High Liquor Licenses and Monopoly
Boston has raised its liquor license from $1,000 to $1,500 for hotels. The second-class inn keepers will hereafter pay $1,200 instead of $600, and restaurants will pay $1,000 instead of $400, the former price, while the privilege of selling beer, cider, and light wines, will cost $500 instead of $200. The liquor dealers profess to think that they cannot stand the rise, and probably some of them cannot; but those who can will find their business just so much better. Experience in Nebraska and other high-license States, and in numerous cities, has shown that while high license does temporarily reduce the number of saloons, it does not reduce the amount of liquor sold, but has the effect simply of giving a few dealers the monopoly of the business.