This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1915 edition. Excerpt: ...own facilities, which are much more harmful than those which the law has refused them. Nor is it possible ever to prevent natural appetites from having their way. If clubs are regulated in such a manner that regulation is too irksome, evasion will merely take some other and probably still more objectionable ...
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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1915 edition. Excerpt: ...own facilities, which are much more harmful than those which the law has refused them. Nor is it possible ever to prevent natural appetites from having their way. If clubs are regulated in such a manner that regulation is too irksome, evasion will merely take some other and probably still more objectionable form. In the last resort people would supply themselves with drink, for alcohol can be manufactured from anything containing sugar or starch. The general conclusion on this branch of the subject is that both numerical excess and deficiency of opportunities promote intemperance in drinking 1 Poverty, by B. Seebohm Rowntree: supplementary chapter, p. 327. countries, the one by rendering supervision inefficient, the other by fostering clandestine traffic, which escapes supervision altogether. As to what constitutes excess the police are the proper judges. They have to supervise the traffic in the interests of public order, and they know when the task is beyond them. I should be guided by the chief constable of a town or district. If he found that the number of licensed houses was too great for effective supervision, I should reduce them. On the other hand numerical deficiency is disclosed by the appearance and multiplication of drinking clubs or by still more clandestine methods of evasion. So much for numerical opportunities. The same principles apply broadly to time opportunities, but the grounds are somewhat different. I attach the utmost importance to hours of closing, and am convinced that no controllable factor has so great an influence on intemperance. That conclusion is the result of observation, corroborated by abundant historical evidence. Unlimited hours used to have a disastrous effect in this country, and successive restrictions have...
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