216 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



East, picking up great numbers of injurious insects. I am glad to 

 say that the people of Utah appreciate the practical value of these 

 birds, and stringent laws have been passed for their protection. 



To the ordinary observer a gull would seem to be of little service 

 to mankind, and to be looked upon only as an aesthetic addition to 

 a marine landscape; this is not the gull's only use, as I have just 

 proved. The gull, as well as every other bird, has a place to fill in 

 the economy of Nature, and, as we learn more and more of the good 

 work the birds are constantly doing for us, we will, it is to be hoped, 

 afford them the protection they deserve. 



OUR LIQUOR LAWS AS SEEN BY THE COMMITTEE OF 



FIFTY. 



By FREDERIK A. FERNALD. 



I 1ST 1893 a group of fifteen gentlemen who had been conducting 

 various sociological studies together formed, by adding to their 

 number, the Committee of Fifty to investigate the liquor problem. 

 Subcommittees on the physiological, the legislative, the economic, 

 and the ethical aspects of the problem were appointed in the autumn 

 of that year. The subcommittee on legislative aspects, consisting 

 of President Charles W. Eliot, President Seth Low, and James C. 

 Carter, Esq., engaged Dr. Frederic H. Wines, of Springfield, 111., 

 well known for his census reports and other investigations on the 

 liquor question, and Mr. John Koren, of Boston, Mass., to examine 

 the working of several typical State liquor laws. The facts obtained 

 by Messrs. Wines and Koren constitute the first report of the sub- 

 committee, which has been published under the authority of the 

 whole Committee of Fifty.* Mr. Koren investigated the operation 

 of the liquor laws of Maine, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and South 

 Carolina, and Dr. Wines made like investigations in Missouri, Ohio, 

 Iowa, and Indiana. 



Much light is thrown upon the question, Does prohibition pro- 

 hibit? by the conditions found to exist in Maine and Iowa. Maine 

 has been under prohibition for nearly half a century — since 1851, 

 with the exception of the two years from 1856 to 1858. That the 

 famous " Maine law " has never been adequate to its purpose is 

 shown, as the committee's agent points out, by the constant efforts 



* The Liquor Problem in its Legislative Aspects. By Frederic H. Wines and John 

 Koren. An Investigation made under the Direction of Charles W. Eliot, Seth Low, and 

 James C. Carter, Subcommittee of the Committee of Fifty to investigate the Liquor Problem. 

 Boston : Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Pp.342. Price, $1.25. 



