Liquor Licenses in Massachusetts.
THE law of Massachusetts provides that the liquor traffic in that State shall be regulated under the system of local option. There are 348 cities and towns in the State, which have the power to decide the question by a popular vote, each for itself, whether the sale of intoxicating liquors shall be licensed therein or not. 230 towns, last year, refused to grant any licenses; 112 towns, including nearly all the cities of the State, voted in favor of license; and some half a dozen towns did not vote at all on the subject. The aggregate vote cast in all the towns and cities of the State for license was 92,419, and the vote against license was 81,161, showing a majority of 11,258 in favor of license, of which majority Boston contributed about 10,000 votes, while about two-thirds of the towns were opposed to license. How the matter would stand if the principle of prohibition for the whole State were submitted to popular vote it is impossible to tell. Party politics would come into the question, and would be likely to change the figures as given under local option. These figures, however, show in Massachusetts a very strong opposition to the granting of licenses for the sale of intoxicating liquors. This opposition, in about two-thirds of the municipalities thereof, last year, carried the day.—N. Y. Independent.