460 INTEMPERANCE AND INSANITY 



prohibiting drinking are just such interferences with individual 

 liberty as cannot be enforced in modern times. It will be observed 

 that I do not maintain that such laws are inherently wrong. I 

 insist merely that they cannot be enforced. It will be observed 

 also that I speak of prohibition, of attempts to prevent all drinking, 

 not of regulation, of attempts to place the consumption of alcohol 

 under such conditions that moderation is encouraged, so that, as 

 at an ordinary dinner table, the drinker does not interfere with 

 the rights and comforts of his fellows. 



751. Under semi-civilized conditions prohibitive laws have 

 occasionally met with temporary success. In some Mohammedan 

 countries they have had prolonged success. Nevertheless, intem- 

 perance has been common among many, and especially among the 

 more enlightened Moslem communities. Others have substituted 

 opium for alcohol. Religious fanaticism has tended to keep some 

 Mohammedan communities both sober and barbarous ; but it 

 cannot now long resist the influences which are so swiftly chang- 

 ing the face of the modern world. Presently Nature will pass the 

 races of the near East through the fire which has hardened their 

 neighbours against the stringent conditions of civilized life. To- 

 day, the comparatively drunken Englishman and Russian are at 

 a disadvantage in the struggle for life and wealth as compared 

 to the temperate Jew. To-morrow the Mohammedans will face 

 a yet heavier handicap. This forecast may be disputed, but we 

 have the facts. Has a highly civilized community ever existed 

 which had not already passed through the fire ? 



752. Prohibitory laws, when enacted, in highly civilized states, 

 have almost invariably failed, and as a rule worse than failed. I 

 say ' almost,' because in some very sparsely settled colonies where 

 temperance sentiment has been very strong, where each inhabitant 

 is known to all his neighbours for many miles round, and where 

 the channels of supply and communication with the outer world 

 are few and well known, prohibitory legislation appears to have 

 achieved a temporary, I had almost said a momentary, success. 

 I say, ' worse than failed,' because in places where the population 

 is dense, where men are acquainted with few even of their near 

 neighbours, and where many channels of supply and communica- 

 tion exist and more may easily be organized, attempts at repressive 

 legislation are always followed by increased intemperance, and 

 by even greater evils. 



753. No modern civilized government has attempted the 

 gigantic task of abolishing the use of alcohol throughout its 



