A number of leading prohibitionists…

A number of leading prohibitionists are in favor of abolishing all liquor license laws as a preliminary to a successful campaign against the saloon. The government’s interest in the revenue of the saloon they regard as the chief obstacle to prohibition. While Liberty would be glad to coöperate with them in securing the abolition of all restrictions upon free trade in rum, and would watch with considerable curiosity their subsequent endeavor to impose absolute prohibition on a people familiar with absolute freedom in that field, it must point out to them that their position is very illogical. Taxation and restriction are simply incomplete prohibition, and, if complete prohibition is good, partial prohibition cannot be bad. To tax is to prohibit; the higher the tax, the more prohibitive it is, and it is possible to secure the results aimed at by the theoretical prohibitionists by simply raising the tax on liquor to a point beyond anybody’s ability to pay. Do they expect that they can induce the government to give up its revenue from liquor? If so, it is easier to wipe out the saloon by raising the tax than by passing laws against it.