At last the legislature of Massachusetts has shown some recognition of the feeling of the people as expressed in the referendum on the Baby Volstead Act. The committee on legal affairs has reported a bill legalizing a 4.5 per cent beer. The reason given for this act, which shows such a strong sentiment against the eighteenth amendment, is that the workman will no longer have the incentive to consume the harmful hard liquors.

Whether this bill will pass in the legislature and whether in that case it will attain the desired objective is not the point. Its values lies primarily in the sentiment which it shows in the legislature. The representatives are taking things into their own hands and in lieu of any action on the subject from Washington are throwing off the bonds of cooperation to give an answer to the demands of the people. But they have wisely refrained from throwing all discretion to the winds in an effort to please the masses. The moderate nature of the acts shows that they realize that caution is necessary in a matter of such a delicate nature as the prohibition question.