8o DARWINISM AND RACE PROGRESS. 



in liquor prohibition lasting for forty years. In 

 Maine, the manufacture and sale of alcohol in any 

 form is illegal, and punished by imprisonment and 

 fine. The law is enforced, and we are told 1 regarding 

 its operation that, " by tending to drive the traffic 

 into by-ways and disreputable ' dives,' by removing 

 the visible temptation offered by open bars and 

 saloons, by making it relatively if not absolutely diffi- 

 cult to obtain drink, and by throwing a general 

 atmosphere of subterfuge and disrepute about the 

 trade, it has been a material agent in suppressing a 

 demand which is not only regarded by many as 

 morally wrong and physically ruinous, but is rendered 

 by the operation of the law disreputable. These 

 tendencies, receiving support from the general voice 

 and sentiment of the women, have so influenced 

 manners that, whatever share in the result ought to 

 be assigned to the effect of prohibition, it is a fact 

 that the demand for liquor, or the desire for it, either 

 in large quantities or small, proceeds only from a 

 Limited section of the population." If now we turn 

 to the statistics of crime, pauperism, and insanity, we 

 shall find a result which may appear a startling one 

 to many. The statistics of the Insane Hospital show 

 a great and progressive increase of patients, from 75 

 in 1850-51 to 685 in 1891-92. In regard to in-door 



1 Op. tit.) p. 104. 



