MUNICIPAL REVIEW, 1908-1909 533
itself to its problem, bid fair to become the precedent for other municipalities throughout the length and breadth of the land.
Interest in the liquor problem in municipalities has not abated during the year. There have been a number of developments of very considerable significance, chief among which may be cited the recognition by the brewers and retail liquor dealers of the need of the limitation of licenses to a ratio of the population, the increased recognition by the brewing and liquor trade of the need for the maintenance of orderly conditions and the suppres- sion of disorder; although this recognition does not seem to have reached some cities, of which New York may be cited as one ; and likewise a demonstration that local prohibition is not necessarily damaging to the community.
Mayor Maddox, of Atlanta, which is now under a prohibition regime, declared in a recent address:
I do not believe that the city of Atlanta has been damaged by prohi- bition. The places that were formerly occupied by the whiskey saloons have all been rented at equally as good or better prices to the near-beer dealers or other lines of business. Real estate values have not decreased in Atlanta during the one and a half years of prohibition; but, on the other hand they have been fully maintained, and are to-day the highest in the history of our city.
The reference, however, to the near-beer saloons exposes the weak spot in Georgia's prohibition, which remains to be elimi- nated if there is to be a fulfilment of the purpose which prompted the original legislation. A still more striking illustration to the same effect is to be found in Springfield, Ohio, which is dry under the operation of the Rose local option law, which makes the county a unit. Clark County (in which it is located) voted "No" late last spring; although the city of Springfield voted to retain the saloons by several hundred majority. According to a discriminating and unprejudiced observer, the results have been most satisfactory.
The Massachusetts No-License League has issued a summary of the past year in Worcester, which is the largest no-license city in the world. According to this organization arrests have greatly declined: for drunkenness, from 3,924 to 1,843; for assault and
