Prohibitory Laws Evaded.
That prohibitory laws are all evaded is clearly shown by the fact that notwithstanding the adoption of prohibition by a number of States, and by innumerable counties, until at the present time it is unlawful to sell wines or spirits in more than one-half of the geographical limits of the United States, the demand for such beverages has increased in almost the same proportion as our population, from the legitimate trade, and in an enormously greater proportion from illicit distillers and retailers.
We shall not be so uncharitable as to contend that the agitation from which this public sentiment originates owes its persistent recurrence to mercenary motives on the part of men who make merchandise of aroused emotions, because it gives a pleasurable excitement to the women who tire of the monotony of home; but, on the contrary, we shall be candid in the admission that there is good and sufficient reason for an arousing of public sentiment in this country, and we confess a feeling of sympathy with the movements for the uplifting of mankind and for the purification of society.