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SOBER BY ACT OF PARLIAMENT
BY FRED A. MCKENZIE
LONDON
SWAN SONNENSCHEIN & Co., LTD.
NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1896
TO THE MEMORY OF MY FATHER,
WHO, THOUGH PASSED FROM HUMAN KEN,
HAS LEFT BEHIND A PRECIOUS REMEMBRANCE
OF LOVING KINDNESS AND UNFAILING SYMPATHY,
THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED.
PREFACE.
It is a truism that men of all shades of opinion are desirous to promote
sobriety. It is the _raison d'etre_ of the teetotaler and the declared aim
of the publican. The advocate of prohibition and the man who would make
the trade in drink as free as the sale of bread both profess to be
actuated by a desire to extirpate inebriety. Can legislation aid us in
accomplishing this end, and if so in what way and to what extent? This
volume is an attempt to partly answer the question, not by means of
elaborate theories or finely drawn inferences, but by a statement of the
actual results obtained from liquor laws in various parts of the world.
Whatever shortcomings may be found in the following pages, I have done my
best to ensure their honesty and fairness. I have written with a brief for
no particular policy, but with a sincere desire to learn, free from the
blinding mists of partisan prejudice, the truth about all. My conclusions
may appear to some mistaken, and my treatment inadequate, but I have never
suppressed facts that told against my own opinions, arranged statistics
to suit myself, or consciously placed incidents in a disproportionate
light. The subject is altogether too serious, and involves issues too
grave, to allow one to indulge in one-sided statements, garbled facts, or
lying statistics.
As far as possible, the facts and figures given are taken from official
sources. I must acknowledge my indebtedness to many correspondents in
America, in Australia, and on the Continent of Europe, as well as at home,
who have helped me by collecting statistics and supplying information.
Without their aid my investigations would have been far more difficult
than they have proved. I am also greatly obliged to the Editor of the
_Pall Mall Gazette_ for permission to reproduce portions of several
articles of mine on "Liquor Laws," which appeared in his journal and in a
_Pall Mall Gazette_ "Extra" during 1893.
FRED A. McKENZIE.
46 OXBERRY AVENUE,
FULHAM.
CONTENTS.
PART I.--AMERICA.
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE STATE AS SALOON KEEPER 9
II. RUM AND POLITICS 21
III. FORTY YEARS OF PROHIBITION 32
IV. PROHIBITION IN KANSAS 45
V. THE LAW THAT FAILED 53
VI. HIGH LICENCE IN PENNSYLVANIA 67
PART II.--GREATER BRITAIN.
I. PROHIBITION AND LOCAL OPTION IN CANADA 75
II. LOCAL CONTROL IN NEW ZEALAND 92
III. LICENSING IN AUSTRALIA 104
PART III.--THE CONTINENT OF EUROPE.
I. THE STATE AS DISTILLER 112
II. THE GOTHENBURG SYSTEM 122
PART IV.--ENGLAND.
I. THE GROWTH OF THE LICENSING SYSTEM 133
II. PROPOSED REFORMS 147
III. THE PROBLEMS OF REFORM 169
IV. THE PATH OF PROGRESS 191
APPENDICES.
I. THE CONDITION OF WORKING MEN IN MAINE 199
II. THE GIN ACT, 1736 200
SOBER BY ACT OF PARLIAMENT.
PART I.
AMERICA.
CHAPTER I.
THE STATE AS SALOON KEEPER.
During the last few months South Carolina has been the scene of a
remarkable experiment in liquor legislation, which has attracted
considerable attention from social reformers everywhere. Though
professedly based on the Gothenburg system, the Dispensaries Act differs
from its prototype in many important respects. As in Sweden, the element
of individual profit is eliminated, and the control of the trade is taken
out of the hands of private persons; but in place of the drink shops being
conducted by the municipalities, they are placed under the direct
supervision of the State Government. The saloon has been abolished, and
its place taken by dispensaries, where liquor can only be obtained in
bottles for consumption off the premises. All public inducements to
tippling have been removed at a sweep; and while it is possible for any
sober adult to obtain what liquor he wishes, no one is pecuniarily
interested in forcing intoxicants on him. The Act was in operation for too
short a time to allow anything definite to be said as to its success or
failure. It received the fiercest opposition from an influential body of
politicians, and from the more lawless section of the community; and the
dispossessed saloon keepers, with all the following they could command,
naturally did their best to cause it to fail.
