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HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.
become a growing evil, enacted a law popularly known as the "quart law," which, it was hoped, would do away with the indiscriminate sale of liquor by the glass. The law failed to meet the expectation of its framers and supporters, and, in 1855, a prohibitory law was submitted to the electors, which was rejected at the polls. Since that date a general license system has prevailed, except in certain towns and cities where prohibitory ordinances were adopted. The regulations governing the traffic, therefore, have been widely variant in different localities. The Legislature, however, has always possessed the same constitutional power to regulate the sale of intoxicants, as aconite, henbane, strychnine, or other poisons. In 1879 the Woman's Christian Temperance Union began the agitation of the license question from a new standpoint. In March of that year, a delegation of Illinois women, headed by Miss Frances E. Willard, presented to the Legislature a monster petition, signed by 80,000 voters and 100,000 women, praying for the amendment of the State Constitution, so as to give females above the age of 21 the right to vote upon the granting of licenses in the localities of their residences. Miss Willard and Mrs. J. Ellen Foster, of Iowa, addressed the House in its favor, and Miss Willard spoke to the Senate on the same lines. The measure was defeated in the House by a vote of fifty-five to fifty-three, and the Senate took no action. In 1881 the same bill was introduced anew, but again failed of passage. Nevertheless, persistent agitation was not without its results. In 1883 the Legislature enacted what is generally termed the "High License Law," by the provisions of which a minimum license of $500 per annum was imposed for the sale of alcoholic drinks, and $150 for malt liquors, with the authority on the part of municipalities to impose a still higher rate by ordinance. This measure was made largely a partisan issue, the Republicans voting almost solidly for it, and the Democrats almost solidly opposing it. The bill was promptly signed by Governor Hamilton. The liquor laws of Illinois, therefore, at the present time are based upon local option, high license and local
