-jee THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



cause it is exceedingly doubtful whether the population would tolerate 

 such an interference with their habits, when the meaning of the act 

 came home to them. The information which we can draw from Maine 

 or other places where prohibition of the traffic has existed, is most 

 conflicting in itself, and remote in analogy. Accordingly, I should 

 much like to see the prohibition of the public sale of liquor tried in 

 several large English boroughs and districts, provided that the neces- 

 sary act for the purpose could be carried without stopping all other 

 legislation on the subject. 



Within the last twelve months Sir Wilfrid Lawson and his follow- 

 ers have had the excellent good sense to drop the Permissive Bill, and 

 proceed, by way of Parliamentary resolution, in favor of " local op- 

 tion." I really do not know exactly what is meant by "local option." 

 Perhaps the Alliance itself does not know ; the wisest course would be 

 not to know — that is, to leave a latitude of meaning. In any case they 

 have changed their policy. For year after year, for nearly the average 

 length of a generation, it was the eleven clauses and one schedule of the 

 Permissive Prohibitory Liquor Bill, pure and simple. Now it is " local 

 option." Even if " local option " mean option of prohibition, a reso- 

 lution is a more tentative method of procedure than the precise clauses 

 of the celebrated bill. But if, as I fondly hope, " local option " will 

 be interpreted to mean option for local authorities to regulate the 

 liquor-traffic in the way thought to be most suitable to the locality, in- 

 cluding prohibition when clearly desired by the inhabitants, then the 

 matter assumes a much more hopeful aspect. Not only will the resist- 

 ance to such a proposal be far less than to the Permissive Bill, but 

 there will be considerable probability that when passed some success- 

 ful experiments will be carried out. In fact, this "local option " would 

 just bo the mode of giving a wide field for diverse experiments which 

 I am advocating. The teetotalers would be at liberty to try their 

 experiments, but they would not in the mean time stop the progress of 

 many other experiments, some of which might, in the course of ten 

 or fifteen years, offer a sound solution of this most difficult problem. 

 Of course, I am aware that this question of the drink-traffic is to a 

 considerable extent a political one. There is a good deal which I 

 might say upon this topic, but it would not be suitable to the tenor of 

 my theme. If the political condition of England be such that the 

 social reform of the people is not the main purpose of our Government, 

 then we must hope that there are brighter lands where the political 

 position is very different. 



The best way of dealing with the liquor-trade would be to hand 

 over the matter to the hands of a strong executive commission framed 

 somewhat on the lines of the Poor-Law Commission. This body 

 should have the power of authorizing schemes, proposed by local 

 authorities, and should supervise the working of such schemes, and 

 collect minute information as to the results. Thev would work entire- 