In the election of 1892 the prohibition party showed great activity, and
succeeded in obtaining a majority at the polls. The question of the
control of the liquor traffic occupied a foremost place at the meeting of
the new Legislature. Many members were in favour of out-and-out
prohibition, and a Bill was introduced to make the manufacture or sale of
drink illegal. But, after considerable debate on the subject, a new
measure was hastily brought before the Senate, at the instigation of the
Governor, the Hon. Benjamin R. Tillman, as a compromise between the views
of the extreme prohibitionists and those who held that, in the present
condition of public opinion, prohibition would be largely inoperative, and
consequently injurious to the temperance cause. The measure was rushed
through the Legislature with little or no debate, and at once received the
sanction of the Governor.
Governor Tillman is undoubtedly a remarkable man, of bold initiative and
great force of character; and it is impossible to understand the situation
in South Carolina without knowing something about him. Within the last
decade he has risen from obscurity to the supreme power in the State, and
to-day he is "boss" of South Carolina. He first came to the front in 1885,
by his bitter denunciations of the local Democratic rulers. He is himself
a Democrat, but this did not prevent him from bringing the most serious
charges against the members of the aristocratic ring that held the reins
of Government. He charged them with being the enemies of the poor and
oppressors of the people, whose one aim was to conduct public affairs so
as to benefit themselves. At first the high-class politicians treated him
with a half-amused, half-contemptuous scorn, sneered at what they were
pleased to call his ignorant talk, and held his language up to ridicule.
And in truth, if reports may be believed, his vigour of speech gave his
enemies abundant cause to blaspheme. He was not particular in his choice
of phrases, and he did not hesitate to pile up the most picturesque and
sanguinary expressions in describing his opponents.
But the people rallied around him. "I am rough and uncouth, but before
Almighty God I am honest," he said to them; and they believed him. The
poorer country folks were his first followers, then the Farmers' Alliance
came to his support, and before the old politicians had ceased to wonder
at the audacity of the young man, they began to learn that their days of
power were over. In 1890 he stood for the Governorship in opposition to
the regular Democratic candidate. He stumped the State, and met with a
most enthusiastic reception. He was elected by a large majority, and the
power of the old ring was, for a time at least, broken. Two years later he
was once more elected to the same post, and until he tried to carry out
the Dispensaries Act his authority was supreme in the State. One thing is
certain: if Governor Tillman cannot secure obedience to the law, it will
be difficult to find any one else who can.
The chief provisions of the original dispensary law are as follows. No
persons or associations of persons were allowed to make, bring into the
State, buy or sell any intoxicating liquors, except as provided for by the
Act. Districts that were previously under prohibition continued so, but in
other parts the traffic was conducted by State-appointed officials. The
Governor appointed a Commissioner, whom he must believe to be an abstainer
from intoxicants; and this official, under the supervision of the State
Board of Control, purchased all strong drink to be sold in the State, and
generally acted as head of the dispensaries. The State Board appointed in
each county a local Board of Control, composed of three persons believed
not to be addicted to the use of intoxicants. These County Boards made the
rules for the sale of drink in their own districts, subject to the
approval of the State Board; and they also appointed dispensers who had
the sole power of selling liquors in the districts where they were placed.
There are many minute restrictions which had to be observed by the
dispensers in vending their wares. A would-be buyer must make a request in
writing, stating the date, his age and residence, and the quantity and
kind of liquor required. If the applicant was intoxicated, or if the
dispenser knew him to be a minor or in the habit of using strong drink to
excess, then he must refuse to supply him. If the dispenser did not know
the applicant personally, then a guarantee must be given by some person
known to both buyer and seller that the former was neither under age nor a
habitual drunkard. Sales were only to be made during daytime, and the
liquor was not to be drunk on the premises.
The penalties for breaches of the law were very severe, ranging as high as
imprisonment for not under one year or over two years for repeated illegal
sales. All profits obtained by the work of the dispensary were divided in
three parts,--one half for the State, one quarter for the municipality,
and one quarter for the county. The hope of obtaining a considerable
revenue was undoubtedly one of the main reasons for passing the Act, and
Governor Tillman anticipated a profit of half a million dollars a year for
the State.
