12 THE GOTHElSrBUEG SYSTEM OE LIQUOK TEAFEIC. 



from Europe and the Canadas ; South Carolina has almost 

 entirely native whites and blacks.* In '^ Kansas women 

 have the right to vote at all municipal elections ; in 

 Wyoming they are by the State constitution given equal 

 suffrage with men. 



Evidently the field for'experiment is large ;~and a sur- 

 vey of it shows that experiments^have by no means been 

 lacking. Every State has^,^legislated concerning the 

 liquor traffic, and most States have changed and tinkered 

 and reversed or transformed their legislation repeatedly. 

 An English barrister at the request of a Member of Par- 

 liament made a tour through the United States and 

 Canada, winter before last, to gain information concern- 

 ing our liquor laws and their workings ; and the result 

 of his observations and enquiries, put in very compact 

 form, fills an octavo of 400 pages. From it one would 

 conclude that every variety of temperance legislation is 

 somewhere in our country now on trial. They might all 

 be grouped under three heads — free traffic, restriction, 

 and prohibition. By free traffic I mean when any per- 

 son of reputable character, with a liberal interpretation 

 of the word reputable, who wishes to open a saloon, may, 

 upon payment of a small license fee, do so. Restriction 

 limits the number of saloons either by imposing a high 

 license fee, or by declaring that only a certain number 

 of licenses (usually proportioned to the population) shall 

 be granted, or by transferring the sale of liquor from 

 private individuals to agents appointed by the State. 

 Prohibition may either be local, in accordance with the 

 vote of a town or larger district, or it may embrace the 

 whole State. 



These all are more or less familiar to us ; and I need 

 not stop to describe them in detail. I think, too, that 

 most of you will agree with me when I say that no one 

 of them, thus far, has altogether proved a success. Pro- 

 hibition has had a long trial in Maine, and seems to have 



