counties, is the preferable form. Statewide prohibition, for a while
in disrepute because of open violation of the law, is again gaining
ground, ten of the forty-eight States being entirely "dry" at time
of writing. The ultimate solution can only be the adoption of an
amendment to the National Constitution enforcing nation-wide
prohibition; the agitation for such an amendment is already acute,
and the promise of its passage within a generation bright. The arguments
against prohibition are not strong. That the law is poorly enforced
in localities where public sentiment is against it is natural; but
no law is universally obeyed, and that a law is broken is a poor reason
for removing it from the statute books. No one would suggest repealing
the laws against burglary or seduction because they are daily disobeyed.
This pseudo-concern for the dignity of the law is simply a specious
argument advanced by those who have an interest in the trade, and
accepted by those who suppose liquor drinking to be wrong only in
excess and harmless in moderation. The reply is to show that alcohol,
practice that is always harmful must be fought by the law as well as
by moral suasion. Public sentiment must be educated up to the law;
and the existence of the law is itself of educative value. Moreover,
the old observations of non-enforcement must now be modified; recent
experience shows that the prohibition States are on the whole
increasingly successful in enforcing their laws. The new national law
prohibiting importations from "wet" to "dry" States helps immensely;
and with the forbidding of importations from abroad and of the
manufacture of liquor anywhere in the country, the problem of enforcement
will settle itself. Except for the precarious existence of
"moon-shiners," and for what individuals may make for themselves, the
stuff will not be obtainable. [Footnote: For the arguments for
prohibition, see H. S. Warner, op. cit, chaps. IX, XII. Artman, The
Legalized Outlaw. Fehlandt, A Century of Drink Reform. Wheeler,