The dispensers were paid, not according to the quantity of their sales,
but at a fixed salary named by the Board, and not allowed to exceed a
certain amount. It was provided in the original Act that dispensaries
could only be opened in cities and towns, and then not unless the majority
of the citizens of a place signed a petition requesting to have them.
The new measure came into force on 1st July, 1893. For many weeks
previously there had been great excitement in the State, and as June drew
to an end the saloon keepers put forth strenuous efforts to do the utmost
possible business in the short time that was left to them. "The situation
all over South Carolina to-night," said a despatch from Charleston on 30th
June, "is peculiar. In Charleston there has been in progress all day a
huge whisky fair. The air is filled with the tintinnabulation of the
auction bells and with the cries of the auctioneer; in dozens of liquor
stores are crowds of free-born American citizens buying whisky, wine and
beer to lay in a stock against the dry spell, which sets in to-night. In
the fashionable groceries extra forces of clerks have been at work day and
night for a week, putting up demi-johns and kegs of whisky, brandy, rum,
gin, and wine; and battalions of drays and delivery waggons have been
employed carting the goods to the railroad depots and to the various
residences. It is no exaggeration to say that there are not 1000 out of
the 10,000 houses of white people in the city that are not provided with a
supply of liquors to last six months at least."
Six counties in the State are under statutory prohibition, and
consequently no dispensaries could be opened in them. In many other parts
the people refused to come under the Act, and in towns especially there
was a spirit of undisguised opposition to the measure. It is in the towns
that the old-line Democrats, whom Tillman drove from office, have always
been the strongest. With the passing of the Act they saw their opportunity
to have vengeance on him, and possibly to regain their old majority; and
they resolved to do their best to wreck his Bill. In Charleston the word
went forth that the law was to be ignored, and, as far as the city
authorities could accomplish that end, it has been set at defiance. When
the State constables have arrested liquor sellers, the constables have
been mobbed and ill-treated; the sheriff has packed the juries; the
justices who have tried liquor cases have been notoriously opposed to the
law; and, as an inevitable consequence, the clearest evidence of illegal
liquor selling has been insufficient to convict any offender there. What
is true of Charleston is almost equally true of several other places.
This, it must be understood, is not because of any fault of the Act; but
because eager partisans are willing to perjure themselves, to break
through the most sacred obligations of office, and to descend to any
tricks in order to ruin the Tillmanites.
The prohibitionists have been divided in their attitude. Some of them
warmly support the law, but others have united with the old-line Democrats
in opposing it. They are mostly willing to admit that the Tillmanite
dispensaries are a vast improvement over the former reign of the saloon;
but they are fearful lest the fact that the State conducts the traffic may
give it a semblance of respectability, encourage people to drink, and so
do more harm than good. "The absolute boss of the State, Governor
Tillman," sneered one, "expects to turn the great commonwealth into one
great drinking saloon, such as might carry a signboard, reaching from sea
to the mountains, announcing 'Benjamin Ryan Tillman, monopolist of grog'."
In his annual message to the Legislature, in November, 1893, the Governor
gave a long and detailed account of the working of the law. According to
this statement, there were then fifty dispensaries open, and the total
sales in the four months had amounted to 166,043 dollars, 56 c., yielding
a profit to the State of 32,198 dollars, 16 c. This was considerably less
than had been anticipated; and the smallness of the profit is no doubt due
to the facts that so many people had got in their supplies of drink before
the Act came in force, and that in many parts the law was very imperfectly
enforced. Since the Governor issued his report there was a very
considerable proportionate increase in the gains.
In order to ascertain the results of the law on intemperance a circular
was sent out to seventy-five cities and towns, asking them to state the
number of arrests for drunkenness and disorder arising from liquor
drinking for a like period before and since the passing of the Act. Only
thirty-three places replied; and in the whole of these the arrests from
1st July to 30th Sept., 1892, under the old licence laws, were 577; during
the same period in 1893, under the Dispensaries Act, the arrests were only
287. In September, 1892, 231 arrests were made; in September, 1893, the
arrests were 131.
