PARTIAL PROHIBITION 71 
the principle of avoiding absolute compulsion is the cor- 
rect one, especially if it is coupled with an unrestricted 
sale of comparatively innocuous beers containing 3 per 
cent. or less of alcohol. When, in course of time, 
public opinion becomes sufficiently educated, it may 
be feasible to prohibit entirely the sale of spirits, whilst 
permitting light wines and beers, and there is good 
reason for thinking that the United States has already 
reached this stage of evolution. It is very doubtful 
whether any other country has yet got so far, though 
the Province of Ontario in Canada is near it. In a still 
later stage of the evolution of public opinion the sale 
of all real intoxicants (i.e., alcoholic liquors containing 
more than 3 per cent. of alcohol by volume) may be 
abolished ; but no country has yet reached this stage, 
though a few of the individual States in America, such 
as Kansas and Utah, appear to have done so. So far 
as prediction is possible, it seems not unlikely that, 
sooner or later, the States bordering on Canada and on 
the coast will legalise the sale of light wines and beers, 
whilst the more central States may legalise weak beers 
of such alcoholic strength as to be non-intoxicating. 
As will be shown at length in a later chapter, light wines 
and strong beers, though less harmful than spirits, by 
no means prevent drunkenness.