The persistene2 of the English belief in beer has received
a striking illustration this week. The great brewing firm of Truman,Hanbury, and Buxton have turned their concern into a limited liability Company. The partners keep all their shares, valued at £1,250,000, but they ask the public to take £800,000 in 4 per cent. debentures, and actually offer these debentures at 102. That is to say, most experienced bankers believe that the British public will trust a great brewing firm as fully as it does the Swedish Government, and nearly as fully as it does the rich Colonies of the Pacific. We dare say the public will follow; or, at all events, know nothing to the contrary ; but the fact indicates that men with money regard the Pro- hibitionist menaces very little. If they thought Sir Wilfrid Lawson at all within "measurable distance" of his object, they would regard such quotations as these very differently. We are not at all sure that they are wrong, or that the masses have ever realised that Prohibition, either local or general, means "no more beer."
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