The Governor admitted that the amount of illegal liquor-selling going on
in the State was considerable, and for this he blamed the local
authorities and the railway companies. "There is hardly a train entering
the State," he declared, "day or night, passenger or freight, which does
not haul contraband liquor. Some of the railroads are yielding a measure
of obedience to the law; but most of them openly defy it, or lend their
line to smuggling liquor into the State.... The police in the cities, as a
rule, stand by and see the ordinances broken every day, are _particeps
criminis_ in the offence, or active aiders and abettors of the men who
break it." In order to stop these things, and to more efficiently enforce
the law, the Governor demanded fresh legislation.
In answer to this demand, the State Legislature passed a new measure in
December, giving considerably increased powers to the executive. The State
Board of Control was authorised to deprive any city or town refusing to
actively co-operate in the enforcement of the law, of its share of the
dispensary profits. In place of the Board being unable to open a
dispensary anywhere except when a majority of the people petitioned for
it, the law was made that the Board could establish its shops wherever it
pleased, unless a majority of the people petitioned against them. It was
also found advisable to modify several minor points, such as giving hotel
keepers permission to serve their guests with liquor.
Governor Tillman at once made full use of the new powers. He announced
that several new dispensaries would be opened in different parts, and he
sent a circular to all the mayors, asking if they intended to assist the
State officials or not. To those who answered in the negative, he at once
sent notice that the share of the profits for their towns would be
withheld from them, and used for the purpose of employing special
constables to see that the law was carried out there.
In March, 1894, the troubles created by the opponents of the Dispensaries
Act came to a head. Some State constables were searching for contraband
liquors at Darlington when the people rose in arms against them. Two
constables and two townsmen were killed, and the police hastily retired to
a swamp. Here they were pursued by an infuriated body of citizens; and,
had they been found, they would unquestionably have been killed. For a day
or two, matters wore a serious look. In one place a dispensary was gutted,
and several bodies of the State militia, when ordered by the Governor to
proceed against the rioters, refused to obey.
Governor Tillman is not a man to be easily intimidated. He promptly seized
the telegraphs and the railways, prevented as far as possible the rioters
communicating with sympathisers in other parts, and called together the
troops he could rely upon. "As Governor I have sworn that the laws shall
be respected until they are repealed," he said, addressing the militia.
"So help me God, I will exert all my power to enforce them. Although some
of the militia have refused to obey orders, there are still enough to
obey. The opponents of the law must submit to the rule of the majority.
My life has been threatened; but I have no fear, and I will convoke the
Legislature if further power is necessary." The soldiers received his
message with enthusiasm. At the same time the Federal authorities offered
to send a large body of national troops, should they be required, to quell
the rioting, and in a few hours the powers of the law and order were once
more supreme. But had Tillman been a ruler of another stamp, had he shown
the least sign of yielding to the disaffected, or of eagerness to
compromise, then the outbreak at Darlington would probably have been only
the beginning of serious trouble in the Palmetto State.
Hardly, however, had the riot been suppressed before the State Supreme
Court declared the Act unconstitutional. The court, which consists of two
conservative judges and one Tillmanite, based its decision on the grounds
that the measure was not a prohibitory law and was not a police
regulation, but was solely a plan for giving the profits of a trade to the
State, and therefore it conflicted with the lawful rights of the old
saloon keepers. Justice Pope, the Tillmanite, dissented from this view,
and pronounced in favour of its being legal, but he was out-voted by his
brother judges.
The result of this decision is, that all the State dispensaries have been
closed, and the saloons are now again openly conducting their business. It
is hard to say what the final outcome will be; for the people in the
country parts declare themselves resolutely determined not to have the
saloon system revived. It is said that as soon as possible one of the old
judges will be removed, and his place taken by a Tillmanite. The measure
will again be carried through the Legislature, and once more come before
the Supreme Court. The court will then uphold it, and the State will give
the Act another trial. But, even if this is so, the prospects of the
scheme cannot be said to be bright. There are now enlisted against it a
powerful political faction and the authorities of several municipalities.
It can count on the unceasing opposition of many whose support is almost
absolutely necessary to its success; and hence it will be more than a
wonder if, while thus handicapped, it can be anything but a failure.