ating and promiscuous drinking. * * * _In attending
court for ten years, I do not remember to have seen a drunken man."_ In
St. Johnsbury, where there is a population of five thousand, the law has
been strictly enforced; and the testimony in regard to the town is this:
"There is no bar, no dram-shop, no poor, and no policeman walks the
streets. It is the workingman's paradise."

Connecticut enacted a prohibitory law in 1854. In 1855, Governor Dutton
said, in his annual message to the General Assembly: "There is scarcely
an open grog-shop in the State, the jails are fast becoming tenantless,
and a delightful air of security is everywhere enjoyed."

In Meriden, the chaplain of the reform school testified that "crime had
diminished seventy-five per cent." In New London, the jail was
tenantless. In Norwich, the jails and almshouses were reported "as
almost empty." But in 1873, the liquor influence was strong enough in
the legislature to substitute license for prohibition. The consequence
was an immediate increase of drunkenness and crime. Two years
afterwards, the Secretary of State declared that "there was a greater
increase of crime in one year under license than in seven years under
prohibition."

Vineland, New Jersey, has a population of ten thousand. Absolute
prohibition is the law of that community. One constable, who is also
overseer of the poor, is sufficient to maintain public order. In 1875,
his annual report says: "We have practically no debt. * * * The police
expenses of Vineland amount to seventy-five dollars a year, the sum paid
to me, and our poor expenses are a mere trifle."

In Potter County, Pennsylvania, there has been a prohibitory law for
many years. Hon. John S. Mann says: "Its effect, as regards crime, is
marked and conspicuous. _Our jail is without inmates, except the
sheriff_, for more than half the time."

Other instances of local prohibition in this country could be given, but
these are sufficient.

Bessbrook, a town in Ireland of four thousand inhabitants, has no
liquor-shop, and whisky and strong drink are strictly prohibited. _There
is no poor-house, pawn-shop or police-station._ The town is entirely
free from strife, discord or disturbance.

In the county of Tyrone, Ireland, no drinking house is allowed. In 1870,
Right Hon. Claude Hamilton said: "At present there is not a single
policeman in that district. The poor-rates are half what they were
before, and the magistrates testify to th