"The whole of the canal zone (ten miles on either side of the canal banks) is ‘teetotal,’ except in the actual towns of Panama and Colon. No alcohol is sold by the Canal Commission at its hotels or boarding-houses. And the general result of these stern measures—the improvement in health and the absence of crime—amply justifies this anti-alcohol policy. … There is singularly little serious crime throughout the canal zone. One has the sensation of being perfectly safe anywhere at any time of day or night. Petty dishonesty among the lower classes is common, especially at the railway stations, where one is liable to lose small articles of baggage if they are left unguarded. Panama in this respect is worse than the other towns of the Isthmus, new or old. But there is no open shock to any one’s prejudices or sentiments in the way of flagrant immorality (as at New Orleans, for example)." So easily can communities solve half, at least, of their most troublesome problems, and cure half, at least, of their worst social maladies, if they will! ALCOHOL: ENGLAND: A. D. 1902 . Passage of an amended licensing law. A moderate reform. A Licensing Bill, moderately in the interest of temperance reform, was discussed and passed in Parliament during the summer of 1902. It made publicans more strictly responsible for drunkenness incurred on their premises; strengthened the prohibition of liquor-selling to habitual drunkards; improved measures for the suppression of public drunkenness; subjected licenses to tradesmen for the sale of liquors off their premises to the unqualified discretion of justices, and facilitated the separation of husbands and wives from a drunken mate. ALCOHOL: A. D. 1904. Passing of a new Licensing Bill, providing compensation for the withdrawal of licenses on grounds of public policy.