Fees in the American Colonies. 
107 
It has seemed necessary to give this somewhat lengthy ac¬ 
count of the Massachusetts license legislation, because it ap¬ 
pears to show more accurately than that of any other colony, 
the evolution of our liquor license fees under normal conditions. 
It shows quite clearly the actual steps in the process by 
which the modern fee has emerged out of a simple regulation. 
It shows, furthermore, that modern liquor license is entirely 
different from a colonial liquor license, the latter being in its 
essence a tavern or hotel license, which was intended to regu¬ 
late, not only the sale of liquor, but the entire tavern business. 
The transition from tavern to saloon licenses took place as soon 
as the tavern ceased to be an economic problem, in other words, 
when the canal, the steamboat, and the railroad began to dis¬ 
place the public highways in the business of transportation. 
Most of the country taverns disappeared of themselves, while 
others were changed into or displaced by the saloon and corner 
grocery. 
Many other expedients were resorted to at various times in 
the other colonies. The size of the license charge, for example, 
was graduated according to the place where the tavern was 
situated, varying from l£ 10s to 1Q£ in the colony of Plymouth 
in 1669 j 1 while in Maryland the number of ordinaries was lim¬ 
ited by law, and the amount of the license charge varied ac¬ 
cording to the proximity of the tavern to large towns. 2 In Con¬ 
necticut taverns were limited in number to two in each town, 3 
and a similar provision was required in South Carolina. 
It is of interest to note that, as a rule, high license charges 
were imposed much earlier in the south than in New England. 
Thus Virginia at one time charged as much as 40£ for ordi¬ 
naries’ licenses, 4 and South Carolina 5 collected 6£ for each li¬ 
cense in 1701. Maryland also obtained considerable revenue 
l Laws of Colony of Plymouth, p. 155. 
2 2,000 lbs. of tobacco were charged for an ordinary license within two 
miles of St. Mary’s and 1,2C0 lbs. for the same privilege within any county. 
Johns Hopkins Univ. Studies, Vol. 10, p. 343. 
3 Laws, 1797. Approval of selectmen required. 
4 Statutes, Henning, I, 189. 
5 Statutes, II, 363. 
