Review of Reviews, 1/12/13. 



LEADING ARTICLES. 



985 



NO -LICENSE IN U.S.A. 



Writing in the American " Review of 

 Reviews," Mr. F. C. Inglehart says it is 

 generally thought that Germany drinks 

 more beer than any other nation in the 

 world. This is a mistake. Germany 

 comes second. The United States con- 

 sumes 1,851,000,000 gallons of beer each 

 year, which is a hundred million gallons 

 more than Germany's consumption. 

 Russia leads the world in its use of dis- 

 tilled liquors, and the United States 

 comes second, with its consumption of 

 133,000,000 gallons. Although the 

 United States is first as a beer-drinking 

 nation, and second as a consumer of dis- 

 tilled spirits among the nations of the 

 world, the liquor dealers of America are 

 having a desperate fight for the life of 

 their traffic. 



HALF THE POPULATION LIVING IN " DRY " 

 TERRITORY. 

 The saloon has been expelled from 

 one-half of the population, and from 

 two-thirds of the geographical area of 

 the country. In 1868 there were 

 3,500,000 people living in territory where 

 the drink traffic had been outlawed ; in 

 1900 the number had increased to 

 18,000,000 ; in 1908, or only eight years 

 after, the number had doubled to 

 36,000,000, and to-day there are 

 46,029,750 persons, or a fraction over 

 one-half of the population of the coun- 

 try, living in no-license territory. In 

 the last five years the no-license popula- 

 tion has increased a little over 10,000,000, 

 which is more than 10 per cent, of the 

 total population of the nation, and 30 

 per cent, increase in the number living 

 in " dry " districts. Since 1868 the popu- 

 lation of the country has doubled, while 

 the number of inhabitants of " dry " ter- 

 ritory has increased over thirteen fold. 



PROHIBITION IN THE SOUTH. 

 The significant fact is that the people 

 of the Southland should be in the fore- 

 front of the battle for the abolition of 

 the individual and political domination 

 and demoralisation of the rum traffic. 

 In 1907, Georgia took her place at the 

 head of the battle line for prohibition 

 in the South. Next to her, within a year, 

 came Oklahoma, admitted to the Union 



with a constitutional prohibitory provi- 

 sion, which was later ratified by another 

 vote, and then Alabama and Mississippi 

 with statutory prohibition. On May 6, 

 1908, by a majority of 42,000, prohibi- 

 tion was voted into the constitution of 

 North Carolina. In 1909, the Legisla- 

 ture of Tennessee, over the Governor's 

 veto, passed a State-wide prohibition 

 law. Alabama, the only one of the 

 Southern States to drop out of the pro- 

 hibition line, did so in 1911, by a repeal 

 of the prohibitory law, and adoption of 

 a local-option measure, under whose pro- 

 visions sixteen counties have voted, 

 eight of them " dry " and eight for the 

 dispensary or open saloons. Ninety per 

 cent, of the population lives under no- 

 license. 



WEST VIRGINIA'S DECISIVE ACTION: 

 On November 5, 1912, West Virginia 

 achieved one of the most significant 

 temperance victories America has had, 

 in the adoption of the constitutional 

 prohibition amendment at the polls by a 

 majority of 92,342. But two counties 

 voted against the proposition of prohi- 

 bition. This movement from local option 

 by smaller units to State-wide prohibi- 

 tion has been the method of the temper- 

 ance progress in most of the States that 

 ha\'e gone " dry " in recent years. 



SET-BACKS TO THE CAUSE. 

 The fight for State-wide prohibition 

 has met with a number of reverses. It was 

 lost in Florida, Texas, Arkansas, Mis- 

 souri, Colorado, and Oregon. The con- 

 tests in Missouri and Colorado were ill- 

 advised, and waged against the judg- 

 ment of the wisest temperance leaders. 

 The measure was lost in Oregon b\^ a 

 small majority. The temperance people 

 charge that the small majority against 

 them in Florida was secured by the pay- 

 ment of the poll tax of the coloured 

 people by the liquor dealers, who voted 

 them in droves at the polls. The defeat 

 in Texas was believed to have been 

 caused by the " raw " Mexicans and by 

 the 80 per cent, of 125,000 coloured 

 voters, and by frauds at the polls. There 

 are, however, only 355 saloons in 

 Florida, and in Texas the saloon has 



