Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 14.djvu/545

 TEMPERANCE

487

TEMPERANCE

promoting social welfare and also at raising revenue from the quasi-monopoly it creates. These two purposes are not always in harmony, which explains to some extent why State interference from the be- ginning to this day has often failed of success. A full history of liquor legislation and its results would occupy volumes; here there is space only for a brief BUmniary of the chief Acts affecting the Biitish Isles as a whole.

It is significant that up to the Reformation there occurs no civil legislation against drunkenness, although it was prevalent enough in Catholic times. The crop of laws against intemperance began to spring up in the reign of Edward \1, but they can no more be attributed to the higher morality of the new religion than can that monarch's granmiar schools to his zeal for education, or Queen Elizabeth's work- houses to her compassion for the poor. All these phenomena point to the passing away of an influence hitherto found sufficient to promote social welfare by moral means. Laws concerning liquor were, indeed, enacted from early times, but their main object was to prevent fraud on the part of the sellers. Scotch legislation, for instance, was busy in the reign of David I (1124-53) regulating the brewing and selling of ale. In England, in 1200, prices were fixed by law for the different sorts of wine, and we find many subsequent enactments tending to encourage the wine trade with the English possessions in France. With the overthrow of the aincient Church and the destruction of her restraining influence, the spread of intemperance became very marked, as is attested by contemporary ^Titers, and the State began to interfere in the interests of public welfare. An English Act was passed in 1495, empowering justices of the peace to suppress at discretion "common ale- houses", as centres of disorder. The licensing system was introduced in 1.5.51, by an Act which made the consent of the justices necessary for the establish- ment of ale-houses. The Irish Parliament in 1556 prohibited the manufacture of aqua vita' except by certain specified classes. At the beginning of the seventeenth century laws were passed in England to prevent inns from becoming public-houses in the modern sense. In 16.34 the licen.'iing system was extended to Ireland. The close of this century brought a new element into the question. Hitherto only fermented liquors were commonly drunk in England, for, owing to high duties, the price of imported .spirits put them beyond the reach of the people, but in 1689 the Government of the Revolu- tion, out of hostility to France, prohibited the impor- tation of foreign spirits and removed the restrictions on home manufacture, with alarming results to public morality. In spite of the retail trade being put under the licensing system in 1700, by 1724 the passion for gin-drinking had spread "with the rapidity and vio- lence of an epidemic" (Lecky, "Engli.sh History", I, iii), and in vain was the famous "Gin Act" passed in 1736, making the licence practically prohibitive. Illicit distilling and smuggling spread enormously, and high licences had to be repealed in 1742. Al- though gradually the State resumed control, still "the fatal passion for drink was at once and irrevo- cably planted in the nation" (Lecky, op. cit.). From 1751 dates a .series of laws dealing more stringently with the conduct of the drink traflfic, and in 17.55 the licensing system was introduced into Scotland.

An attempt was made in 1.S2S, as the result of a Parliamentary inquiry into illicit spirit-dealing, to simplify and consolidate the various licensing laws for England and Scotland, and, in 1S33, for Ireland, and these acts furni the basis of the existing Law. But experimental lcgisl.it ion still continued. In order to cure the nation of spirit-drinking, to encourage a British industry, and to break up the growing .system of "tied houses", an Act was passed in 1830 giving

practically free trade in beer. A fortnight after the Act was passed, Sydney Smith wrote: "The New Beer Bill has begvm its operations. Everybody is drunk. Those who are not singing are sprawling. The Sovereign People is in a beastly state." The Act failed miserably of its purpose. In less than three months 24,000 licenses were taken out. The mmiber of "tied houses" was not ultimately lessened and the consumption of spirits steadily rose. In 1869 the beerhouses were again brought under the licensing system. Another well-meant but un- successful effort to alter popular taste was the estab- lishment (1860-1) of "off" grocer.s' licences, by which measure Gladstone hoped to wean the people from beer-drinking in public-houses to the u.se of light wines and sjiirits at home. Much intermediate and sub.scquent legislation was concerned with the condi- tions of holding licences, particularly with the hours of closing. The "Forbes-Mackenzie" Act of 1853 closed the public-houses of Scotland on Sundays, except to travellers, and the measure was extended to Ireland (except five chief towns) in 1878, and to Wales in 1881, with very noticeable results in the decrease of drunkenness. In England the hours of Sunday opening have been restricted to seven. In 1873 a licensing Act prohibited the sale of spirits to children under sixteen, required the confirmation of the County Bench for new licences, and deprived that Bench of the power of granting licences in opposition to local refusal. Other measures for the protection of children were passed, culminating in the Act of 1909 which forbids children under fourteen access to public bars. For the last forty years under the influence of State regulations the number of licensed houses has steadily decreased. Shadwcll shows that the number of "on" licenses per 10,000 persons in England and Wales was forty-nine in 1871, thirty- one in 1901, twenty-six in 1909. In Scotland there were 17,713 public-houses in 1829; in 1909 with more than double the population there were 6845 only or 14.03 per 10,000. The decrease in numbers has obtained in Ireland also, but a greater decrease in population has counteracted the relative diminu- tion. With a smaller population than Scotland there are in Ireland more than three times as many licensed houses— in 1909, 22,.591 in all. The Act of 1904 has tended to accelerate the decrease of licences by admitting the principle of compensation and giving licence holders for the first time a legal claim to renewal unless forfeited by misconduct. In the eyes of those who desire to suppress altogether traffic in drink for private gain this is considered a step backwards, a view which is strengthened by the notable increase of "clubs" .since the passing of the Act. Finally, one marked effect of the Finance Act of 1910, so far as it concerns the Temperance Move- ment, was to reduce the consumption of spirits by ten millions of gallons; against this must be set an increased consumption of fermented liquors and pre- sumably of illicitly distilled spirits. In the history of State activities for the promotion of temperance must be included the action of the various education departments in making temperance teaching an integral part of the elementary code. A temperance syllabus was made compulsory by the Irish Com- missioners in 1906. The English department issued its syllabus for England and Wales in 1909, and a similar syllabus was drawn up for Scotland in 1910. If future generations of the populace indulge in drunkenness, it will not be through ignorance of its evil effects on the human frame and the body politic. This brief sketch of the history of legislation for the control of the liquor traffic is enough to indicate the nature of the problem. Th(^ State interferes to secure such ob.servance of temperance a.s is necessary for social well-being. But reasonable liberty to do what in itself is not unlawful is also a part of social