New-York tribune., 1888-03-27
LARGE CITIES AND HIGH LICENSE.

The publication of the provisions Of the
liauor laws of each State, with the testimony
OF leading men Of all parties as to their work.
incs, which The TRIBUNE began on Sunday
last. makes clear many important facts. These
throw much light on this vital question, and
should aid greatly in its solution. Here are
some of them:
I. States in which general prohibition laws
have been enacted, and. so far as was possible.
enforced have no very large cities. This is
true of Iowa, where the largest city, according
to the census of $780, Des Moines, had popu-
lation of only 32,469. and where there were
only 81 inhabitants to the square mile; OF
Kansas. where the largest city then, Leaven-
worth, had only 29,268 inhabitants, and there
were only IL persons to the square milo in the
State; of Maine, where the largest city, Port
land, had population of only $3.50. In all
these States the population is largely rural and
much scattered. The nearest approach to an
exception to this is Rhode Island. where the
State being very small the population is con-
centrated, and the largest city, Providence
had a population of 1O4.s57. But the future
publications in THE TRIBUNE will prove that
it is In Rhode Island that prohibition as q
State policy has made its poorest showing
It's failure there seems absolute. (All these
figures are from the census of 1880, and. for
the Western States especially, are, of course,
inadequate. but this does not affect the value of
the comparisons. which can be accurately made
in no other way)
IT, In Prohibition states the success Of the
law has been greater where population is scat
tered than where it is concentrated. greater
where there are no large cities than where
there are large cities.
III. No prohbitory law has gone into sue
cessful operation in any State that, under the
census of 1890, bad population of one million,
with the exception of Iowa.
w. In States where the distribution or the
population has made it seem practicable, the
Republican party has urged Prohibition, en-.
acted it into law and sustained its enforce
mcnt.
V. All State pronIb1tory laws that are on
the statute-books to-day were put there by the
Republican party.
vi. In States with large cities and great
relative population the Republican party has
supported High License, and it has proved very
successful. This has been eminently true in
Illinois, where the operation of the Harper law
Chicago, for example, from $500 to 5000,
although the population has increased from
45O, 900 to 100000; in Pennsylvania, where
it is estimated that, in Philadelphia alone, the
number of saloons and hotel bars will be re-
duced from 6,OOO to 1,5OO-an almost incredi-
BILE reduction, but one which many are SAN
guine enough to expect On the basis Of the
number of licenses thus far granted and re-
fused. High License has also been markedly
successful in such States as Nebraska and Min
nesota, where there are cities which may be
called large, though not by the side of Phila-
delphia and Chicago, but where there is no such
concentration of population as in the older
States. It is worthy of note. also, that High
License seems to be as effective in small towns
and in the rural portions of States in which it
is in force as in the large cities. Our Sunday
publication showed Democrats in Florida call
ing for High License rather than Local Option
and such an acquiescence in High License In
Illinois, since its triumphant success, that the
Democrats would not dare now to call for its
repeal
One Of the most important deductions to be
made from the foregoing is that High License
is the only practicable method Of restricting
the saloons in large cities. Even so extreme
o Prohibitionist as Professor Herrick Johnson
admits that prohibition could not be "at once
and successfully enforced in Chicago" But
High License has always recorded an imme-
diate success VIII the New-York Legislat-
ure allow this great city to try itP