LIQUOR LEGISLATION. 795 



Other ways of accumulating evidence, in addition to the disclosures of 

 defendants, could be made use of, such, for instance, as recording the 

 location of all arrests for drunkenness ; and it might even be well to 

 provide that, in the lack of other evidence, the costs of any arrest and 

 the succeeding prosecution may be set to the nearest licensed place of 

 sale. 



It may be claimed that the tribunal to make the apportionment will 

 have a very difficult and invidious task to perform. Difficult it will 

 be, but no more so than the task imposed upon juries in most of the 

 cases contested before them, and invidious so far as the persons liable 

 to pay are concerned. But there are two things clearly ascertained at 

 the start, to wit, the persons liable to be assessed, and the amount for 

 which they are liable. It must be remembered, also, that the tribunal 

 will have the assistance of all the defendants themselves, who will be 

 the very best witnesses in the matter, for every one of them will be 

 anxious to tell all he knows about the others, in order that his own 

 assessment may be as light as possible. There can be no common 

 defense. The army of liquor-sellers will be divided against itself, and 

 no longer united against the public. Combinations for and against 

 legislation and the employment of counsel to obstruct the administra- 

 tion of the law will become useless. 



One of the stock arguments in favor of license is that the lincensees 

 in the interests of their own business will be vigilant to prevent 

 sales by unlicensed persons. Experience has shown, I think, that this 

 expectation has not been confirmed by the facts. The licensed seller 

 is given permission to carry on a profitable business, in which all oth- 

 ers are forbidden to engage under severe penalties, and this business 

 is so profitable and the penalties are so effectual that it is never worth 

 while for him to go to the trouble and expense of attempting to sup- 

 press the unlicensed dealer. He is entirely content with what the pub- 

 lic will do for him in this direction. Under the plan proposed the 

 suppression of the unlicensed seller becomes vitally important to the 

 licensed, for the latter will be obliged to undergo the expenses occa- 

 sioned by the former, in the same manner that the public now sustains 

 the expenses occasioned by them both. 



To recapitulate, in short : 



Prohibitory laws have never wholly prohibited in fact, and are 

 objectionable to many persons favorable to the cause of temperance 

 on grounds involving the fundamental principles of legislation. 



Under license laws we have a privileged class protected by the 

 public in the exclusive conduct of a business which leads to burdens 

 and expenses, which the public assumes, in effect saying to the licen- 

 sees, " Go, and for your profit do us all the injury you please or find 

 convenient, and we will not only pay the bills, but we will take care 

 that no one interferes with you." 



Under the plan proposed, the burdens and expenses arising from 



