is taken not to sell 

 to persons already visibly under the influence of liquor." 



The agent reports a large number of " speak-easies " or " kitchen 

 bars " in Philadelphia which political entanglements or bribery pre- 

 vents the police from suppressing. Liquor-selling goes on also in a 

 multitude of clubs, so called, some of which are recognized political 



