A PALINODE TO BARLEYCORN

The law which sanctioned the permits which opened the kegs which filled the glasses which held the beer that Jack drank in the state of Massachusetts, was rather hastily drawn up, in a pardonable fervor for the immediate start of tippling. It had several minor flaws, in the sections relating to licensing, in the lack of provision for sales in universities, and in the prohibition of beer to minors. In the first instance, the bill has already been amended and it should, in the interests of common sense, be further patched up during the coming session of the Assembly.

Under the present regimen, a college or university which wishes to dispense beers and ales is treated as if it were an ordinary commercial and profit-making source of supply. But the mere fact that beer is sold is not decisive; the relation of a university to its students is categorically different from that of a tradesman to his customers, and the difference ought to be recognized in the law. As for the stipulation that beer cannot be sold to those under twenty-one years of age, it has proved not only harassing to the legal advisers of the University, but unenforceable throughout the state. There should, no doubt, be no sale to children, but to prevent it, an age-limit of sixteen would be a far wiser means than the present one. To replace a completely unenforced law like prohibition with another which must remain partially unenforced is a particularly ill-advised sort of legislation.