THE fact that crime is not entirely prevented under prohibitory laws, is by no means an argument against the value of prohibition. The Christian Advocate of December 8 comments as follows upon this point:— “For the year ending June 30, this nation had consumed 30,000,000 gallons of distilled spirits in excess of the 163,000,000 gallons drunk in 1909. It also drank 3,000,000 barrels of fermented beverages more than the 59,485,117 barrels drunk the year before. It also smoked 160,000,000 more cigars, and a solid billion more cigarettes. From these figures some conclude that ‘in a country full of State and local prohibitory ordinances, prohibition does not make the people more abstinent.’ That is by no means a certain conclusion. If there were no State prohibition or local prohibition, there is a high probability that the figures given would have been greatly increased. The dismal groanings of the distillers, the brewers, the wholesalers and retailers, that the trade in liquors (including beer) in many States, counties, and towns has been greatly lessened; and the diminished populations of jails, State prisons, and almshouses, witness to the diminished sale and drinking of rum and intoxicating beer.”