Summary: | The series of experiments carried out in the community of Saskatchewan is one of our most interesting studies in social control. The experiment here illustrates most of the problems encountered by a people in working out a system of liquor control from the pioneer stage. The territory, which now comprises Saskatchewan, was a Canadian frontier at the end of the nineteenth century. When the eastern provinces were well settled, it was still a wilderness devoid of institutions of government, law, and order. Indians, a few fur traders, and missionaries were the only inhabitants. At the outset, the problem of controlling liquor was associated with the Indians. Into the new country swarmed a multitude of white settlers from many lands. With their arrival a series of experiments began, carried out first by the Canadian government, and then by the people themselves, in an effort to work out an effective means of controlling liquor. The story of this series of experiments is one of the fascinating studies of western Canadian history.
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