1893.] TRANSACTIONS. 11 



tion is mine, as I deplore tlie theft of my Grapes, to be assured 

 that some other tax-payer has been stripped of a case of beer ! 

 Or how much better off am I, that the fiery wines of the Orient, 

 from Cana of Galilee, are subjected to almost prohibitor}' im- 

 posts, when lawlessness is suffered to ravage my premises, robbing 

 me of unfcrmented juice and fruit with equal impunity, in the 

 original package ! Theft is forbidden by the Decalogue and, 

 from the foundation of the world, was ever branded malum in se. 

 Beer and wine have been, at times, malum prohibitum, ; at other 

 times commodities whereof the market was as free as that for 

 milk. Yet the whole power of a municipality is directed to 

 suppress a use because of a possible abuse ! while the garden 

 and orchard are left unprotected that the vigilant guardians of 

 civic peace may preen themselves on dress parade. Is there a 

 granger within range of my voice, no matter how zealous he may 

 be that the entire physical force of the State shall be wielded to 

 deprive his neighbor of some favorite beverage, who does not 

 dread to leave his home on Sunday lest, on his return from 

 " meeting," he may find that his family have been subjected to 

 insult, if not outrage, — his farmstead to lawless depredation and 

 waste ! Stop trying to weave a silk purse from a sow's ear ! 

 groans the taxpayer from beneath his onerous burdens, and 

 make proper use of actual forces ! A true police should consist 

 largely of skirmishers; falling back upon the military as the 

 embodiment of the physical power of the Commonwealth. It 

 wastes time and perverts energy trying to emulate a Macedonian 

 Phalanx. On horseback, or availing itself of the electric cars, 

 it may not be actually omnipresent; but it can be on the spot 

 in case of emergency, in season to head local resistance to out- 

 lawry and to signal for ro-inforcement. The shops along Main 

 and Front Streets are tilled with able-bodied men who should be 

 adequate to preserve the peace of the vicinage. The outlying 

 suburbs and detached farmsteads may well insist that they shall 

 have some other experience of municipal governinent than its 

 exactiojis ! 



Our local Exhibitions have been held with their usual measure 

 of success, so far as success may be computed from exhibits. In 



